strange | strategy and change shirine moerkerken purposeful change in organisations monday
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Strange| Strategy and Change
Shirine Moerkerken www.shirine.nl
Purposeful change in Purposeful change in organisationsorganisations
MondayMonday
Strange| Strategy and Change
Shirine Moerkerken www.shirine.nl
Strange and ShirineStrange and Shirine• Strategy and Change in organisations
• Network of interventionists and change accompanists (not management consultants)
• Organisational solutions start to be solutions at the moment new behaviour is visible
• Organisational problems or concerns occur in interactions, not at an individual level. Patterns of interaction can be enforced or weakened by the way things are organised.
Strange| Strategy and Change
Shirine Moerkerken www.shirine.nl
Front and back of an Front and back of an organisationorganisation
Front of an organisation: what is stated at your website and in the reports
Back of an organisation: what you see and hear when people in the organisation act
Movie on values
In 3 groups: When did you perceive these values (with your own eyes and ears) in the last month?
Strange| Strategy and Change
Shirine Moerkerken www.shirine.nl
Telling storiesTelling storiesTell each other a story about an event that happened in the last month that typifies your company and your company’s culture (in groups of three). Try to be precise Try to use observations As if a camera was following you showing us the story
What in this story makes you proud about your company?
What in this story makes you ashamed of your company?
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Shirine Moerkerken www.shirine.nl
Accepted storiesAccepted storiesWhat makes your stories unique?
How do I know that I’m dealing with a gold mining company and not with a factory in cookies or a hospital?
What similarities can you discover in the stories?
What are apparently accepted stories that you tell each other?
What should happen to make the accepted story change?
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Shirine Moerkerken www.shirine.nl
Variation in contextVariation in contextTell about your company in terms of (in groups of five):
1. Craftsmanship and gaining knowledge2. Means to make money3. Safety and security risks4. Creating communities5. Creating a future for the
South African society
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Shirine Moerkerken www.shirine.nl
So, OC&D* is about…So, OC&D* is about…1. Variety
• Front and back• Different contexts• Different perspectives• So new ways of looking at a situation can
occur
2. Telling stories and changing the stories that are being told
3. Content and process: two sides of the same coin
* = Organisational Change and Development
Strange| Strategy and Change
Shirine Moerkerken www.shirine.nl
AssignmentAssignment
1. Describe your organisation in three different ways.
Make sure that all three the descriptions are true, but are almost contradicting each other.
2. Read “know your organisation”.
Strange| Strategy and Change
Shirine Moerkerken www.shirine.nl
Purposeful change in Purposeful change in organisationsorganisations
TuesdayTuesday
Strange| Strategy and Change
Shirine Moerkerken www.shirine.nl
What I want to learn about What I want to learn about OC&DOC&D
1. Make 2 circles: the inner and the outer circle face each other
2. Outside circle:• What I want to learn about OC&D is…• Because…• The question, that puzzles me most, is…
3. Inside circle:• What you want to learn about OC&D is…• The question, that puzzles you most, is…• What touches me in your story, is…
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Shirine Moerkerken www.shirine.nl
OC&D – the individual OC&D – the individual perspectiveperspective
Discuss in pairs:
1.What is the title of your function? What does this word literally mean?
2.Why does this function exist? What question was this function an answer to?
3.What could you do to make this function redundant?
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Shirine Moerkerken www.shirine.nl
HROHROHigh Reliability Organising
Weick & Sutcliffe, Managing the Unexpected
Basic idea:
