Mike Burrows's Blog, page 14

Meaningfulness, significance, and direction

As I mentioned last week, I’m busy working on a leaner, fitter version of Leading with Outcomes: Foundation. This updates the first self-paced study module at the Agendashift Academy and also makes it available in the form of interactive training, productised for use by other trainers.

Since last week’s announcement, I have renamed the middle session (of three). On reflection, “Aspiring to performance” seemed a bit generic – clichéd even. Its replacement, “Meaningfulness, significance, and direction” emerges quite naturally from the content – not summarising it exactly, but those three qualities do correspond nicely to the Ideal, Obstacles, Outcomes model – the IdOO (“I do”) pattern that is introduced (through hands-on practice) in session 1 and further developed in chapter 2 (again through practice).

The core of the model goes like this:

Ideal – envision a compelling futureObstacles – identify what’s in the way of what we wantOutcomes – look beyond those obstacles to something better

As you learn to move easily between those elements, properly contextualise those conversations, and organise what they produce into something coherent, you’re getting better at strategy. This can be “everyday” strategy – quick conversations to clarify the thinking around everyday bits of work – or as the overall arc of the “set piece” strategy occasion – participatory strategy reviews and the like. It’s even a model for leadership!

And so to meaningfulness, significance, and direction. Not a new model, but capturing some of the intent behind the IdOO pattern and Agendashift more broadly:

Meaningfulness – outcomes not as metrics or targets, but things meaningful to us, identified and articulated through authentic dialogue. Often, we set this up in the Ideal part with stories of people making meaningful progress.Significance – instead of falling into the trap of solving problems just because they are there, choosing our obstacles for what they represent and taking the trouble to frame them carefullyDirection – our direction is set by the outcomes we’re choosing to pursue, not by monolithic solutions (perhaps sold to us with outcomes), or by plans whose all-consuming execution comes at the expense of what’s meaningful and significant. Outcome-orientation, in other words.

As well as re-recording the self-paced study version of Foundation, I’m also hosting it in the form of participatory online training over the 23rd, 24th, and 25th of November. All sessions 14:00-16:00GMT, over Zoom, and highly hands-on. Price: just £195 + VAT. Ping us for a discount code if:

You have an Academy subscriptionYou’re an Agendashift partnerYou’re an employee of a government, educational, or non-profit organisation, or are currently unemployed – we’re glad to offer significant discounts hereYou completed September’s TTT/F or are booked on December’s – for you it’s free

Book here:

Leading with Outcomes: Foundation 2022-11

And if interested in teaching it yourself or in facilitating the related workshops:

5-13 December, Online, Monday and Tuesday evenings (UK time):
Leading with Outcomes: Train-the-Trainer/Facilitator (TTT/F) Upcoming07 November, London, UK:
Keynote: The Study of Enterprise Agility Conference (SEACON) part 2 £75 off in-person tickets £30 off live-stream tickets 22-24 November, online (Zoom), 14:00-16:00GMT, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday:
Leading with Outcomes: Foundation 2022-11 5-13 December, Online, Monday and Tuesday evenings (UK time):
Leading with Outcomes: Train-the-Trainer/Facilitator (TTT/F) 18-26 April, Live online, 12pm-4pm EST Tuesdays and Wednesdays, April 18, 19, 25, 26 2023:
Creating Generative Conversations by Leading with Outcomes
– Part of the Cape Cod Institute’s BMI Series in dialogic organisation development

Anytime:

Leading with Outcomes (academy.agendashift.com) – four self-paced modules: Leading with Outcomes: Foundation Inside-out Strategy: Fit for maximum impact Outside-in Strategy: Positioned for success Adaptive Organisation: Business agility at every scale (from autumn 2022)

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Published on October 14, 2022 04:49

A leaner, fitter Foundation

Big news: I’m switching the Agendashift Academy’s top two priorities. Instead of recording the next self-paced training module Adaptive Organisation: Business agility at every scale, I’m postponing that in favour of a leaner, fitter Leading with Outcomes: Foundation. If you were waiting for the former, expect that now in the new year.

In the coming weeks, as well as re-recording the self-paced study version of Foundation, I’m also hosting it in the form of participatory online training, 22-24 November, three two-hour sessions in the afternoons, UK time. The three sessions:

Tuesday 22nd: Leading in a transforming organisation – introducing outcome-oriented changeWednesday 23rd: Aspiring to performance – two kinds of strategy and a virtuous circleThursday 24th: Moving into action – ideas, experiments, feedback, and learning

All sessions 14:00-16:00GMT, over Zoom, and highly hands-on.

Compared to the self-paced study version, there is of course the experience of working with others in a participatory process. What makes this new version very much leaner and fitter:

We engage with the IdOO (“I do”) pattern (Ideal, Obstacles, Outcomes) much sooner, reducing the number of new concepts that need to be introduced as part of the bigger strategy conversationsWe introduce inside-out and outside-in strategy together – one chapter instead of twoWe lose the Adaptive Organisation chapter altogether; it gets a mention when the rest of the Leading with Outcomes curriculum is covered at the end

Compared to the self-paced study version, there is the experience of working with others in a participatory process.

