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 […]

It's hard to survive in the jungle if all you know is the zoo

Complexity and adaptive leadership, culture, Engagement, Healthy organizations, Leadership, Metaphor

I recently posted a tweet that created an unexpected enthusiastic response. It read: “It’s hard to survive in the jungle if you were trained in a zoo” I love using metaphors and analogies to explain the concepts I work with, like the difference between complex (jungle) and complicated or obvious (zoo) contexts. This is one […]

What I learned from speaking at TedX

General musings, Meaning and purpose, Narrative

Last year, while browsing my LinkedIn feed I came across TedX Pretoria's call for speakers. On the spur of the moment, I decided to nominate myself, never really considering the consequences if I was actually accepted. A couple of weeks later I received the email that my nomination had been successful, and promptly had a "what were you […]

Reflections on consulting

General musings, Uncategorized

In a recent Acumen (GIBS Business School's magazine) there was a pretty scathing piece on consulting with the heading: Consultants or Insultants? The author's basic premise is that aside from a limited number of tech projects, no self-respecting executive can ever justify the use of expensive consultants and that more often than not they only […]

Enabling agility: reflecting on the role of heuristics

agility, Change, Complexity and adaptive leadership, Resilience

I've been doing a lot of work lately working with organisations to build strategic agility and resilience to continuous change. This has caused much reflection on what potential enablers might be for strategic agility and distributed decision-making in this increasingly complex and volatile world. I've come to believe that one of the key enablers is an understanding of […]

Enabling (vs mandating) change

agility, Change, Complexity and adaptive leadership, Narrative, sensemaker

One of the intractable problems that seem face most companies is effecting real and lasting change across the entire organisation. Many organisations are littered with failed change initiatives and more and more it seems that traditional change management methodologies are failing. Most large organisations seem to be profoundly stuck when it comes to enabling change; plagued with stories […]

The story of SenseMaker® in UNDP Eastern Europe and CIS

Complexity and adaptive leadership, Narrative, sensemaker

A very useful blog by Tony Quinlan posted on the Cognitive Edge site. The real value is in following the links and reading about the various UNDP Sensemaker® sites. The story of SenseMaker® in UNDP Eastern Europe and CIS.

Believing you're in chaos can become a self-fullfilling prophecy

Complexity and adaptive leadership, Cynefin

One of my new favorite things to do is facilitating Cynefin 101 workshops within my corporate clients. It allows me to be quite provocative and disruptive (which I've started enjoying of late), and I love seeing "the lights come on" when people get it. The interactions between attendees can also be pretty illuminating. A week or […]

Connectivity or coupling: keep Goldilocks in mind (Building resilience: Principle 2)

Complexity and adaptive leadership, culture, Healthy organizations, Resilience

My mother always said that nothing with a "too" in front of it is good. That is certainly true about connectivity, too little and too much can be equally detrimental. High levels of connectivity can facilitate the fast recovery of a system after a disruption, but at the same time some disruptions spread faster in highly […]

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