“You cannot run a knowledge-based organisation by direct control, pressure, high demands, and micro-management.” Jan Hoglund Without people changing (in particular, leaders changing their collective assumptions and beliefs) ‘Transforming our organisational culture’ has zero chance of delivering on its promises. Leaders raised and rewarded through the industrial management status quo can struggle to describe how and why their organisations now need to work and learn differently. The traditional control based, directing, mandating management model only creates a focus on tactics, plans and logistics. This approach now provides diminishing returns. Sustainable organisations only emerge from a commitment to shared vision, connection, new interactions and psychological safety. So the new question for leadership teams could be: “How are we deliberately creating a new environment (‘the system’) within which our new strategy can be achieved?” The next question - that shapes any organisational

“In a world of separation and domination, systems thinking is subversive.” Dr Elizabeth Sawin The key to improving the work of organisations - and the contributions of the people in them - is to look at them as connected 'systems'. (Put another way, because improving the performance of individual silos won’t make the overall performance of the organisation any better). However nobody seems to want to do this. So, who’s resisting systems thinking? Executives don’t want it because means questioning the current mindset and behaviours that have brought them status and ‘results’ Individual managers don’t want it because they assume it threatens their control over their local silos L&D / HR don’t want it because their remit does not extent to the organisation, as its still rooted in the ‘performance’ of individuals (and occasionally, specific teams). And employees don't want it because they often don’t care / need to care about the overall organisation.