If you can identify in any way with the Agendashift Academy’s strapline “leadership and strategy in a transforming organisation”, then this is for you. And don’t worry if you’re not sure what that means! If you can imagine making a contribution to a strategy process that invites participation – whether that’s for your first-hand experience of your organisation’s challenges, your domain expertise, your sponsorship, your ownership of the change process, or your interest in the process as a facilitator, coach, consultant, or host – you’ll fit right in. And for prospective trainers, Foundation is where Leading with Outcomes begins; it’s your chance to experience it outside of the more trainer-focussed atmosphere of TTT/F.

Price: just £195 + VAT. Ping us for a discount code if:

You have an Academy subscriptionYou’re an Agendashift partnerYou’re an employee of a government, educational, or non-profit organisation, or are currently unemployed – we’re glad to offer significant discounts hereYou completed September’s TTT/F or are booked on December’s – for you it’s free

Book here:

Leading with Outcomes: Foundation 2022-11 While we’re here, yet more savings

I’m the opening speaker at The Study of Enterprise Agility Conference (SEACON) part 2 in London on November 7th. Offers:

£75 off in-person tickets £30 off live-stream tickets Upcoming07 November, London, UK:
Keynote: The Study of Enterprise Agility Conference (SEACON) part 2 £75 off in-person tickets £30 off live-stream tickets 22-24 November, online (Zoom), 14:00-16:00GMT, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday:
Leading with Outcomes: Foundation 2022-11 5-13 December, Online, Monday and Tuesday evenings (UK time):
Leading with Outcomes: Train-the-Trainer/Facilitator (TTT/F) 18-26 April, Live online, 12pm-4pm EST Tuesdays and Wednesdays, April 18, 19, 25, 26 2023:
Creating Generative Conversations by Leading with Outcomes
– Part of the Cape Cod Institute’s BMI Series in dialogic organisation development

Anytime:

Leading with Outcomes (academy.agendashift.com) – four self-paced modules: Leading with Outcomes: Foundation Inside-out Strategy: Fit for maximum impact Outside-in Strategy: Positioned for success Adaptive Organisation: Business agility at every scale (from autumn 2022)

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Published on October 05, 2022 02:49

Agendashift roundup, September 2022

In this edition: Leaders as keepers of context; Academy update; Agendashift assessments; Patterns of Generative Conversations; Upcoming; Top posts

Leaders as keepers of context

In case you missed it, just to highlight what by some distance has been this month’s most-read post:

Leaders as keepers of context

Academy update

Our first Leading with Outcomes Train-the-Trainer / Facilitator finished just a couple of days ago and already I’m looking forward to December’s! It was a productive time: in the first of four half-day sessions that began last week, I took the opportunity to debut a slimline 2.0 version of the Foundation module and I plan to have an even slicker 2.1 version ready for the December event.

Availability-wise, 2.0 is available to trainers now and 2.1 will be available as soon as it is tested (ie no later than December); for Academy subscribers I’ll record the latest available version early in the new year.

More information on the Trainer / Facilitator programmes and details of the next (more Americas-friendly) TTT/F here:

05-13 December, Online, Monday & Tuesday evenings from 17:30 GMT, 12:30 ET, 09:30 PT:
Leading with Outcomes: Train-the-Trainer/Facilitator (TTT/F)

Meanwhile, recording for the fourth Leading with Outcomes module Adaptive Organisation: Business agility at every scale has started. I don’t want to commit to a release schedule just yet but do expect visible (and consumable) progress in the coming weeks.

Agendashift assessments

Two things, both of them the work of Agendashift partners:

Watch Agendashift Assessments (youtube.com) – Agendashift partner Steven Mackenzie interviewed by Dan Gibson for the Add Agility podcastAnd as translated by Caglagul Turhan, Agendashift assessments are now available in Turkish

Grateful thanks to all concerned! As mentioned in both, you can try the mini assessments in any of the supported languages for free:

Agendashift free trial

The full version of the Delivery assessment is widely used in private workshops and coaching engagements, and it features in the following training:

Inside-out Strategy: Fit for maximum impact , the second module of Leading with Outcomes , (self-paced, anytime)05-13 December, Online, Monday & Tuesday evenings from 17:30 GMT, 12:30 ET, 09:30 PT:
Leading with Outcomes: Train-the-Trainer/Facilitator (TTT/F)

Other templates are available; the Deliberately Adaptive Organisation Assessment was tested in a beta programme with multiple organisations a few months ago and it will feature in the forthcoming Adaptive Organisation module (see the Academy update above).

Patterns of Generative Conversations

It’s not quite back to the drawing board, but my current writing project needs rather more rework than I had anticipated. I’ve done enough already to know that it will be worth the effort, but suffice it to say that I am not currently quoting a publication schedule for what will be my fourth book. I still aim to start my fifth earlyish next year, the book of the module Adaptive Organisation: Business agility at every scale.

