Amplify experiments that work, dampen ones that don't.

Elephant carpaccio over eating the elephant whole.

#BVSSH

e.g. Communities of Practice (voluntary, shared learning), story telling, awards, internal social media. Change is a social activity. Generate social proof.

Communicate three more times than you think you need to, and you're a third of the way there.

#BVSSH

Alive.

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Ask questions. Have strong opinions, *loosely* held. Break out of learned helplessness. If someone asks what to do, ask what do you intend to do. As a gardener, don't squash people, grow people instead.

A role of a leader is to grow other leaders.

#BVSSH

Instead, ensure high alignment on the shared outcome hypotheses (the direction), ensure that minimal viable guardrails are clear, that there is clear accountability, there is an absence of fear, and give autonomy. Have an open, growth mindset. 2 ears and one mouth, listen more than speak.

We’ve known better since the 1920s, with the work and writings of Lillian Gilbreth, Mary Parker Follet, Lewin, Mayo, Bertalanffy, Trist, Emery, McGregor, Maslow, Deming, Drucker, Pink, Goleman, Laloux and Edmondson.

Yet this is still a common behaviour with many people in many organisations.

Taylor was misapplying a mechanical and deterministic scientific approach to sociotechnical systems, treating people as if they are cogs in a machine.

This has origins in the Scientific Revolution from 1543 to the 1687.

💬 “𝘌𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵. 𝘏𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘺.”

𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘣𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘢 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬.”

Taylor repeats this in Principles of Scientific Management (1911):

💬 “𝘐𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘶𝘯𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘯𝘰 𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘰𝘣𝘦𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘦, 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘳 𝘯𝘰𝘵,

A reductionist (the whole is no more than the sum of the parts) and deterministic (the future is predictable) worldview dates back to 1543. And yet, this is still the predominant worldview (or, at least, approach taken) today, with most people, in most organisations.

#BVSSH

continuously sensing, learning & adapting, psychological safety, balanced, renewable, circular, coordination, coherence, we're in the system rather than observing the system (2000s to present)

▶️ 𝗦𝘆𝗻𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗶𝘀𝗲: Emergence & Coherence: "𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘦? 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘩𝘺𝘱𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘴? 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘺?". Interdependence, nested and networked, ecosystems, value centres, complex adaptive systems, organisational agility, micro-enterprises, people & AI together

Complex Adaptive Systems, agility: Lillian Gilbreth, Mary Parker Follett, McGregor, Maslow, Bertalanffy, Mayo, Lewin, Trist, Emery, Drucker, Pink, et al. (1920s to 2000s)

▶️ 𝗘𝗺𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀𝗲: Human-Centred: "𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭? 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥?". Worker welfare, human relations, socio-technical systems, emergence, "you know what, Aristotle was right, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts!"

▶️ 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗲: Scientific Management: "𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘭 𝘪𝘵? 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘦𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦?". Observe, measure, 'laws', impose, minimise variation. Reductionist and deterministic. Misapplied to socio-technical systems. Taylor, Gantt, Barth, et al. (late-1800s to mid-1900s)

▶️ 𝗔𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘀𝗲: Scientific Revolution. "𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘢𝘸𝘴? 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬?". Observe, measure, laws, rules, "whole is sum of parts", the "Clockwork Universe". Reductionist and deterministic. Bacon, Descartes, Newton, et al. (mid-1500s to 1700s)