Category: Organization Development
Creating Teams Safe for Egos & Emotions
. . Creating Teams Safe for Egos & Emotions An important key to having great teams and organizations is their sense of safety. Their members do not fear censure should their all-too-human egos and emotions become evident. They feel free to speak, to dissent, to be radical, and even outlandish. This freedom is key to having high levels of productivity, engagement, and creativity. In … Read More Creating Teams Safe for Egos & Emotions
You Can’t Do It Alone . . .
& You Don’t Have to Many leaders have the notion that it is lonely at the top. Like so many things, if you believe it, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. The fact is no one has ever accomplished anything of any significance alone. Think about that. I think about my first successful, unassisted step as a toddler! But then I think of all the … Read More You Can’t Do It Alone . . .
Get to Critical Mass Support with System Mapping
Creating change in human systems such as teams and organizations is a matter of developing a critical mass of support for the change goal. Of course, developing that critical mass may involve working through whatever resistances there are and resolving the conflicts that are encountered. Regardless, that critical mass rarely calls for even a majority of its members. The key is to identify and … Read More Get to Critical Mass Support with System Mapping
Resolving Conflict & Negative Synergy in Teams & Organizations
A few months ago, I was working with five faculty members of a university sociology department. They were having difficulty getting along with each other. There were lots of conflicts and negative judgments were abundant. I interviewed each one. They were all well-intentioned, bright people with excellent knowledge of group sociology. Regardless, as a group they were a mess. I’ve worked with similar situations … Read More Resolving Conflict & Negative Synergy in Teams & Organizations
Changing an Organization’s Culture
Changing an organization’s culture or the norms of a team is not something to take lightly. An organization’s culture is the pattern of how it routinely behaves much like the personality of a human being. The analogy is apt since an organization is a human system. Likewise, they can be functional or dysfunctional. Dysfunctional cultures that are overly competitive, passive aggressive, or compliant, for … Read More Changing an Organization’s Culture