Upcoming07 November, London, UK:
Keynote: The Study of Enterprise Agility Conference (SEACON) part 2 05-13 December, Online, Monday & Tuesday evenings from 17:30 GMT, 12:30 ET, 09:30 PT:
Leading with Outcomes: Train-the-Trainer/Facilitator (TTT/F) 18-26 April, Live online, 12pm-4pm EST Tuesdays and Wednesdays, April 18, 19, 25, 26 2023:
Creating Generative Conversations by Leading with Outcomes
– Part of the Cape Cod Institute’s BMI Series in dialogic organisation development

Anytime:

Leading with Outcomes (academy.agendashift.com) – four self-paced modules: Leading with Outcomes: Foundation Inside-out Strategy: Fit for maximum impact Outside-in Strategy: Positioned for success Adaptive Organisation: Business agility at every scale (from autumn 2022)Top posts Leaders as keepers of context A new (alternate) Outside-in Strategy Review template (July) Agendashift assessments are now available in Turkish Six commitments: Putting the ‘Deliberate’ into the Deliberately Adaptive Organisation (August) My favourite Clean Language question (January 2019)

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Published on September 30, 2022 07:27

Agendashift assessments are now available in Turkish

Thanks to the translation efforts of Caglagul Turhan, the following Agendashift assessments are now available in Turkish:

As described chapters 2 and 3 of the Agendashift 2nd edition, the Agendashift Delivery Assessment in original, mini, and pathway variantsAs inspired by chapters 5 and 6, the Deliberately Adaptive Organisation Assessment

For the delivery assessment, that’s language number 14!

You can try the mini version of the Delivery assessment in any of the supported languages for free:

Welcome to the Agendashift global survey Agendashift free trial

The full version of the Delivery assessment is widely used in private workshops and coaching engagements, and it features in the following training:

Inside-out Strategy: Fit for maximum impact , the second module of Leading with Outcomes , (self-paced, anytime)05-13 December, Online, Monday & Tuesday evenings from 17:30 GMT, 12:30 ET, 09:30 PT:
Leading with Outcomes: Train-the-Trainer/Facilitator (TTT/F)

The Deliberately Adaptive Organisation Assessment was tested in a beta programme with multiple organisations a few months ago and will feature in the forthcoming Leading with Outcomes module Adaptive Organisation: Business agility at every scale. Recording begins next week!

Upcoming07 November, London, UK:
Keynote: The Study of Enterprise Agility Conference (SEACON) part 2 05-13 December, Online, Monday & Tuesday evenings from 17:30 GMT, 12:30 ET, 09:30 PT:
Leading with Outcomes: Train-the-Trainer/Facilitator (TTT/F) 18-26 April, Live online, 12pm-4pm EST Tuesdays and Wednesdays, April 18, 19, 25, 26 2023:
Creating Generative Conversations by Leading with Outcomes
– Part of the Cape Cod Institute’s BMI Series in dialogic organisation development

Anytime:

Leading with Outcomes (academy.agendashift.com) – four self-paced modules: Leading with Outcomes: Foundation Inside-out Strategy: Fit for maximum impact Outside-in Strategy: Positioned for success Adaptive Organisation: Business agility at every scale (from autumn 2022)

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Published on September 23, 2022 01:29

Leaders as keepers of context

What if all failures were failures of context? OK, that’s an exaggeration, but as a working default assumption, it sure beats assuming failures of competence or character. Moreover, it can be the beginning of a generative line of thinking, one that puts you in the role of keeper of context.

Suppose that you’re a leader in a transforming organisation [1] and you witness an unproductive conversation. What is the shared context that this conversation is missing? You might intervene and provide some, but that’s not the point. Instead, work backwards. What was the conversation that didn’t take place, the one in which that context would have been established? Look not only at formal meetings but at how activities are sequenced, how their respective conversations happen, and their quality. What opportunities for context-creating conversations are we missing?

Looking at your organisation’s processes, it’s easy to focus on just the formal sequence of activities and overlook the interactions that happen (or need to happen) between them, and in particular, their conversations. When each activity involves different people and the chain of activities is long, it’s not hard to see how context gets lost.

Going deeper into organisation design and questions of meaningfulness, suppose now that you come across some work that failed to delight the customer. What went wrong? Lack of skill? Lack of commitment? These are easy conclusions to reach, but let’s try a different kind of assumption. Could this again be a failure of context? Was that work done with a deep enough appreciation of the context into which that work would be delivered? Where was the opportunity to appreciate the customer’s struggles? Where was the opportunity to explore their needs, to identify measures of customer progress, and so on? And suppose that the work had instead been successful, what kind of feedback would those involved have received? Could it be that our role definitions and process designs keep the people closest to the work insulated from the context they need?

Finally, suppose now that you suspect you’re seeing people lose their sense of what’s important, who they are, and what their team is about. Not so surprising in a transforming organisation! When you see confusion, it doesn’t usually help to ask what people are doing or what they are thinking. Instead, go back to the beginning and let them tell the story. If it turns out that the one who was confused was you, don’t be surprised. Context really is everything.

My perspective on these issues of context has evolved. In my first book, I suggested that you might try the assumption that any failures of process you encounter were rooted in failures of collaboration. If you’re looking for systemic causes – making it easier to adopt this perspective non-judgementally – I’ve found that this perspective can be highly productive.

