Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord’s four box model
Unless you’re a military historian, you probably haven’t heard of General Kurt Von Hammerstein-Equord. He rose to become commander-in-chief of the German army between the wars, and is remembered for being a staunch opponent of the Nazi regime. That is, unless you’ve read widely in organisational behaviour, in which case you probably only know him for the following, slightly un-PC remark: I divide my officers into four classes;... [Read More...]
All the unsaid things between us …
This was inspired by a comment from a client recently about the meeting culture they were experiencing at work. They were frustrated: When this sort of pattern persists it can cause significant personal and financial costs. Tweet This Post Read More →
The defensive cycle
This picture represents a collection of comments that we heard in one organisation that was pushing through budget cuts. Employees felt their jobs were under threat, so were unwilling to speak up about the pressure they were coming under. Unable to prioritise or say no, they become less productive, inviting further pressure, and so the cycle continued. When everyone’s feeling under threat our natural defensive inclination is to hide our... [Read More...]
Back to the office …
This montage of experiences was captured from conversation with a client who had just spent several days at a leadership development programme. They felt totally reenergized and refreshed, “a new and more authentic me!” Yet they were dreading going back into a “toxic culture” that would destroy their new found confidence and force them to don the armour of pretence and resume their “office persona”. Tweet This Post Read More →
Programme communications: The loose cannon
Every change/comms manager we’ve shown this picture to seems to roll over laughing … it’s obviously hit a bit of a nerve! We are currently in the process of creating a new pre-packaged Visual Dialogue “session-in-a-box” to help programme teams discuss and resolve common issues. This picture is one of several we’ve created to help get people talking. They draw on our own experiences of difficult situations... [Read More...]
Employee engagement: Getting on board the runaway train
This is a vote of sympathy for all of the beleaguered change managers out there working with unsympathetic programme managers! Tweet This Post Read More →
Voicing – what’s not spoken about in your organisation?
This picture was originally one of a series we have produced to visualise the key themes from Bill Isaacs’ Dialogue model, one of several dialogue models we’ve played with over the years. This picture speaks to the theme of “Voicing”. Here’s Isaacs’ description: To speak to your voice is perhaps one of the most challenging aspects of genuine dialogue. Speaking your voice has to do with revealing what is true... [Read More...]
Elephant Under The Table
When people become fearful of saying what really concerns them, leaders lose sight of what’s really happening in their organization and the quality of their decision-making suffers. For employees, unarticulated frustration can turn into confusion and anger that quickly creates a culture of low morale. This then manifests as apathy, resistance or even sabotage. Soon, no one wants to talk about the real issues even though they are staring everyone... [Read More...]
There’s never enough time!
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