The 4 Enabling Disciplines
DexterityDynamism
Discourse
Discovery
PMG is a medium size company specializing in the manufacturing of automotive parts. New management was recently hired to lead the organization into the next phase of the company's development. After a review of the business, the leadership embarked on several strategic change initiatives. How could the management be better prepared to guide these initiatives in an effective manner? Taking the Fish out of the Water A fish does not know what water is until it is taken out of the water. Similarly, leaders and managers in organizations often do not see the water around them either – until [...]
Emotions and Leadership As we prepare tomorrow's business leaders, not enough is being invested in teaching them the basics of what it means to be human. Their preparation typically consists of an on-going accumulation of factual knowledge combined with the acquisition of a spectrum of business skills. It is apparent when looking at this kind of work preparation, that the focus is on the content and the process of the work to be done. Much less is invested in the ability to relate to whom they are actually leading: human beings. Learning to work with and lead people is for the most part often left to be learned on the [...]
The challenges of the digital revolution are compelling us to review our understanding of what comprises good leadership. In the not too distant past, one of middle managers’ main responsibilities was the transfer of information throughout the organization. Today much of that information is available at a click of a button. In the not too distant past, most of the information was to be found at the top of the organization. Today it is everywhere throughout the organization and it is quite likely that key strategic information does not necessarily reside in the C-Suite. As a matter of fact, in [...]
Encountering Holocracy I became aware of Holocracy in 2016 when I read an article in the German language newspaper Handelsblatt on the recent work of the distinguished Professor Gary Hamel who is known for introducing the concept of c ore competencies in the 1990s. This theory suggests that companies can build a sustainable competitive advantage by identifying and investing in the core processes that drive their business. In more recent years, Hamel's work has taken a very different direction. He is concerned with the future of management. He believes that in many ways hierarchical management is actually impeding the generation of value. Somewhere in the footnotes of [...]
In today’s digital world there is an increasing spectrum of ways to connect with each other digitally: virtual groups and teams, communities of practice, zoom meetings to name just a few. As a result, it is difficult to imagine work getting done without harnessing the power of networks in our organizations. However, when it comes to organizational culture, companies have a tendency to under utilize the power of their networks. The abstract nature of culture may be one reason why this dynamic component of culture is underestimated. Transforming a culture is a difficult enough challenge for CEOs and leaders in [...]
More than 100 different topics offered Ensemble Enabler is proud to be a certified provider for CoachingOurselves© – the company which was inspired by Professor Henry Mintzberg of McGill University (Montreal). This peer coaching concept was launched in 2007. Over the years, CoachingOurselves© has developed an extensive library of content for use in peer coaching sessions in conjunction with world renowned experts and business leaders in their fields. For instance, Professor Edgar Schein of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has written modules on leadership and organizational culture. What to do if your topic is not found in the CoachingOurselves© Library? [...]
An unlikely story of how a working class boy who came of age in Mao’s Culture Revolution is transforming management and business organizations on a global scale An essential challenge to the manner in which businesses currently organize themselves is coming from an unlikely source. It is a man who was a member of Chairman Mao’s Red Guards (a mass student-led paramilitary social movement) in his youth. Moreover, this provocation of the way businesses should operate is emerging from an unlikely industry: the white goods industry which is traditionally acknowledged as being fairly stable and undynamic. The business world is [...]
Companies are utilizing novel approaches to deal with complex issues. Such as an energy company aspiring to improve internal communications, an organization dealing with an aging workforce or a pharmaceutical company targeting to create a learning environment within its marketing department. All of the above mentioned issues are multi-facetted. Communication within a company includes top-down and cross-functional communication, bottom-up and inter-departmental communication, performance reviews and feedback, etc. – not to mention the myriad of instruments available to support this communication. Most attempts to deal with such issues revolve around tried and true methods of analysis. A team is given the [...]
In today’s world, just about everyone has a smart phone and therefore the possibility of connecting with others in a myriad of creative ways. Tech companies offer all kinds of collaborative software including real time messaging, file sharing, video meetings, etc. Without a doubt, all of these features have an impact on the culture of an organization. However, most of these software offerings are targeted for individual or team use. What is needed to support an organization’s culture is a digital offering which inhabits the same dimension where culture lives, one which is a systemic digital offering. This was the [...]
V olatile U ncertain C omplex A mbiguous – these four words which make up this acronym V.U.C.A. have become a dominant description of our times. First coined by the leadership theorists Warren Bennis and Burton Nanus in 1985 in their book “Leaders. The Strategies For Taking Charge”. The term was later adopted by The U.S. Army to describe the lack of clarity they experienced as the world shifted from the Soviet Union as their one unambiguous enemy to a post-Soviet world characterized by multiple threats. V.U.C.A. has become the acronym of choice to describe the turbulent times in which [...]
This is a powerful question. It took me unawares. It’s the kind of question which you can’t let go of very easily. It was the story which was told to illustrate this question which really got me thinking. An artist friend started to look at his work and noticed that it was becoming just “more of the same”. This is not a good place for any artist to find him or herself. The artist decided to throw absolutely everything out of his studio and disrupt himself completely. He even repainted his studio white – just like a blank canvas. This [...]
A misleading myth Change requires a combination of both honesty and authenticity. There is a long-held and predominant myth that 70% of all change efforts fail. This level of failures has been recognized as the absolute truth for over 30 years. But is is it really true? Where did this frequently cited number come from? In their best-selling business book Reengineering the Corporation which was published in 1993 the authors James A. Champy und Michael Hammer state: "Our unscientific estimate is that as many as 50 percent to 70 percent of the organizations that undertake a reengineering effort do not [...]
In his epic book The Fifth Discipline published in 1990, Peter Senge – a Professor from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology – coined the phrase “Learning Organization”. This idea of an adaptable organization that transforms itself through learning caught the attention and imagination of many academics and management practitioners worldwide. Peter M. Senge, The art and practice of the learning organization: Currency - The Crown Publishing Group - New York 1990, second edition 2006 You can see why such a concept was attractive then and is arguably equally if not more attractive now. Learning at the level of the individual [...]
The essence of our collaboration with a family-owned business over the years has been to develop unique ways to maximize the innovative potential of their meetings. The resulting new meeting strategy captures the knowledge and experience of clients and employees as a means to further develop their business. The following case study illustrates how the power of adopting a 21st century approach for the design of participatory meetings provides concrete and usable results for businesses. The meeting in question took place over the course of a full day. In this instance, 60 participants representing key stakeholders in an industry took [...]
From time immemorial, leadership has been associated with learning. Put simply, leaders are always learning. The caliber of any leader is revealed in the way they deal with uncertainty and/or novel situations. Especially during these moments, leaders must learn as much as possible about the environment which they are encountering. Their capacity to learn and adapt is closely correlated to the quality of their ability to lead. "Leadership and Learning are indispensable to each other." [...]