Going back a few more years to when I was a global manager of managers, I would see failures of leadership. Confrontational perhaps, but again productive when the failing collaboration involved an imbalance of power or experience, and the more senior party involved needed to understand their additional responsibility in the relationship.

Failures of context, collaboration, or leadership: three closely related perspectives yet quite different in tone. When you’re a manager dealing with these issues daily or an external practitioner sensing one for the first time, which perspective do you choose? I remain comfortable with all three; the right one on the day is the one that leads to the insights needed via a safe and productive conversation. And if you’re not sure, you can always ask!

[1] Leaders in transforming organisations are the Agendashift Academy’s focus; this post expands on an end-of section reflection from Leading with Outcomes: Foundation.

Related Celebration-5W – our context-capturing workshop kickoff exerciseUpcoming Open AMA (Ask Mike Anything) session , Wednesday, September 14th, 16:00 BST, 17:00 CEST, 11am EDT, 8am PDT20-28 September, Online, Tuesday & Wednesday afternoons from 13:00 BST, 14:00 CEST:
Leading with Outcomes: Train-the-Trainer/Facilitator (TTT/F) 07 November, London, UK:
Keynote: The Study of Enterprise Agility Conference (SEACON) part 2 05-13 December, Online, Monday & Tuesday evenings from 17:30 GMT, 12:30 ET, 09:30 PT:
Leading with Outcomes: Train-the-Trainer/Facilitator (TTT/F) 18-26 April, Live online, 12pm-4pm EST Tuesdays and Wednesdays, April 18, 19, 25, 26 2023:
Creating Generative Conversations by Leading with Outcomes
– Part of the Cape Cod Institute’s BMI Series in dialogic organisation development

Anytime:

Leading with Outcomes (academy.agendashift.com) – four self-paced modules: Leading with Outcomes: Foundation Inside-out Strategy: Fit for maximum impact Outside-in Strategy: Positioned for success Adaptive Organisation: Business agility at every scale (from autumn 2022)

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Published on September 13, 2022 03:10

Agendashift roundup, August 2022

In this edition: Patterns of generative conversations; December TTT/F; (The Deliberately) Adaptive Organisation; Upcoming; Top posts

Patterns of generative conversations

Something to celebrate: This morning I delivered the manuscript for my fourth book, working title Patterns of Generative Conversations, a shortish (100-page) commission for Gervase Bushe and Bob Marshak’s BMI series in dialogic organisation development. If you’ve read the Agendashift 2nd edition, it expands on the “one model to the tune of another” reconciliation I did between Agendashift and Gervase’s Generative Change Model. If you haven’t, it will be an accessible and (I’m told) energetic introduction to both. As soon as I have a publication schedule I will of course announce it here.

December TTT/F

We have a quorum for September’s Leading with Outcomes Train-the-Trainer / Facilitator, so December’s is now open. It will take place over Zoom in the evenings UK time, beginning 17:30 GMT, 12:30 ET, 09:30 PT. If that’s too late for you, the September one begins 13:00 BST (places still available), and the February one (to be opened in due course) will take place in the morning, UK time.

More information:

New! Authorised Facilitator and Trainer Programmes for Leading with Outcomes (July) Leading with Outcomes: Authorised Facilitator and Trainer Programmes (academy.agendashift.com) Leading with Outcomes (academy.agendashift.com)

To go directly to the booking pages:

Train the Trainer/Facilitator (TTT/F), September 2022 (sales.agendashift.com) Train the Trainer/Facilitator (TTT/F), December 2022 (sales.agendashift.com)

And don’t forget to use your discount code! 30% off for partners, 25-40% off for most Academy subscribers (according to your subscription plan), 40% off for government, non-profit, education, etc also. If you don’t have your code already, ping me.

(The Deliberately) Adaptive Organisation

August has been a strangely productive month – that’s what a diary mostly empty of meetings does for you! Over September I’ll start recording the fourth module of Leading with Outcomes, Adaptive Organisation: Business agility at every scale, and as part of my preparations, some blog posts:

Six commitments: Putting the ‘Deliberate’ into the Deliberately Adaptive Organisation (2 parts) What does it mean to lead in a wholehearted organisation?

There’s a book there too, my next big writing project.

The Deliberately Adaptive OrganisationUpcoming Open AMA (Ask Mike Anything) session , Wednesday, September 7th, 10:00 BST, 11:00 CEST Open AMA (Ask Mike Anything) session , Wednesday, September 14th, 16:00 BST, 17:00 CEST, 11am EDT, 8am PDT20-28 September, Online, Tuesday & Wednesday afternoons from 13:00 BST, 14:00 CEST:
Leading with Outcomes: Train-the-Trainer/Facilitator (TTT/F) 07 November, London, UK:
Keynote: The Study of Enterprise Agility Conference (SEACON) part 2 05-13 December, Online, Monday & Tuesday evenings from 17:30 GMT, 12:30 ET, 09:30 PT:
Leading with Outcomes: Train-the-Trainer/Facilitator (TTT/F) 18-26 April, Live online, 12pm-4pm EST Tuesdays and Wednesdays, April 18, 19, 25, 26 2023:
Creating Generative Conversations by Leading with Outcomes
– Part of the Cape Cod Institute’s BMI Series in dialogic organisation development

Anytime:

Leading with Outcomes (academy.agendashift.com) – four self-paced modules: Leading with Outcomes: Foundation Inside-out Strategy: Fit for maximum impact Outside-in Strategy: Positioned for success Adaptive Organisation: Business agility at every scale (from autumn 2022)Top posts Six commitments: Putting the ‘Deliberate’ into the Deliberately Adaptive Organisation Open AMA (Ask Mike Anything) sessions New! Authorised Facilitator and Trainer Programmes for Leading with Outcomes (July)My favourite Clean Language question (January 2019) What does it mean to lead in a wholehearted organisation?

