WaysFinding - Enabling coherent explore spaces

Boundaries, Complexity and adaptive leadership, Flow, Innovation, Leadership, Methods and practices, Resilience

I have written before about the need to embrace messy coherence or in more technical terms, coherent heterogeneity, a term I first encountered in the work of Dave Snowden. While most intuitively understand this need, how to achieve it practically remains elusive. We are emerging from a time where alignment and efficiency were pursued like […]

7 lessons I've learnt consulting as a "complexity practitioner"

Change, Complexity and adaptive leadership, Learning Out Loud, Methods and practices

I've now been using a complex and emergent approach to consulting for around 17 years. A friend of mine read me his coaching "manifesto" recently including his approach to internal change consulting. It made me think about what I've learnt about using this approach so I decided it might be useful to reflect on them […]

Ten things to keep in mind when facilitating an emergent process

Boundaries, Complexity and adaptive leadership, Learning Out Loud, Methods and practices

"Traveler, there is no path. The path is made by walking. Traveller, the path is your tracks And nothing more. Traveller, there is no path The path is made by walking. By walking you make a path And turning, you look back At a way you will never tread again Traveller, there is no road […]

Recent Sensemaker project roundup

Insights, Methods and practices, Narrative, sensemaker

Over the last year we've had the opportunity to do a couple of really interesting Sensemaker projects. For those who are interested in South African cases, here's a summary: Financial services: We have gotten a lot of traction in the customer insights space, specfically in the financial services industry. This industry operates in a very […]

Finding our way together

General musings, Methods and practices

In a recent post, Jeff Goins describes that moment when the so-called “imposter syndrome” prevents a writer from publishing his work. I could relate to that feeling … I often find myself agonising about whether or not something I’ve written is “worthy of publishing”. Typically it sounds like “Who am I to write about this? I’m […]

Metaphorology

Metaphorology, Methods and practices

I have always loved metaphors and analogies. Stumbling upon a really great metaphor always feels like discovering hidden treasure (see what I did there?... :-)) Metaphors are pervasive Research says that we use 6 metaphors a minute (!) - at first this seems impossible, but once we tune into metaphors, it soon becomes apparent just […]

If you want to innovate, don't say so

agility, Cynefin, Metaphor, Methods and practices, Narrative, Teams

"Innovation is not so much about having ideas as it is about making connections" Harold Jarche Last week I had the opportunity to facilitate a week-long "innovation sprint" for Agile 42, an international agile coaching company. After recovering from my time spent facilitating 39 other facilitators (on my own!) I finally had time to reflect on […]

Video: Evolving Cynefin Shadow Domains and constraints typology

agility, Cynefin, Innovation, Methods and practices

I recently had the privilege of listening to Dave Snowden give a short explanation of the evolving Cynefin constraints typology and new shadow domains. I find the shadow domains helpful when thinking of interventions - specifically in combination with/in place of the subdomain models. This is still emerging, so expect these to change ...

Avoiding incorrect expectations: positioning Sensemaker®

Methods and practices, Narrative, sensemaker

As the Sensemaker® approach gains traction in the market, more and more people are attempting to convince others to use it. So whether you are trying to sell it internally (e.g. to your insights team) or to a client, here are a few tips to ensure that it is positioned properly (especially in relation to other […]

A short chronicle of 2016

agility, Change, Complexity and adaptive leadership, culture, Cynefin, General musings, Methods and practices, sensemaker, Uncategorized

I always admire those writers who have the discipline to publish consistently regardless of circumstance. I tend to write in spurts. I find that when I become really busy with projects and speaking engagements, my writing suffers. So in case you were wondering why I've been so quiet, I thought I'd write a short update […]

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Blog - Category: Methods and practices