Command and control, authoritarian, hierarchical. We tend to think of these as relics of a bygone era… yet despite an overlay of something more inclusive and collaborative, the majority of corporate cultures still operate from these mindsets. The first question is whether that matters. After all someone must make the decision and hierarchy provides clarity....
We all know the value of hindsight. That moment when the lightbulb goes on and we can see the thread of the choices we made and the connections that emerged and how that brought us to where we are in the current moment. Sometimes we see the good threads and sometimes we can better understand...
I’m wondering how different change might look and how well it might sustain if we started in a different place. Change often starts with the conviction that change is needed—generally because things aren’t going as well as desired. Missed or declining metrics (like profits) become the burning platform. And while everyone in the organisation can...
In organisational life system is often taken to mean a process by which things get done – various steps, specialists, teams/departments involved in creating a product or delivering a service. When things go wrong we look for the break in the system. Conventional wisdom suggests looking for an individual responsible for the failure. Their competence...
We speak of communities of practice, and some organisations will have a group or communities dedicated to people related themes such as diversity, LBGTQ+ or faith and yet we rarely think about community as the backbone of the organism. Yes, there will potentially be share of mind dedicated to the culture and yet even that...
At a time when some parts of the world are stalling on their position on diversity, equality and inclusion with some organisations seemingly pulling back their focus or programmes, or both, following the recent declarations in the US, it seems to me that it could be timely to consider what it is that we mean...
In most well-intentioned organisations we strive toward building a culture founded on strong, well considered values and ethics. We consider the questions, who are we and how do we want to be? This motivation to build something meaningful to the majority typically gives rise to traditions. The habits, behaviours, practices that support the building of...
Transforming an organisation is a familiar concept…at least intellectually and one often on the agenda of Boards and Exec Teams. There are any number of areas that arise as candidates…culture, governance, technology, processes, efficiency, profitability. The list goes on. For the most part, the focus will be on the symptoms and the approach will tend...
As a leader, how often do you stop and think about the quality of the field you are creating in your team, project, organisation? We define leadership in many ways and at the core of it lies our ability to engage the will, heart and qualities of all those participating in the collective endeavour. Of...
If we look for it, we can find evidence of our deep interconnectedness to all things every single day. Whether it be as old friends and contacts pop back into our lives and we realise they were ‘always there really’ or when we take a business decision thinking we’ve fully considered its range of outcomes...