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Published on August 31, 2022 02:56

December Train-the-Trainer / Facilitator is now open

We have a quorum for September’s Leading with Outcomes TTT/F so December’s is now open. It will take place over Zoom in the evenings UK time, beginning 17:30 GMT, 12:30 ET, 09:30 PT. If that’s too late for you, the September one begins 13:00 BST (places still available), and the February one (to be opened in due course) will take place in the morning, UK time.

More information:

New! Authorised Facilitator and Trainer Programmes for Leading with Outcomes (July) Leading with Outcomes: Authorised Facilitator and Trainer Programmes (academy.agendashift.com) Leading with Outcomes (academy.agendashift.com)

To go directly to the booking pages:

Train the Trainer/Facilitator (TTT/F), September 2022 (sales.agendashift.com) Train the Trainer/Facilitator (TTT/F), December 2022 (sales.agendashift.com)

And don’t forget to use your discount code! 30% off for partners, 25-40% off for most Academy subscribers (according to your subscription plan), 40% off for government, non-profit, education, etc also. If you don’t have your code already, ping me.

Upcoming Open AMA (Ask Mike Anything) session , Wednesday, September 7th, 10:00 BST, 11:00 CEST Open AMA (Ask Mike Anything) session , Wednesday, September 14th, 16:00 BST, 17:00 CEST, 11am EDT, 8am PDT20-28 September, Online, Tuesday & Wednesday afternoons from 13:00 BST, 14:00 CEST:
Leading with Outcomes: Train-the-Trainer/Facilitator (TTT/F) 07 November, London, UK:
Keynote: The Study of Enterprise Agility Conference (SEACON) part 2 05-13 December, Online, Monday & Tuesday evenings from 17:30 GMT, 12:30 ET, 09:30 PT:
Leading with Outcomes: Train-the-Trainer/Facilitator (TTT/F) 18-26 April, Live online, 12pm-4pm EST Tuesdays and Wednesdays, April 18, 19, 25, 26 2023:
Creating Generative Conversations by Leading with Outcomes
– Part of the Cape Cod Institute’s BMI Series in dialogic organisation development

Anytime:

Leading with Outcomes (academy.agendashift.com) – four self-paced modules: Leading with Outcomes: Foundation Inside-out Strategy: Fit for maximum impact Outside-in Strategy: Positioned for success Adaptive Organisation: Business agility at every scale (from autumn 2022)

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Published on August 26, 2022 06:15

What does it mean to lead in a wholehearted organisation?

For two Leading with Outcomes modules, the forthcoming Adaptive Organisation module and the next iteration of Leading with Outcomes: Foundation, I’ve been revisiting the wholehearted organisation, the one that defines Agendashift’s mission.

A wholehearted organisation is not a perfect organisation, but a transforming one:

An organisation characterised by the instinct to engage openly and authentically on its challenges, imbalances, and contradictionsAn organisation committed to participation as both a catalyst for innovation and the path to integration and wholenessAn organisation that through the conversation, creativity, and leadership of those closest to the action renews itself purposefully from the inside

Honest about the need for change, inviting people into every dimension of that process (strategy, delivery, development), transformation energised and sustained from within.

Question:

When that’s working at its ideal best for us, what’s that like?

As you answer that question, consider the perspectives of different leadership roles before your own. What’s it like to be a sponsor of change in such an organisation, engaging openly and authentically, inviting participation? As a manager or team lead, what expectations are placed on you? What if your formal authority is limited – you’re some kind of practitioner or subject matter expert, for example?

Pulling all of those together, what does it mean to lead in such an organisation?

Back in your organisation, what stops you leading like that? What gets in the way? How might you do something about that?

Upcoming20-28 September, Online, Tuesday & Wednesday afternoons (from 13:00 BST, 14:00 CEST):
Leading with Outcomes: Train-the-Trainer/Facilitator (TTT/F) 07 November, London, UK:
Keynote: The Study of Enterprise Agility Conference (SEACON) part 2 18-26 April, Live online, 12pm-4pm EST Tuesdays and Wednesdays, April 18, 19, 25, 26 2023:
Creating Generative Conversations by Leading with Outcomes
– Part of the Cape Cod Institute’s BMI Series in dialogic organisation development

Anytime:

Leading with Outcomes (academy.agendashift.com) – four self-paced modules: Leading with Outcomes: Foundation Inside-out Strategy: Fit for maximum impact Outside-in Strategy: Positioned for success Adaptive Organisation: Business agility at every scale (from autumn 2022)

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Published on August 23, 2022 11:49

Six commitments: Putting the ‘Deliberate’ into the Deliberately Adaptive Organisation (part 2 of 2)

Recap: Somewhat in the style of my 2013 breakthrough post Introducing Kanban through its values, here is the Deliberately Adaptive Organisation (“business agility at every scale”) introduced through a set of six commitments.

