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 …

Someone asked, recently, about putting together a “fundraising plan.” My response was about creating a “Development Plan.” Where the latter has its focus on the relationships between the organization and its constituents/donors that can result in contributed income, the former just focuses on the dollars. And, when just focusing on dollars is sometimes OK for …

I wrote recently about the role of field knowledge in project management or the difference between senior and junior project managers in terms of decision-making. More specifically, I argued that while senior managers focused on potential project difficulties, junior managers were more easily swayed by their project’s plan and its deficiencies. Spotting problems with your …

GoGrabLunch facilitates one on one networking lunches between business professionals who have never met

What Would a Caveman DO? : Training Insights How We Know What We Know About Training What exactly is caveman training? Actually, I just made it up to get your attention. You probably know it as non-traditional training. Bringing in outsiders, people in related fields to train in the areas where we are similar. Traditional …

The former inevitably leads to the latter One of the most common causes of crises (business and personal!) is making poor choices, a problem that can usually be corrected by training and communication. Sometimes, though, underlying conditions make standard addiction and crisis management nearly impossible. One issue that often surfaces in the world of big …

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 …

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 respond to Michael (his comment is below) that we don’t disagree, that it’s just a difference in vocabulary. My reference to nonprofits being public institutions is a matter of perspective, not legal language. Nonprofits are required/supposed to serve the needs of the “community,” and I write from the perspective of the “community’s” right to …

I know many small business owners who struggled the last 12-18 months due to the economy. Many lamented at how rough it has been and are looking forward to business picking up this year. I took note about how they were using their downtime. Those who focused on their fears had a harder time with …