Places to hide

"It probably doesn't pay to argue over things we have chosen to believe as part of our identity."

Seth Godin

Places to hide inside a control based bureaucracy:

Status

Tactics

Tools (includes all technologies)

Processes

Policies

Hierarchies

Meeting protocols

Slide deck protocols

Budgeting 

Current measures

Lack of current measures.


I work as a thinking partner and advisor with mid sized, value oriented companies going through significant change. I help you to build new capability and mindsets through shifting your approach to organisational development.

Comments

Post a Comment

Please let me know your thoughts on this...

Popular posts from this blog

10 (possibly new) questions for Learning and Development teams to use in 'Learning Technology' vendor discussions

It's a sellers market. So, I've put together a list of 10 (possibly new) questions for L&D teams to use in your 'Learning Technology' vendor discussions: 1. What is the big change your business is trying to make / facilitate / accelerate in the world of work? 2. What is your 'worldview' of the role of learning in business settings today? 3. Who exactly is your proposition for and, not for?: (i.e. which work contexts and cultures does your 'solution' best support and why?). 4. Describe how your organisation interprets the terms 'training', 'learning', 'learner', 'learning culture' and 'digital transformation'. 5. What is currently the biggest challenge for leaders of teams in organisations from your perspective? 6. How do we balance support for both productive and generative learning in your opinion? 7. According to the Havard Business Review "Leaders Guide to Corporate Culture" report...
Read more

Corporate 'Learning and Development' is over-indexed

"Beware of programs. By definition, they end. Continuous improvement, on the other hand, never ends." Geary Rummler 'Over-indexed' can be defined as ' over-emphasising or over-weighting a specific factor, at the expense of others, potentially leading to illogical conclusions .' The corporate 'L&D' industry and its potential for positive, sustainable, performance impact is massively over-indexed.   Put another way, focusing on the performance of individuals (through training for example) has limited potential to improve outcomes and so should be employed sparingly; (only in specific circumstances to which it is suited, e.g. for a new role or when performance expectations change). Performance problems are almost always a result from failures within the overall work system: Unclear expectations Inconsistent feedback loops that confirm expectations are being met Poorly designed processes Poorly managed processes Insufficient / ineffective tools Insuff...
Read more

Breaking the familiar cycle of the way that Learning and Development teams operate in corporate organisations

There is a familiar cycle for the way that many L&D teams operate in corporate organisations. The common recipe includes: 1. The organisation hasn't defined the role and priority of 'learning'; (i.e. to accelerate change, move the work culture, improve individual and team performance, enable the business strategy) 2. The L&D team (who are unable to influence the'Why?') get stuck as reactive training order takers 3. Ideas get watered down through rounds of 'pleasing the teacher' meetings resulting in 'Learning programs' and 'Learning solutions'; (interchangeable words for ease of political passage) 4. 'Learning programs' are a drain on time / costs / interest for everyone; (especially for 'busy people' on the 'front line' doing the 'real work') 5. Measurement of benefits from 'Learning programs' is difficult / negligible / hard to keep people's attention on 6. As the work performance i...
Read more