Organisational alignment for enjoyment and performance

Imagine an organisation in which everyone works together, collaboratively and enthusiastically, to achieve a common and worthwhile goal.  Ultimately that’s one key purpose, perhaps the key purpose, of organisations — to coordinate effort and expertise to achieve a common purpose.  Imagine an organisation where the efforts of every person contribute to the same (or compatible) […]

CHANGE – What do we mean by success? Part I

A few years ago, I facilitated a conversation on the differences between Organisational Development and Change Management, two of the more prominent approaches to organisational change. The conversation took place in a LinkedIn group with almost 60,000 professionals registered. The point of the conversation was to understand if professionals involved in change were aware of […]

DIAGNOSIS – From 30,000 ft

Harvard Professor Clayton Christensen wrote a worthwhile and readable article on the topic of management theory for the September 2003 Harvard Business Review. In it he offers a metaphor which is very relevant to the topic of diagnosis. The story goes like this. A patient walks into a doctor’s surgery with alarming symptoms. When she […]

SYSTEMS – More than we think?

Systems is an unfortunately ambiguous word that can mean many things. It can mean, for example, a software system such as excel, Oracle, SAP, or salesforce.com. It can also mean a group of interrelated processes such as in sales; lead generation, prospecting, opportunity and lead management, contracting and closing, as well as incentivisation. Of course, […]