In part 1 we covered the first three:

Co-creation – To keep finding better options, togetherSensemaking – To make the best sense we can of every new challengeTrust Building – To build trust in every direction

Those first three commitments correspond respectively to the three top-level components of the Deliberately Adaptive Organisation [1, 2]. These are the overlapping and deeply-connected “supersystems” of Adaptive Strategy, Production (Delivery, Discovery, and Renewal), and Mutual Trust Building.

The Deliberately Adaptive Organisation’s three “supersystems”

For this concluding part, a second group of commitments that apply right across the model:

Curiosity: To ask better questionsGenerativity: To create more ideas than we consumeConsent: To celebrate the agency and ingenuity of others

As with the first three, they apply at every scale – teams, teams of teams, bigger structures, smaller structures, structures outside of any hierarchy, whole organisations. As commitments, they’re made by people, leaders taking the lead.

Commitment 4. Curiosity: To ask better questions

Much of Agendashift [3] could be described bottom-up as follows:

Questions to askHow to recognise a good question when you see one, learning to develop your repertoire, finding and integrating relevant bodies of knowledge (Clean Language and Solutions Focus, to name two)Patterns to organise those questions – Agendashift’s two most important being the IdOO (“I do”) pattern [4] –Ideal, Obstacles, Outcomes – and Right to Left [5], working backwards from key moments of impact and learningThe (meta-)strategies / leadership principles [6] that motivate those questions

It could also be described as the product of a question, one that has served it well over the years:

What if we put agreement on outcomes ahead of solutions?

That takes us to the role of curiosity and questioning in Adaptive Strategy. Barely scratching the surface, just a few examples:

What’s it like to be an employee of ours?What’s it like to be a customer of ours?What’s it like not being a customer of ours?What’s happening when we’re reaching the right customers, meeting their strategic needs1?Whose needs would we be meeting? What new stories could they tell?

1Strategic needs: their needs, our strategy

In Delivery too it pays to explore needs [7]. Far from being redundant, it establishes the context necessary to do a good job and sets the scene for later learning. Stepping back from individual pieces of work to the current workload as a whole, there is a whole new set of questions that apply (here’s where Right to Left really shines). And feeding back into strategy, there’s curiosity into how the work is done, the experience of doing it, and the level of capability demonstrated.

And then there’s Mutual Trust Building. Being careful with one’s assumptions is a great lesson from Clean Language (see [8]). Especially for leaders, it’s also important to remember that there are at least two sides to every conversation, and that every participant has the right to be curious. Respect for that that might be the difference between a conversation fruitful to all sides and one that generates more anxiety than insight [9].

Commitment 5. Generativity – To create more ideas than we consume

This commitment is perhaps the Why to the previous commitment’s How. We ask more and better questions because we need more and better answers – answers we didn’t already know. More and better answers means more and better intelligence, more and better insights, more and better ideas for innovation.

In a forthcoming book [10] for the BMI series on dialogic organisation development I suggest that a good working definition of generative process is one that creates more ideas than it consumes. And it’s not only about dialogic styles of strategy development – what I had in mind were the improvement cycles that so quickly run out of steam or the Lean Startup cycles that serve only to optimise the life out of once-great products.

There are technical reasons why the Delivery supersystem has a Discovery aspect to it (Adaptive Strategy relies on it for real-world intelligence), but that aside, the best delivery processes I’ve seen generated new ideas at every stage of the process. Two things enable that: they are designed for it, and their respective strategy activities make room for it, producing not plans and specifications but vision, outcomes, and the kind of challenges that people are well motivated to overcome.

Commitment 6. Consent – To celebrate the agency and ingenuity of others

It’s time to mention the two more models that the Deliberately Adaptive Organisation uses to flesh out the skeleton that the Viable System Model (VSM) provides. In the intersection between Mutual Trust Building and Delivery, Discovery, and Renewal (bottom middle in the diagram), is where the magic of production (and if you like, reproduction) happens.

At the intersections between circles are

Whether it’s the product of a strategy process or self-organised, if the organisation is large enough, it will have some structure. One highly flexible model – well capable of modelling dynamic, ad-hoc, and non-hierarchical structures – is given by Sociocracy [11] (aka Dynamic Governance, known also to Ackoff fans as Circular Hierarchy). It is purposeful collaboration and self-governance at every scale, and it is based on principles of consent. Each circle has its domain of responsibility over which it has authority; people join circles by mutual consent; circles make decisions by consent. People can join multiple circles; alignment across what could be called a strategy network is achieved therefore through a combination of consent and participation, and it’s a dynamic process.

