Organizing Principles

I find it very interesting that so many companies seek “business agility” but when it comes to actually making a change to basic operating procedures very few have anything resembling a consistent process for rolling out change.  The apparent choice seems to be between stagnation via consensus based analysis paralysis or hack and slash via executive mandates. Finding the middle-way here via is the focus on my work.

How does an organization balance its “top-down” needs for vision and direction with its “bottom-up needs” of stability and participation?

What’s needed is a framework for people who embody these forces to negotiate.

Currently, as a culture we lack the skills to effectively participate in these interactions. In general we tend to experience them as conflicts rather than collaborative discussions. As a result they are avoided rather than engaged. The frequency of this behavior might qualify as an epidemic. 

No theory, model or idea will effectively integrate these forces. They manifest in and through people. Consequently any method aimed at resolving them must deal with the messy realms of emotion, interpretation and argument.

Through these interactions between people the ultimate way forward may be recognized. The key to moving ahead and not getting stuck in the dark well of ego-battles is to see individuals in an organization as the sensors for larger forces. 

With more or less skill each of us perceive a slice of reality through different lenses. Uniting these glimpses into a coherent picture requires a new type of collaborative practice that I call Interactive Governance.