Using Cynefin to make sense of preparing for the future of work

Complexity and adaptive leadership, Future of Work, Learning Out Loud

These past two weeks, I've had several conversations with executives and OD/L&D professionals who are trying to make sense of the complexities that automation initiatives are introducing into the workplace. We found it helpful to use Cynefin to understand some of these dynamics. Now we know things tend not to fit neatly into the domains, […]

Want resilience? Nurture diversity.

Complexity and adaptive leadership, culture, Metaphor, Metaphorology, Resilience

One of the learnings from complexity that I find particularly valuable in the workplace is the need for a “requisite diversity”. Too little diversity limits the system’s adaptive capacity and too much diversity leads to a loss of coherence. One way to look at this is the tension between efficiency and centralisation e.g. instead […]

Coaching leaders in the networked economy: reflecting on learnings from the A-N coaching course (LOL 1)

Complexity and adaptive leadership, Leadership, Learning Out Loud

When you’re at sea and need to find your way, it is key to first locate yourself i.e. know your current position. Before we had GPS, mariners did this by getting a “fix” - taking a compass heading on three widely spaced objects and determining where these headings intersect to get a “fix” on their […]

Walking with the elephants

Change, Complexity and adaptive leadership, culture, Metaphorology

Today I want to share one of my favorite analogies. I use this in almost every presentation as a way to challenge the prevailing paradigm that priveleges expert design and control. There are two ways to lay out a park … ... one is to employ an expert landscape architect to design an ideal layout […]

Think like a Chef

agility, Complexity and adaptive leadership, Metaphorology

The trouble is that, in my view, the continual bombardment of quick and simple recipes is doing nothing to teach us how to cook. We are in serious danger of becoming slaves to recipes, rather than having the confidence to be able to walk along a supermarket aisle, or look through fridge and cupboard, to […]

The complexities of Responsible Leadership

Complexity and adaptive leadership, Cynefin, Leadership, Uncategorized

Earlier in the week, I had the privilege of spending the morning exploring ideas around complexity and leadership with two friends who understand both fields. Our conversation mostly centered on Responsible Leadership as one of the participants runs the Albert Luthuli Centre for Responsible Leadership and it's a very relevant topic at the moment. At Davos […]

On mayonnaise and survival

agility, Complexity and adaptive leadership, culture, Metaphor, Resilience

I recently attended the 4th International Conference for Responsible Leadership, hosted at Gibs by the Albert Luthuli Centre for Responsible Leadership (University of Pretoria). One of the highlights was getting the chance to facilitate a panel discussion on Complexity Leadership in South Africa with a group of highly respected local and international academics. Another was […]

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 […]

Three lessons from a marshmallow

agility, Complexity and adaptive leadership, Cynefin, Innovation, Methods and practices, Teams

It's amazing how much one can learn from a simple game using a marshmallow and some spaghetti. I first came across the so-called Marshmallow challenge when I discovered Tom Wujec's Ted talk. I later also found his site where he generously shares detailed step-by-step instructions as well as presentations one can use as facilitation aids. In short, small groups […]

Jungle vs Zoo - Reflections on change and resilience

Change, Complexity and adaptive leadership, culture, Healthy organizations, Innovation, Leadership, Metaphor, Resilience

In my previous post I introduced the analogy of a jungle vs a zoo to help us make sense of the complex contexts we face and the often ordered organisational structures and processes we tend to create. In this post I want to explore this analogy further and look specifically at how change and resilience from the […]

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Blog - Category: Complexity and adaptive leadership