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....
Looking in, acting out When issues arise asking ourselves if we’re the problem can be useful. After giving it due thought we might be shocked with the answer – discovering we’re the blockage. Not by design, of course. But whether inadvertent or not a blockage is a blockage and something we must clear. How did...
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...
There’s little predictable about our world right now. Conflict. Political uncertainty. Shaky business confidence. You’ll have your own examples. Predictable, stable looks like an ever more distant continent. I confess I am comfortable with predictable (it’s probably the same for you). And yet, volatile is attractive too. Great leaps forward come from volatility. The discovery...
I’ve been contemplating the almost science fiction nature of our reality today and how easy it would be to ‘give up’ on any sense making or acts of leadership. Craziness and dystopian realities can create a false fog in our minds…tempting us into a level of coma when, in fact, something completely different, and indeed...
Maybe ‘un-gifting’ sounds a bit strange as we enter the season of gifting. Yet it might be just what we need. From personal experience, we tend to hold on to things too long. Ideas, ways of working, our expertise, career milestones. They give identity. At times they’re lifebelts. But what if these tethers have got...
Change or transformation? Big, fat words, used interchangeably, describing radically different fields of play and outcomes. Change is like moving the deckchairs. Transformation puts us into an entirely different universe. A new state. Reimagined, reinvented. Think tadpole to frog, caterpillar to butterfly. In organisations, and life, change ensures we survive the headwinds and turbulence. It’s...
I’m deeply committed to the ‘science’ of how groups work; how a diverse collection of people can collaborate, cooperate and manifest outcomes that are truly superior and more far-reaching because they are mastering this ‘science’. And let’s face it to help change our world for the better we need some truly powerful cooperation amongst groups....
Usually in the workplace the conversations that don’t happen, or tend to be put off for too long, are the difficult/more challenging ones…giving constructive feedback, calling out poor behaviour, introducing a change that’s unlikely to be popular. Each of these, and other personal examples you’ll undoubtedly have, are important. Leaving them to drift can cause...
‘It’s not only moving that creates new starting points. Sometimes all it takes is a subtle shift in perspective, an opening of the mind, an intentional pause and reset, or a new route to start to see new options and new possibilities.’ Kristin Armstrong Life and work dictate that we’re always moving, on to the...