Tag Archives: management
Addressing resistance to change
I recently circulated John Beckford’s blog challenging some of the ways in which organisations delay or avoid necessary changes. I got positive feedback from several people but also this comment: “I think much more management consultancy needs to attend to delivery and some of the deeper resistances that lie within any one of us. The how-to seems critical”. As I said to my correspondent at the time, that gives me a clear steer on the subject for my next blog. Here is a link to John’s blog – I see my response to my reader’s comments very much as a companion piece: https://intelligentorganisation.com/uncategorised/toddler-steps-change-management/
So, for this blog we will assume that the organisational leadership has recognised the need to make a significant change but feels concern about the extent to which such a project will be supported or meet resistance from individuals and groups in the organisation, including, perhaps, those in leadership at the next level down in the hierarchy. How should those leading change proceed? Continue reading
Assumptions at work
Models of organisation 2
In my previous blog I suggested that we are guided more than we may realise by the mental model we have about how our organisation works. We deal with reality by conceptualising it, by creating a framework for interpreting and managing it: we do this in our organisations as we do with life in general. I invited you to consider what your model might be and whether it is hindering or helping you.
The problem that immediately arises is that our models are usually held largely unconsciously and reveal themselves as the assumptions we implicitly make about how things should be done. These assumptions may become more apparent (and thus, open to challenge) if we see how they manifest themselves in practice. So I thought I would offer some sample solutions to the two common organisational problems I mentioned in the last blog but did not discuss further. Perhaps some will ring bells with you. Continue reading
Models of organisation
How do the assumptions we make limit or help us?
Organisations differ in many ways, but most organisations, in most sectors, have similar problems. Some common examples follow:
Managers spend a large amount of time doing work that those who report to them should be doing – and no-one has any time to think and plan
Parts of the organisation operate in ‘silos’ and act in a way that actively creates problems for, even sabotages, other parts of the organisation
Despite a lot of effort, team-building sessions and perfectly amicable relationships senior teams find it extremely difficult to work constructively and productively together
Each of these problems could be addressed by taking particular actions to fix them. But they may also raise a more fundamental question, that of how we think about the organisation. Continue reading
Management speak or theology speak
I don’t know which is worse –
In my experience Church people are suspicious of the language of management and business – and I can see why, even if I think the antipathy is sometimes misplaced. In recommending ideas and practices that hail, in part, from that quarter, I am far from doing so uncritically. What worries me more is the extent to which 1. the Church adopts the most bureaucratic practices from the Civil Service and others and 2. uses theological language as a way of avoiding reality…What follows is the first of a series of extracts from my new book, “Creating the Future of the Church”.
“‘Management speak’ is not attractive and it is an easy target for the media and clergy alike. Continue reading