Mindfulness
in stead of perfect organising
13
HRO-conditie 3: Redundancy
HRO-condition 1: Informed culture
HRO-condition 2: Shared references
High performance culture High performance culture
Hallmarks:1. Preoccupation with failure
2. Reluctance to simplify, 3. Sensitivity to operations4. Cultivation of resilience
5. Organising around expertise.
High performance
through reliablity and quality
Capacity to manage the unexpected or unwanted
Mindfulness: stay aware and
alert
Bas
ic c
ond
ition
s
Interventions
HRO-condition 4: Heedfull
interactions
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HROHRO1.Preoccupation with failure 2.Reluctance to simplify 3.Sensitivity to operations4.Cultivation of resilience5.Respecting expertise
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Shirine Moerkerken www.shirine.nl
• We postpone our interpretations and judgments
• We do that by including multiple perspectives
• And by asking participants to tell their story in terms of observations
• We do not look for guilty parties that contributed to the unexpected event
The Blame Free PrincipleThe Blame Free Principle
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• We postpone our interpretations and judgments
• We do that by including multiple perspectives
• And by asking participants to tell their story in terms of observations
• We do not look for guilty parties that contributed to the unexpected event
The Blame Free PrincipleThe Blame Free Principle
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• We assume that patterns of interaction will make anyone act in the sameway, making the samemistakes as did the personin this specific situation
• So it is about changing thepatterns, and the conditionsin which these patterns can excist, not about changing the person
No one is to blame forNo one is to blame for
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• Judging enables you to make a decision
• If it is not necessary to make a decision, you can postpone your judgment
• By postponing your judgment, you can start observing and renew your observations and interpretations concerning a certain event
Postponing your Postponing your judgmentjudgment
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• One observation can be interpreted in ten different ways
• Ten interpretations can be valued in hundred different ways
• Connecting the who’s and the what’s enables you to see multiple perspectives
Including multiple Including multiple perspectivesperspectives
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Shirine Moerkerken www.shirine.nl
In pairs:
• Tell me about a specific moment in a project of yours that you experienced something you did not expect?
• Where were you at that time, who was there with you, were you sitting or standing?
• What did you say, in what way did you move?
• And then? What happened then?• And then?
• Avoid tours in the mind!!!
Storytelling in Storytelling in observationsobservations
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• ‘Critical’ means ‘of importance’ to the outcome
• ‘Weak signals’ – Events that in itself are not that important, but that were in effect the starting point of something much bigger
• The question you can ask: knowing what I know now, what were weak signals that could have made me realise that this and that was going on?
• Weak signals ask for strong reactions!
Critical incidentsCritical incidents
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The Hero ExerciseThe Hero ExerciseGreek mythology: stories of hero’s falling from their pedestal
1.If you had to choose a hero, which one would your partner be?
2.In what part of the story he was that hero?
3.At what moment would the hero lose control and fall from his pedestal?
Hero’sHero’s
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So, OC&D is also about...So, OC&D is also about...1. Varying your own perspective
• Choice between consuming and co-creating • Choice between function and person• Searching for multiple possible
interpretations• Change the image of who you are from
time to time
2. Not simplify – being curious and keep asking questions
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Shirine Moerkerken www.shirine.nl
AssignmentAssignment1.a. Describe why your function is important to the
company. What question is your function an answer to?
1.b. Describe in what way your functions are related to each other.
2.a. Describe your greatest concern. What are the perpetuating factors that prevent you from solving the problem?
2.b. Do you recognise similarities in your concerns and perpetuating factors?
2.c. In what way do organisation and context produce these concerns?
3. Read “Building a team that works” and “Why transformation efforts fail” (Kotter).
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Shirine Moerkerken www.shirine.nl
Iceberg methodIceberg methodSymptom What symptoms can I see?
Problem What problems do these symptoms represent?
Cause What caused these problems to occur?
Perpetuating factors What pattern or mechanism prevents us from solving this problem?
Strange| Strategy and Change
Shirine Moerkerken www.shirine.nl
Purposeful change in Purposeful change in organisationsorganisations
WednesdayWednesday
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Shirine Moerkerken www.shirine.nl
Iceberg methodIceberg methodSymptom What symptoms can I see?
Problem What problems do these symptoms represent?
Cause What caused these problems to occur?
Perpetuating factors What pattern or mechanism prevents us from solving this problem?
Strange| Strategy and Change
Shirine Moerkerken www.shirine.nl
Making causal mapsMaking causal mapsIn the same couples:
Round 1: Make a causal map
Round 2: Think about:• Can I understand this problem, relating to
the organisation and its context described earlier?
• How does the organisation produce this problem?
• How does the context produce this problem?
