Eclectic Change

Encouraging Differences Starts at Home

Everyone wants to be accepted for who they are.  Mothers are great for that.  While they have high hopes for us, the bottom line is that mothers want us to be happy.  Mothers also quickly learn how their children are similar and how they are are different from them.  The good mothers foster and encourage those differences.  I had a mother like, that even though she worried all the time about me. My mother tried hard to manage me . . . she figured out pretty quickly that I wasn't at all like h...

OD Interventions – Future Search

What is Future Search? Future search is a PLANNING MEETING that helps people transform their capability for action very quickly. The meeting is task-focused. It brings together 60 to 80 people in one room or hundreds in parallel rooms. Future search brings people from all walks of life into the same conversation - those with resources, expertise, formal authority and need. They meet for 16 hours spread across three days. People tell stories about their past, present and desired future. Thr...

Is Transparency Always The Right Choice? (Video)

I am the first person to believe that transparency is a good thing. I often preach it.  After reading a respected colleague of mine who does a lot work in the Middle East and Asia, I began to have a few reservations. So here are some thoughts for discussion. I'd love to hear your views. In the above video, I mention the book "Transparency: How Leaders Create a Culture of Candor"  by Warren Bennis, Daniel Goleman, James O’Toole.  You can find a nice little video of O'Toole discussing the b...

Organizational Development Simplified

There are lots of definitions of organization development (OD) but let me begin by saying it is not the same as managing change!  Look at the words themselves . . . development of the organization implies organic, holistic, engaging and full of potential. While the other is more systematic and linear and implies that change can be organized, planned, directed and controlled. * For the past 12 years I have taught Organization Development courses on and off and all I ask of my students are two ...

Sustainability through a “North Star” Goal

Finally, someone has captured the full scope of the sustainability issue and resolved some of the inner conflict I have been experiencing lately.  Protecting the natural environment isn’t the whole story: companies must consider their social, economic, and cultural impact as well.  Sustainability is good business and therefore corporate social responsibility makes good sense to businesses and all of us. Intuitively I knew this but try to explain the logic in a ROI sense and it sometimes takes a ...

Why I don’t do Change Management.

A fellow consultant, Holger Nauheimer, asked this question on his Change Management Blog a couple of months ago:  Will we still talk about Change Management, in 10 years? I had a lot of thoughts on the subject and my mind started to ramble  . . . and time passed but I did want to address this issue so here are some of my thoughts on the subject. I don't do Change Management - never have; never will. I have never called myself a Change Consultant but I have slipped into saying that I do "Ch...

Kudos to Marshall Goldsmith

You have to have a strong ego to write blog posts that are well read by others (who have their own opinions) and then read all the comments.  Two days ago, I took exception to the term "uncoachable" that Marshall Goldsmith used in a recent in his "Ask the Coach" segment in HRB: "How to Spot the "Uncoachables".  To his credit, Marshall responded and qualified the terms he was using. I encourage you to read the post and the comments (including mine and his responses). Earlier today, I put up a ...

OD Interventions – World Cafe

I wrote about Large Group Intervention Strategies a little over a year ago with some links and a download.  I thought it would be a good idea to pick up on some of these tools and share a little more about them. I have chosen the World Cafe because - to be honest - I have just come across a wonderful 25 page book excerpt from Berrett-Koehler.  You can visit the World Cafe web site here. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In the first comprehensive book on the World Café, co...

Frameworks and Models from McKinsey to help analyze decisions

I have been negligent.  For the past couple of months I have been wanting to share the Enduring Ideas and Classic's from McKinsey.  I have always enjoyed McKinsey articles and research and have been enjoying the interactive presentations immensely. According to them: The central characteristic of an enduring idea is that both it and its uses evolve over time. In September, Kevin Coyne describes the GE–McKinsey nine-box matrix, a framework that offers a systematic approach for a multi-business an...

Podcast Interview with Barry Oshry

Hear Barry Oshry, author of "Seeing Systems" and "Leading Systems" discuss the human systems dynamics underlying his groundbreaking work. Learn how to move past system blindness and toward system sight where people live and work together productively. Barry's 40-year career as an innovative educator, author and workshop developer is amazing.   What drives Tops to be territorial? Why do silos develop? What's the plight of Middles? How can they become the drivers of organizational change? Wha...