#OrgShift

Change. Deeper. Smarter.

 

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 […]

This abridged blog, written by Judy Rees, was originally posted October 27, 2015 in Enlivening Edge.  The full version can be found on the Enlivening Edge website here. RSA Fellows Form New Network To Boost Next-Stage Organisations By Judy Rees for Enlivening Edge Fifty RSA Fellows and friends squeezed into a City of London meeting […]

We were all drawn to this place to answer the question: why aren’t organizations shifting? Among us were people making shifts within their own organizations; coaches and consultants devoted to guiding people towards better ways of working; educators frustrated with the current system; and some who simply had the nagging sense that “there must be a better way.” Martin Grimshaw and Francois Knuchel, from Caterfly, invited the group to volunteer ideas for exploratory, participant-led sessions. Within minutes, the wall was plastered with headings: barriers to change, reinventing education, and even a session done in complete silence. In this Field Report, I’d like to share the key themes from the sessions I took part in…

There’s an interesting-looking unconference next week (21 July 15) in London. The question that is being floated is “Why aren’t organisations shifting? For all the talk of a deep shift required in our organisations, why is very little actually transforming?” It’s a great question. But I think it may also be the wrong question. I don’t really believe in organisations, so I’d rather talk about people. And I can only really speak about my own experience, not that of other people. So let me reframe the question: “Why aren’t I shifting faster than I am?”

For quite a while now I’ve been interested in the idea that organisations can work in a different way from our traditional command and control top-down hierarchy. Two approaches which appear to be gaining popularity and visibility are ‘Holocracy’ developed by Brian Robertson and ‘Sociocracy’ developed by Gerard Endenburg…

For those who weren’t lucky enough to join us at the OrgShift unconference yesterday, I thought I would share the reading list that I compiled to plough through this summer…

Ah the beauty of an unconference. Loose format; Open Space as our guiding frame and then the thoughts, passion and ideas that come from discussions with people known and unknown. The folks at http://caterfly.co.uk/ have arranged this event as an unconference around the question “Why aren’t organisations shifting?” and by shifting we’re saying yes there’s change but is it the kind of change we need or should be seeing given the new insight, inspiration and enlightenment we have about the human soul, spirit and mind at work..? It seems not. We do see examples of great ways to work in some places but….

Yesterday a group of practitioners and work transformation enthusiasts gathered for an Open Space event hosted by Caterfly to discuss the question: why aren’t organisations shifting? I’d like to share some highlights from the conversations I was involved in…. Can you shift an organisation from within?

I spent yesterday in a bubble of inspiration- an Open Space event in a room full of individuals who are as passionate as I am about changing the way that we live and work. I then came home to watch the analysis and comment on George Osbourne’s challenge to government departments to save up to 40% on their budgets by 2019-20. As someone who has spent her whole career in the social sector, my interests particularly lie in how new models of “work” might be applied to the delivery of public services. Since the start of the economic crisis, there has been ubiquitous talk of the seismic shift that is required for public services…

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…

 

 

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