Round 3: Consult each other
Round 4: What did you discover?
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Shirine Moerkerken www.shirine.nl
Separating means and goalsSeparating means and goals
- Solution: we will introduce the ISO quality system
- Problem: if we don’t have that, we do not get permits
- Problem behind the problem: our production lacks quality
- To what stakeholder is this a problem?
Introducing ISO is not a goal, it is a mean. Most of the time there are several possibilities to reach a goal
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Shirine Moerkerken www.shirine.nl
Making a sociogramMaking a sociogramRelating the who’s to the what’s:
1. Who are you related to?
2. Describe per person:• Their greatest desire• Their greatest concern• What he would benefit from• What urgency he experiences
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Shirine Moerkerken www.shirine.nl
OC&D – the team perspectiveOC&D – the team perspective
When can you call a group of people a team?
Check your sociogram. Did you mention all the people that are in your team? Who did you forget and why?
What makes your team a team? And what
do they need to become a team even more?
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Shirine Moerkerken www.shirine.nl
Why transformations failWhy transformations failKotter:
Error 1: No sense of urgency
• How do you make people experience the problems?
Error 2: No powerful guiding coalition
• How do you seduce the right people to participate?
• People only start to cooperate if there is a necessity to do so. How can you create content based necessity?
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Shirine Moerkerken www.shirine.nl
Back to the Iceberg method...Back to the Iceberg method...Symptom What symptoms can I see?
Problem What problems do these symptoms represent?
Cause What caused these problems to occur?
Perpetuating factors What pattern or mechanism prevents us from solving this problem?
Strange| Strategy and Change
Shirine Moerkerken www.shirine.nl
Using conflict in teamsUsing conflict in teamsConflicts:
1. Functional or Dysfunctional
2. Apparent or Silent
3. Social, Content, or both• Social: intervene on a content level• Content: intervene on a social level• Both: you have to work your way around
it
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Shirine Moerkerken www.shirine.nl
An appreciative dialogueAn appreciative dialogue1. Think back of a conflict that enriched your life.
Tell us about how this conflict was provoked and how it developed. Tell the story as if we can see a motion picture.
2. What were the positive results of this conflict? What did you appreciate in this conflict situation? And what were the conditions that made this possible?
3. It is January 2012. You take a look back at the conflicts you dealt with in the past year. How did you turn those conflicts into enriching experiences?
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Shirine Moerkerken www.shirine.nl
An appreciative dialogueAn appreciative dialogue1. What did you instantly agree on?
2. What question would have created tension in your conversation and was not asked? What would you gain if you decided to ask this question anyway?
3. What judgment or finding you did not say out loud to your partner you just talked to?
4. What possibilities did you thereby exclude in your conversation?
5. Talk some more and find more variety…
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Shirine Moerkerken www.shirine.nl
Some reflectionsSome reflectionsTalk to each other about:
• Where there is no longer space for variety in your working environment and silent conflict is present
• How you could introduce variety in an appreciative manner?
• How you could deal with the tension that will arise?
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Shirine Moerkerken www.shirine.nl
What we cannot see immediatelyWhat we cannot see immediately
Seducing strategies
Non intervention agreements
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Seducing strategies &Seducing strategies &Non intervention agreementsNon intervention agreements
Discuss in groups of three:
1. How am I easily seduced?
2. What non intervention agreements am I part of?
3. So what dysfunctional pattern am I contributing to?
4. Can I understand these seducing strategies and non intervention agreements looking at the organisation and the context?
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Shirine Moerkerken www.shirine.nl
So, OC&D is also aboutSo, OC&D is also about……1. Possibilities instead of truths:
connecting the who’s to the what's
2. Appreciating and using conflict
3. Recognising seducing strategies
4. Recognising non intervention agreements
5. Dealing with tension
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Shirine Moerkerken www.shirine.nl
AssignmentAssignment1. Describe in what way your team is a team and
in what way your team is not a team yet (do this for your ‘home’ team and your ‘class’ team).
2. Describe the silent conflicts, the dominant seducing strategies and the dominant non intervention agreements in your team.
