“There is no such thing as a dysfunctional organization, because every organization is perfectly aligned to achieve the results it gets.” – Jeff Lawrence. We were asked to comment on this statement. Here is our reply. The word dysfunctional contains the prefix dys- from the Greek meaning “bad”, “abnormal”, “difficult”, or “impaired”. We can say […]
Overcoming Divisiveness with Practical Collaboration
Today we have unprecedented technological means for connection, so it is paradoxical that there is so much divisiveness in the world. Divisiveness is one of the most negative forces we face, whether it be at the level of individuals or nations. Polarization is increasing, creating an ever greater divide between the haves and have nots […]
How to Lead Change Management – A Systemic Approach
Any time leaders try to introduce change into an organization they will be faced with the fear and conflicts of the people involved in the changes. This is true for digital transformation and it is true for any major shift. If these reactions and resistance to change are not managed, they will remain real and present […]
Digital Transformation: An Unmissable Opportunity to Reorganize for Growth
With digital transformation increasingly taking center stage in many businesses, more CIOs are reporting to the CEO. The role of IT and the role of the CIO are central to creating a shift in how organizations operate, compete and thrive in this age of complexity. Digital Transformation is an opportunity to completely re-examine and improve […]
Give Up Busy – Choose Productive
Being busy is considered by many to be a virtue. People may be giving their businesses 200% of effort. But in reality, being busy as you work through a shopping list of “to do” tasks can be the opposite of virtuous. How? Because it can lead to wasting time on the wrong things, unproductive multi-tasking […]
Why Do We Get Stuck on the Path to Change? The Human Constraint
Why is it so difficult to change, even when we know how to make it happen? Why is it so difficult to embrace newly learned and valid concepts and apply them? There are reasons why people resist change and there are also practical ways to work towards achieving an agreed upon goal. This was part […]
Don’t Be Misunderstood! 5 Steps to Giving Clear Instructions
You need people to do things and to do them in a certain way, but so often they just don’t get it. To paraphrase Nina Simone, the Animals, Elvis Costello and many others, you’re intentions may be good and you don’t want to be misunderstood. So how do you get people to do things? By telling […]
How to Give Clear Instructions – Lessons from a Martian
One of the major causes of unsatisfactory results in operations and dissatisfied employees in organizations is that we are unable to give clear instructions. We don’t know how to adequately communicate the knowledge required to carry out the task given. (This is answer number two to the question from our previous posts on Empowerment: “Why can’t people […]
Empowerment: 5 Questions to Help People Do Their Jobs
Empowerment is a great word but can be meaningless unless we give it an operational definition. Operationally, empowerment means that there is alignment between a person’s authority and the responsibility they are given. Continuing from our previous post on Empowerment, what can we do operationally when people don’t seem able to do their work on […]
Why you Need Theory, Not Tips, for Your Organization Today
The world is full of tips on how to do things better. The problem is that without some solid theory behind you, those tips are just patches. Theory, you say? But we need something practical, don’t we? Well, here’s the thing. There is no such thing as good practice without solid theory to back it […]
