Readers of this blog will know that we promote a systemic understanding of companies and a systems science-based method for managing all aspects of an enterprise, from strategy through to day-to-day operations. We see organizations as entities that are not a collection of separate pieces but as highly interconnected networks of projects and there is an […]
How to Cope With Change: Understanding Cause and Effect
Dr. W. Edwards Deming used to say: “The only thing that does not require maintenance is obsolescence”. This is a fundamental truth: if we do not evolve, we regress. What makes everything more complicated is the pace at which we must evolve to survive. Nobody would recommend change for the sake of it. However, our […]
Managing Change Effectively with a Systemic Framework and Method
Whenever we think about managing change, it can’t just be abstract. We need some kind of framework and method. It is highly useful to consider three phases that happen when we introduce change, as identified in the Theory of Constraints (TOC): what to change what to change to how to make the change happen For […]
Decisions and Change – Thinking Processes for a Complex World
Why is the world today so complex? Because interconnections and interdependencies multiply at an ever-increasing speed. On top of this, we struggle to understand how this new kind of reality works. Every day, we participate in a super intricate ‘network of networks’ but we have a very limited understanding of the underlying properties of these […]
Effective Decision-Making? Understand Your Driver Needs First
When it comes to change, we find ourselves in a fundamental conflict. On the one hand, we don’t want to change because we want to protect a deep need for “control”. On the other hand, we want to change because we want to protect a deep need connected with “vision” or growth. Both needs are […]
Why Is Managing Change So Hard and How Can We Make it Easier?
Nothing in our world today is quite the same as it was just a year ago. Many people have had to change completely the way they work and live and many will never “return to normal”. Managing change is something that all of us must become familiar with and it has become a fundamental element […]
Creating Connections Between Company Functions – Back to Deming
We’re a little late this week with our post as we are working intensively with clients who are growing, in spite of a global crisis. This is one of the principal benefits of adopting a systemic approach. We would like to share with you something that the Director of an international recruiting company posted […]
Human Resources – a New Perspective for Our Post-Pandemic World
We cannot know when, exactly, but a moment will come when we will move forward beyond the lockdowns. There are those who long to “go back to normal. But that would mean to squander the unique opportunity the global crisis has given us: to usher in a level of transformation in the way we work […]
A New Economics for Sustainable Prosperity – Out of the Crisis Series Part 7
The current crises are driving home dramatically the realization that organizations need to make more and do more with the resources they have available. We will only achieve this if we are able to undertake a shift in the way we understand how to manage all the resources available in a sustainable way. It is […]
Identifying Assumptions to Unlock Innovation and Move Beyond the Crisis – Out of the Crisis Series Part 6
In the previous part of this series, Part 5: Learning to Think Systemically to Make Informed Decisions and Pre-empt a Crisis, we saw how the Conflict Cloud Thinking Process helps us identify a situation of blockage and understand why this blockage exists in the first place. What keeps us stuck is the set of assumptions, or […]