Things get interesting when there are multiple people in the intersections between circles. Two people give you double linking – not only a mechanism for coordination, trust building, and resilience, but often a developmental (eg mentoring) opportunity also. With more than two, you have perhaps the kernel of a new circle and a new, mini-scale Deliberately Adaptive Organisation with an identity, strategy, and purpose of its own.

The Deliberately Adaptive Organisation is also a Deliberately Developmental Organisation [12] (the naming is no coincidence), and it’s a very elegant combination. People have their own aspirations, plans, and strategies, and they’re adaptable! They’re capable of trusting and being trusted. Not only are they productive, most are interested in both their own self-development and in the renewal of the organisation. That symmetry is thanks to VSM again, and the Deliberately Developmental Organisation’s holistic and dare I say wholehearted [13] integration of personal and organisation development helps us make the most of it.

What next?

The Agendashift Academy’s self-paced training module on Adaptive Organisation [1] is in development and comes out over the autumn (probably in instalments), and after that I want to produce the next iteration of the first module, Leading with Outcomes: Foundation [14], whose slideware exists already in good time for Train-the-Trainer / Facilitator [15] next month. This year should also see the publication of my aforementioned fourth book, working title Patterns of generative conversations [10].

With all of that going on I’m having to restrain myself from starting my fifth book, working title Wholehearted: Up and down the Deliberately Adaptive Organisation, business agility at every scale. It lives rent-free in my head meanwhile, but never mind! My hopes for it are threefold:

It will help leaders at all levels better understand the relationship between organisation and business agility, and help them to identify organisational dysfunctions and impediments to business agility they will want to addressIt will give practitioners the knowledge and skills to approach the challenges of scale in ways that are both more humane and more effective than the process rolloutAnd for both audiences, it will be the most relevant and accessible introduction to VSM they are ever likely to read

Aiming high, and why not!

References

[1] Adaptive Organisation: Business agility at every scale (academy.agendashift.com)
[2] Up and down the Deliberately Adaptive Organisation, business agility at every scale (deliberately-adaptive.org)
[3] Agendashift: Outcome-oriented change and continuous transformation, Mike Burrows (2nd ed 2021)
[4] Idea, Obstacles, Outcomes (ldOO) (agendashift.com)
[5] Right to Left Strategy Deployment (agendashift.com), and the book: Right to Left: The digital leader’s guide to Lean and Agile, Mike Burrows (2019, audiobook 2020)
[6] See Agendashift as Framework (agendashift.com)
[7] Done (agendashift.com)
[8] My favourite Clean Language question (2019, blog.agendashift.com)
[9] Clear Leadership, Gervase Bushe (2020, BMI Publishing)
[10] (Working title) Patterns of generative conversations, Mike Burrows (TBC, BMI Publishing)
[11] We the people: Consenting to a Deeper Democracy, John Jr. Buck & Sharon Villenes (Sociocracy.info Press, second edition, 2019)
[12] An Everyone Culture: Becoming a Deliberately Developmental Organization, Robert Kegan & Lisa Laskow Lahey (2016, Harvard Business Review)
[13] Our mission: Wholehearted (agendashift.com)
[14] Leading with Outcomes: Foundation (academy.agendashift.com)
[15] Leading with Outcomes: Authorised Trainer and Facilitator Programmes (academy.agendashift.com)

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Published on August 17, 2022 10:33

Six commitments: Putting the ‘Deliberate’ into the Deliberately Adaptive Organisation (part 1 of 2)

Somewhat in the style of what is easily my most popular post of all time – Introducing Kanban through its values (2013) – here is the Deliberately Adaptive Organisation (“business agility at every scale”) [1, 2] introduced through a set of six commitments. If this post turns out to be half as successful (and career-changing) as that one, I’d be a happy man indeed

The six commitments come in two groups. The first group is covered in this post:

Co-creation – To keep finding better options, togetherSensemaking – To make the best sense we can of every new challengeTrust Building – To build trust in every direction

The second group will be covered in a later post:

Curiosity: To ask better questionsGenerativity: To create more ideas than we consumeConsent: To celebrate the agency and ingenuity of others

What separates the two groups is that the first three commitments correspond respectively to the three top-level components of the Deliberately Adaptive Organisation. These are the overlapping and deeply-connected “supersystems” of Adaptive Strategy, Production (Delivery, Discovery, and Renewal), and Mutual Trust Building. Commitments in the second group apply everywhere. Together, the six quickly convey some of the model’s true character.

The Deliberately Adaptive Organisation’s three “supersystems”

The model works at every scale – teams, teams of teams, bigger structures, smaller structures, structures outside of any hierarchy, whole organisations. Mapping it to some part of the actual organisation, its power lies not only in what each supersystem represents, but also in the relationships between supersystems and between scales.

So to the first three commitments, co-creation, sensemaking, and trust building…

Commitment 1. Co-creation – To keep finding better options, together

This might easily have been called the participation commitment. Its inspiration comes directly from Agendashift [3]; indirectly it draws in the Generative Change Model [4] and Dialogic Organisation Development [5] more generally.

