Opening Space for Self-Management

Posted 14 November, 2015 · Add Comment

This was first published in LinkedIn Pulse on 22 October 2015 Opening Space for Self-Management Self-organisation in Action Self-managing teams, organisations or systems, also referred to as ‘teal’, could become the next management fad. As more organisations are intrigued by the concept, largely introduced by Frederick Laloux’s book Reinventing Organisations, more and more managers, coaches […]

The problem with change management

Posted 29 July, 2015 · Add Comment

Intuitively change management has always struck me as unfair or oppressive, even when it was well-intentioned and perfectly rational. It has appeared to me one-sided, often with senior management wanting to enforce a new system or a new way of working, yet were themselves unwilling to change their own habits or behaviours. I even felt this sense of unease when I was a ‘senior manager’ myself! ‘Change management’ renders an air of blame, injecting fear, and when things are not working it’s ‘because the staff are incompetent, or lazy, or otherwise doing things wrong – they need to change’. It is not a genuinely collaborative effort. I have observed so many situations in companies, for instance, where improvements have been suggested by more junior staff which have then simply been brushed off as…