3. Describe what you could do to break the dysfunctional patterns of your team.
4. Read “Cracking the code of change”, “The psychology of change management”, “Culture, cognitive dissonance and the management of change”, “The ladder of inference”.
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Shirine Moerkerken www.shirine.nl
Purposeful change in Purposeful change in organisationsorganisations
ThursdayThursday
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Shirine Moerkerken www.shirine.nl
Changing cultureChanging culture
There is not such a thing as ‘culture change’.
A culture can be observed in the behavior of people and is enforced by the way things are organised.
You can change the way things are organised and you can practice new behavior.
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Shirine Moerkerken www.shirine.nl
Provoking changeProvoking change
If you want people to build a boat, make sure they are longing for the sea
Provoking changeProvoking change Making changeMaking change
Mission and goals
Excellent results Organisation KPI / Results
Managing
ExpertiseExpertise
LP
Conditions
LP = Leading Principles
Picture of the future
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Shirine Moerkerken www.shirine.nl
Why transformations failWhy transformations failKotter
Error 3: lacking a visionError 4: undercommunicating the visionError 5: not removing obstacles to the vision
Experience that touch and make a difference!
Strange| Strategy and Change
Shirine Moerkerken www.shirine.nl
From theory to practiceFrom theory to practiceIn four groups:
Think back of your greatest concern. What did you try already to get to a solution?
In what way did you make change happen and in what way were you provoking change to happen?
What can you do that you did not try yet?
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Shirine Moerkerken www.shirine.nl
Negotiating the conditionsNegotiating the conditions
In four groups, choose 1 concern:•What problem is your project an answer to?•Who experiences a sense of urgency?•Which people and therefore perspectives are included?•What cannot be questioned or touched?
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Shirine Moerkerken www.shirine.nl
Breaking through patternsBreaking through patterns1. How do I get stakeholders to feel their
dreams, hopes and desires so that they ask me what they really want?
2. How do I make crucial stakeholders care about this project?
3. How do I create space for variety, where there is no space at the moment?
4. How do I seduce stakeholders and secretly touch what I cannot touch or discuss? (how can I give them a sense of security and of control?)
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Shirine Moerkerken www.shirine.nl
Meeting a manager...Meeting a manager...
13.00h 5 min presentations
13.15h Introduction concern guest + what he expects from Albert in
solving this concern after Albert finishes his training
13.25h 3 min questioning our guest
13.35h preparation offers
13.40h meeting with the consulting firms
13.55h choosing the best offer
1. Determine (ambition and picture of the future)
2. Creating meaning (leading principles and conditions)
3. Translating (making the leading principles useful in practice by acting on them)
4. Anchoring (organising processes in a way that conditions are met)
Pyramid of strategy developmentPyramid of strategy development
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Shirine Moerkerken www.shirine.nl
Why transformations failWhy transformations failKotter
Error 6: Not creating short term winsError 7: Declaring victory too soonError 8: Not anchoring change
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Shirine Moerkerken www.shirine.nl
Back to your organisationBack to your organisationIn three groups discuss:
1. Mission and leading principles are set. • What do they mean to you?• How do you act upon them?• What conditions are necessary to live up to
these leading principles?• In what way are the conditions anchored?
2. How could you make your team experience these leading principles and give your team the opportunity to give meaning and translate these principles to their daily work?
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Shirine Moerkerken www.shirine.nl
OC&D – making the connectionsOC&D – making the connections• Context• Organisation• Team• Individual
Organisational problems or concerns occur in interactions, not at an individual level. Patterns of interaction can be enforced or weakened by the way things are organised.
Context and organisation and team are agreed upon in interaction. Remember that those agreements are not true, just chosen out of all the possibilities
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Shirine Moerkerken www.shirine.nl
Organising less...Organising less...Zero based organising...
A flock of birds...
If you had to start over this company and there were no rules, what one rule or agreement would be necessary and enough?
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Shirine Moerkerken www.shirine.nl
So, OC&D is...So, OC&D is...Not so much about changing the world around you...
Or the context, the organisation, the team...
But is about changing the agreements we’ve made in organisational contexts