It is a little astonishing how often people presume that change can be forced. In particular, there’s an assumption that all that’s required is for senior management to tell everyone what to do, and they’ll do it. You can try. I guarantee it won’t work; at least, it won’t work for long. Leadership has a role, but it’s not the one you think.

The idea of liminality is a simple one. It describes a progress by which significant transformation can occur. But within a simply presented model, there are a lot of moving parts. Attempting to navigate through in-between spaces takes work and effort. Knowing what to look for and what to expect helps make that a little bit easier.

Beliefs and principles are useful. They guide us when we are dealing with unknowns and uncertainty. They also get in the way, because they blind us to being aware of when they stop working. This is particular true of process, where ideology often gets in the way of adaptation and a recognition of what works here (or what won’t).

Culture matters. That might seem obvious to say, but we tend to ignore that when it comes to process design and organizational change. We can see that when implementing process, what works depends upon context. But the challenge is reading context accurately, and making appropriate choices that work. We need to lead with culture and follow with practice, not the other way around.

How we think about change is stuck in the past. Judging by the way we organize, there are those who would like to keep it that way. We need to think differently about how we organize for change. And we need to change our organizations.

Planning is supposed to be virtuous. Good for us. And yet, plans usually change. To-dos don’t get done. Life gets in the way. And our planning systems don’t keep up. So just what’s the point?

At a breakfast conversation this morning, talking about the challenges of managing in our current environment, one of my table-mates voiced the perspective that many of us share in our minds, but few of us have dared to articulate: “I feel like we are dealing with this massive, relentless pace of change. We’re moving past…
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I have spent an inordinate amount of my life figuring out how to organize significant parts of my life. Whether it is figuring out how to track and manage projects, maintain my calendar, manage my commitments or keep track of my writing, there has been an on-going and somewhat frustrating effort to get to a…
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There are days and times when our expectations don’t line up with our reality. Often, we go into a situation with expectations of how it will turn out, and then—for whatever reason—what actually occurs fails to live up with how we imagined it. At the same time, there are occasions when our expectations are quite…
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“Safety is our number one priority.” This is a common refrain in many organizations, and it has particularly been an area of more recent emphasis in riskier environments: construction, working with heavy equipment, mining and oil & gas exploration. A recent article in Quartz highlights some interesting—and arguably unintended—results from a recent workplace effort to…
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