blog

Thanks to Sadler Heath I’ve had the privilege of participating in a workshop called ‘Why top executives derail’, facilitated by organisational ecologist Dr Peter Robertson. A hugely thought-provoking day, very rich in content and covering everything from organisational corruption to neuroscience.

One of the many concepts presented during the day was the S-curve as a model of organisational development. Imagine an S: the bottom tip of the tail represents ‘designing the future’ (where people need to challenge the status quo) while the middle represents operating the business, the top represents ‘squeezing out the efficiencies’ and making a profit, and the top tip stands for ‘closing down the old business model’.

If the organisation is to be successful, it needs to ‘jump’ from the top of the S to the bottom of a new S, which hooks under the top of the first S (you’ll need to look at the link above to see this graphically!) and start again with designing a new future. The jump is very uncomfortable and turbulent, but necessary for organisational survival and flourishing. As I’ve seen in my work with clients, it can be seductive for an apparently successful organisation, operating at the top of the S, to stay where it is without adequately anticipating the future – and making the jump. And as Seth Godin says, staying where you are can be the most dangerous thing you do.

Unless organisations anticipate the need to change in response to changing internal and external conditions, and make a jump, they are liable to falter and die. And leaders derail in the process. Think HMV, Borders or Blockbuster, which failed to anticipate and adapt to the power of the Internet. Or Nokia, which failed to innovate fast enough to beat its competitors.

And of course, different kinds of talent are needed for each stage in the S-curve: the entrepreneur who launches the business won’t be the right person to operate it and run it efficiently.

It seems to me that leaders who embrace the message of this model need to be both visionary and courageous. They need to be outstanding leaders of people and their integrity needs to be without question. All challenging stuff.

Photo by Giant Ginkgo via Compfight

The S-curve

The S curve, developed by Dr Peter Robertson, is a model of organisational development. To survive in the long-term, organisations need to jump from the stage of squeezing out efficiencies and closing down the old business model to starting again with designing a new future.

United Nations launches International Happiness Day

Higher GDP doesn't make people happy. Does being happy enable higher GDP? Does it enable more productivity, creativity and engagement in your organisation? And does being unhappy or stressed diminish your organisation's GDP?

The crazy ones

"The ones who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do."

Trust at work

Leaders who trust their people, and who are trusted, tend to be rewarded with engagement, motivation, discretionary effort, creativity, retention, integrity and better decision-making. Look to the NHS for some examples of trust that's missing.

Throwing light on the coaching journey

“Visible reality is only a small crumb of what's really out there". 'Light Show' at the Hayward Gallery in London illuminates the coaching relationship as enabling the coaching client to see their challenges and their options with greater clarity.

Obvious to you, amazing to others

Obvious to You, Amazing to Others‘ is an engaging little 98-second cartoon about the value of not underestimating your creative talents: to you they’re normal and everyday, but to others they may be exceptional, exciting and inspiring. Thank you to the 30 Day Challenge, run by Screw Work Let’s Play, for alerting me to this. It’s an energetic programme, supporting and challenging participants to stop just thinking about or talking about what they love doing – and to start taking some action.

The coach's presence - and the leader's results

Simply by being there, in the room with the client, as coach or therapist or consultant, we impose our ego – whether by directing the conversation via the next question we ask, offering an interpretation, offering a particular exercise or experiment, or picking up on this or that point that the client makes. In the process of building a co-created relationship, how can we not get in the client's way?

The leader, executive coaching - and lack of ego

One of the foundation stones of executive coaching is the need for the coach (and the coaching) to be ‘ego-free’ (or at least ‘ego-minimised’). If the coaching client is going to achieve meaningful and lasting results, the coach has to get out of the way: they need to open doors (and windows) but the executive’s success will be what they create for themselves.

blog

Recent Posts