Frustration
Twice in the same day last week I had conversations with people who are feeling frustrated with their experience of the organisation we all work for. I too was feeling frustrated – so that was three of...
View ArticleSocial intelligence
Months ago I promised to run a lunch and learn hour on organisation design capability. I was confident that my future self would have all the time needed to research and prepare a high calibre, thought...
View ArticleSparking joy
A US friend I holidayed with earlier this year recommended me a book The Life-Changing Magic Of Tidying: The Japanese Art Of Decluttering and Organizing, by Marie Kondo.Over the years I've bought...
View ArticleTest and learn
We're aiming to take a 'test and learn' approach to culture/behaviour change with a group of people in a specific customer facing job role. The role is a new one and we have to make sure that staff...
View ArticleCommunity organising
I'm thinking of taking a course in community organising as the next step in becoming a civil servant: a life/career project I began in January this year. (See blog). I'm attracted to the course...
View ArticleOrganisation design the organisation development way
Most weeks I have a few people ask me organisation design questions. This week I had four and here I'm responding to the one from Alex:I wondered whether you might be able to suggest any org design...
View ArticleDesigning an ethical organisation
It's not often I get asked about the bearing that organisation design has on the ethical operation of an organisation. But it's a topic I'm now thinking about. I took a look at the Institute of...
View ArticleThe challenge of the functioning stapler
Wandering around my office last week looking for a functioning stapler I remembered the question from the Gallup Q 12 Survey. 'I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right'. At the...
View ArticleSelf as instrument and the Perceived Weirdness Index
Someone this week contacted me saying: I thought I would just drop you a quick email to see if you have any useful article or fact sheet on 'self as instrument'. I am doing my Organisation Development...
View ArticleInclusion dissonance
Jon Husband's blog'Knowledge, power, and an historic shift in work and organizational design'opens with the statement 'Horizontal networking often creates dissonance in the vertical enterprise'. He...
View ArticleRe-use
Someone sent me an article that says that 'any public sector organisations developing digital services are guilty of reinventing the wheel missing important opportunities to reduce costs and speed up...
View ArticleWho shall I ask?
There's a lot of talk about 'being empowered', which is, in the words of the World Bank about a 'process of enhancing the capacity of individuals or groups to make choices and to transform those...
View ArticleInvisible fences
'A pet fence or fenceless boundary is an electronic system designed to keep a pet or other domestic animal within a set of predefined boundaries without the use of a physical barrier. A mild electric...
View ArticleWhat box are you in?
What box are you in? Is it one where you feel inspired, innovative, collaborative and willing to go the extra mile? I rather doubt it and I wonder being contained in a box would generate that kind of...
View ArticleDoes mindfulness help deliver 'at pace'?
We have a competency statement we are asked to evidence in our performance reviews called 'Delivering at Pace'. We're urged to 'deliver timely performance with energy and taking responsibility and...
View ArticleThe Martian
The Martian gets my vote for organisation design lessons of the year. Have you seen it? If not get yourself to the cinema. I read a review of it on Friday and was instantly intrigued. First, because...
View ArticleTown and Gown
I ran the Cambridge Town and Gown 10k on Sunday. It set me wondering about the history of the phrase 'Town and Gown'. Apparently its usage dates from the Middle Ages, when students admitted to European...
View ArticleHitting the target missing the point
How many times have you heard the phrase 'We're hitting the target but missing the point'? It's one I've heard several times in the last week in relation to a number of different types of quantitative...
View ArticleNegativity: good or bad?
I'd never really thought about workplace negativity as a cultural attribute until last week when I was in a workshop and the participants said the number one thing they would like to tackle in order to...
View ArticleConsulting: aloofness versus collusion
It hadn't really struck me before Thursday last week that the supervision of consultants is 'a good thing'. A few years ago David Birch and Erik de Haan wrote a piece arguing that ' consulting...
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