Co-creation starts with making sure you have the right people in the room when you’re doing any of the following:

Generating and organising options (outcomes primarily, solutions later)Evaluating and re-evaluating options in the light of progress, intelligence, and insightsUpdating the group’s shared understanding more broadlyExpressing intentMaking commitmentsRevisiting its shared sense of identity and purpose or engaging with any challenges to those

Relative to the organisational scope in question, “the right people in the room” means people highly if not maximally representative of the following:

Those with direct, first-hand knowledgeThose with strategic contextThose best positioned to hold the detail and the whole togetherThose impacted by whatever decisions might be made

The commitment to co-creation is key to the authenticity of this participation; co-created options aren’t prescribed or otherwise prejudged.

Commitment 2. Sensemaking – To make the best sense we can of every new challenge

At whatever scale we’re considering, the Deliberately Adaptive Organisation must be engaged in some kind of productive work. This includes the work of renewing the organisation; in terms of both mechanics and importance, there is enough in common between delivery and change for them to be treated the same – as “real work”. (Keeping the two in balance is an important responsibility of Adaptive Strategy.)

When we’re doing that work, let’s not underestimate the opportunity to expect the unexpected, to notice what we didn’t notice before, and to interpret what we notice in different ways. In an organisation that’s continuously transforming, those opportunities should be plentiful: often we’re doing new things or experimenting with doing old things in new ways. To miss those opportunities would be a tragic waste!

Adaptive Strategy on its own isn’t enough for the organisation to be learning. The progress, intelligence, and insights it requires all come from doing the work – engaging with the real world, not just the group’s model of it. The sensemaking [6, 7] commitment is a reminder to frame and conduct that work for maximum learning, doing that appropriately according to context and the task in hand. As any student of Cynefin [8] will tell you, there are category errors and other risks be avoided here.

Undoubtedly, to truly maximise learning over time, you need an effective process too. But this is not yet another Agile process framework! For the following reasons and more, I choose not to lead with process:

It’s table stakes. While there are enough organisations out there whose terrible processes and coordination systems compromise their viability (let alone their agility), there are multiple, complementary approaches to improving them whose effectiveness is well-proven. Moreover, the best of those aren’t prescriptive.It’s implied. The model that underpins the Deliberately Adaptive Organisation – the Viable System Model [9] – has certain expectations about process but it too manages to avoid prescriptionIf you’re interested in what really scales, process is about the worst place to startCommitment 3. Trust Building – To build trust in every direction

Organisations are built on trust. It might not always seem that way, but no organisation can afford for every task to be micro-managed, inspected, duplicated, and so on. Without at least some level of trust, very little would get done.

The trust-building commitment is however about more than reducing that delivery overhead. Even when relying heavily on participation, the Adaptive Strategy part simply does not have the cognitive or communication capacity to be into everything everywhere all the time. It has no choice but to be selective with its attention, and to use it effectively. It builds trust through a combination of where, where not, and how it chooses to direct its attention, what it communicates in those choices, and how it describes its underlying motives.

Trust-building works in other directions too. It’s a problem if commitments between peers can’t be relied upon, a problem that only gets worse if it’s hard to say no to additional commitments. It’s a problem if issues or risks aren’t shared, whether it’s because people don’t feel safe to do so, or that the need to share never occurred to them. It is wasteful to be constantly second-guessing the intentions of others. And it’s a problem if doing the right thing consumes more effort and attention than it should; trust isn’t only a question of psychology or economics – it’s an infrastructure question also.

Those first three commitments again:

Co-creation – To keep finding better options, togetherSensemaking – To make the best sense we can of every new challengeTrust Building – To build trust in every direction

In a second post, I’ll expand on the second set of commitments, commitments that apply to every supersystem at every scale:

Curiosity: To ask better questionsGenerativity: To create more ideas than we consumeConsent: To celebrate the agency and ingenuity of others

Coming soon…

References

[1] Adaptive Organisation: Business agility at every scale (academy.agendashift.com)
[2] Up and down the Deliberately Adaptive Organisation, business agility at every scale (deliberately-adaptive.org)
[3] Agendashift: Outcome-oriented change and continuous transformation, Mike Burrows (2nd ed 2021)
[4] The Dynamics of Generative Change, Gervase R. Bushe (BMI Publishing, 2020)
[5] Dialogic Organization Development: The Theory and Practice of Transformational Change, Gervase R. Bushe & Robert J. Marshak (Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2015)
[6] Sensemaking in Organizations, Karl E. Weick (1995, Sage Publications)
[7] Sense, make-sense, decide, act, Tom Graves (2016, weblog.tetradian.com)
[8] Cynefin (cynefin.io)
[9] By Stafford Beer, all published by John Wiley & Sons: Brain of the Firm (2nd ed 1981, reprinted 1995), The Heart of Enterprise (1979, reprinted 1995), Diagnosing the System for Organisations (1985, reprinted 1995). I must confess that Diagnosing did not click for me until I made a second attempt after completing the longest of the three, Heart, which remains my favourite. A thousand or so pages in total (more if you count the re-reads) and well worth the effort. For a more modern and accessible treatment I highly recommend The Fractal Organization: Creating Sustainable Organizations with the Viable System Model, Patrick Hoverstadt (John Wiley & Sons, 2008)