Leading and Working in Complex Human Systems “The World is a Stage…” by Steven Ober, March 3, 2011 In this post, we will continue our “Dance with the Butterfly”—our examination of human systems, how they behave, how we experience them, and how we can lead and work in them most effectively. Our direct experience of …

I became fascinated by change in 1997 when I led an organization-wide change initiative to purposefully redesign our Product Development and Commercialization Process (PDCP). After 18-months of organizationally created VUCA we declared victory – a success that only 30% of change initiatives achieve. Let me put this in perspective. If only 30% of your product …

Group. Project. These are possibly two of the most dreaded words to an Massachusetts Institute of Technology Student, inducing fears of getting stuck with the slacker partner or pulling an all-nighter to throw together a half-effort project. Team building can help stop your team creating a monster At least, this is how those two words …

roughout my career, I have spent a great deal of time speaking with employees and potential employees about their career goals and paths. Almost always when I interview a candidate, they tell me that they are looking for a job that has growth potential and that they see themselves in a leadership position. It sounds so similar from every candidate that I am sure that this response has been programmed into them like a type of brainwashing

“I’ve been in this position for four years. My boss drops hints about where I might go from here, but nothing comes of it. I feel stuck. ” When you have been in a position for a while you may feel like you have reached a plateau. But I think that plateaus are not necessarily …

To apply the learning of VUCA ∞ VUCA Prime I draw a visual metaphor of my situation. I have limited drawing skills so I need something that is simple and provides just enough structure to guide my thinking. I start by establishing context, in this case the design for a cultural change program to create …

Think hard work is all you need for career success? Jeffrey Pfeffer, at Stanford University Graduate School of Business disagrees. In his latest book, Power: Why Some People Have It and Others Don’t, he argues that what you need to succeed in the workplace is, above all, power. He was asked in an interview with …

A reader asked for career advice on this situation. “A new position, which will be a promotion, has just opened up in the company. It sounds very exciting even though I haven’t had much experience in that kind of responsibility. But I have a good track record and friends are urging me to go for …

To the point, this is a post on what most people call “teamwork.” Bored already? Believe me, I understand. Traditional talk on teamwork is overdone and underused. But the fact remains that most market evolutions rely on a team—somewhere, somehow, some way. And that’s why what happens inside teams, from a Presidential White House Cabinet …

What do you see on the horizon? I bet it’s change and more change! In these days of takeovers and mergers, of downsizing operations of multiple “rightsizings”, chances are that you are going to be caught up in some form of major workplace change at least once in your career. Probably many times! See Part …