Culture in crisis 2. Two paths out of crisis
Jul 22nd
As organisations grapple with extraordinary conditions, many have turned to centralised decision-making, seeking tighter grip through command and control.
In the best cases this has meant clear and consistent messages across the workforce, showing much-needed confidence in leadership. In a crisis, people look to leaders to reduce the impact of loss of control, uncertainty and confusion.
In the worst cases, leadership teams and managers have withdrawn into a bunker, focusing on the single priority of survival. With no organisational leadership, anxiety and fear of the future escalates for employees, damaging productivity, energy and
READ MORE
Culture in crisis 1. Collaboration’s missing ingredient
Jul 14th
The structures of tasks, specialisation and accountability in the pre-Covid business went hand in hand with assumptions about location and physical footprint of the business. As these assumptions are forced to change, a new way of operating is emerging. Due to the demands of the Covid-19 crisis, new ways of working have sprung up with many more people working from home and in small, collaborative teams.
So, how to seize this new collaboration and make it as effective virtually as it is in person?
Collaboration: working together on a common goal has 4
READ MORE
Designing an organisation that works for the people in it
Mar 28th
How to judge an organisation design: Part 3
“How do you think people are going to take to the new design? How can we show the benefits to them?”
You have been understanding, testing, probing the org design to see if it stacks up, but you will also have been getting to grips with the people dimensions too. First thoughts may have been about the simple but difficult issues that are going to consume time in the future like filling new roles, redeployment, selection processes, the pipeline of talent, redundancies, the programme of change
READ MORE
Reality testing an organisation design
Mar 14th
How to judge an organisation design: Part 2
“I can see what you are trying to achieve with the organisation design. I’ve got some questions to kick the tires on it a bit harder. Can we find time to talk?”
You probably knew that ‘organisation’ as a relatively modern word first meant the structure of a living being, a whole with interdependent parts. But did you know that ‘organisation’, ‘energy’, ‘work’ all come from the same root concept, over 4000 years ago, meaning ‘work’, ‘to do’, ‘be effective’? The organic metaphor for organisation is
READ MORE
What does organisation design set out to achieve?
Mar 01st
How to judge an organisation design: Part 1
“Welcome to the team. I’d appreciate your views on something straight away. Can you look over this org design? I’ve been thinking about if for some months. Let me know what you think and let’s talk about the questions you have. I’d like to take this to the management team in a couple of weeks”
Your boss/key internal client, accountable for an area of several hundred employees gives you a deck for an org design. Maybe it has introductory slides, an organisation design logic, a
READ MORE
The leadership balancing act
Oct 18th
A client asked me recently if I know any firms with high scores on leadership in their employee opinion survey. Their own leadership scores are stubbornly low and the Chief Executive was concerned.
I’m working with two firms that have recently moved the dial. They’ve done it through a strong and sustained focus on the importance of leadership across the business, active involvement by the Chief Executive and the top team themselves, and investment and effort in the leadership of the next tier.
Another firm is just starting to tackle the leadership behaviour required for the success of an
READ MORE
The human side of governance
Sep 29th
A lot of my work is involved with governance at the moment. I’m advising a start up charity on their governance arrangements, I’m chairing a review of the governance of a financial services company, and I’m now chair of the Trustee Board of a charity (the Shakespeare Schools Festival – plug: come to our performances which see students from all sorts of backgrounds, many of them underprivileged, rise to the challenge of performing an abridged Shakespeare play in a professional theatre).
Three big questions come to me in all these areas.
First, how do we put the formal governance arrangements in place
READ MORE
Leaning into the future
Sep 22nd
I’m participating in my first MOOC run by MIT on Transforming Business, Society and Self and one of the interesting questions was why do we have ( or practice) leadership that collectively produces results that no one wants?
This applies as much to businesses and organizations as it does to society. So why do the results we get rarely match our visions and intentions? I’m hoping the collective wisdom of the MIT faculty and the 35,000 participants in the MOOC will give me some answers to try with clients. But in the meantime I wonder if it is to do with
READ MORE
