Week 28, 2022 — Issue #212
The 3EO Toolkit: Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Enabling Organization
Each week: three ideas to help you build better organizations. This week: three reasons why you need to check out the new 3EO Toolkit.
The nice people at Boundaryless have published a new version of their Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Enabling Organizations (3EO) toolkit. It’s a must-have for those of us wanting to explore Haier’s Rendanheyi model as well as to design and operate business ecosystems more generally.
Here’s why:
1. Entrepreneurship
Business ecosystems consist of entrepreneurs that continuously launch and scale new businesses. Creating such businesses involves the design of systems and structures that turn employees into entrepreneurs. To this end, the toolkit includes the 3EO MicroEnterprise (ME) canvas that to-be entrepreneurs can use to create and explore new business opportunities.
2. Ecosystems
Business ecosystems also provide mechanisms that entrepreneurs use to build trust and share value. Creating such mechanisms involves the design of systems and structures that promote co-creation. Here, the toolkit provides the 3EO Ecosystem Micro-Community (EMC) canvas with which entrepreneurs can form partnerships with leading targets.
3. Enablement
Last but not least, business ecosystems provide resources (financial and otherwise) that entrepreneurs use to scale their ideas. Creating such resources involves the design of systems and structures that work as catalysts, accelerating growth. To this end, the toolkit includes the 3EO Map, a canvas used to identify key enablers/levers.
This toolkit is made by practitioners, for practitioners. It’s a welcome addition to a space that is otherwise maddingly abstract and theoretic.
That is not to say that it’s simple or even easy to use. It will require lots of time and plenty of attention. But that’s to be expected from the bleeding edge of organizational design!
So, if you are ready to stop theorizing and start building, I think the 3EO toolkit is a great place to start. You can download the toolkit free from the Boundaryless website.
That’s all for this week.
Until next time: make it matter.
/Andreas
How can we build better organizations? That’s the question I’ve been trying to answer for the past 10 years. Each week, I share some of what I’ve learned in a weekly newsletter called WorkMatters. Subscription is free. Back-issues are published to Medium after three months.
