In 2013 a Communications Director named Justine Sacco landed in Cape Town after a flight from New York. As she switched her phone back on she was met with two messages. The first was from someone she hadn’t spoken to for years: “I’m so sorry to see what’s happening.” The second was from her best … Continue reading How Technology Is Changing Our Conversation
What Effect Does Environment Have On Our Ability To Think Creatively?
When you think of the “space to innovate” what immediately springs to mind? Is it the physical space , the mental space, the calendar space? All three? I’ve been thinking a lot about spaces and environments this week: specifically what are the best creative spaces to boost collaboration? Few companies measure whether the design of … Continue reading What Effect Does Environment Have On Our Ability To Think Creatively?
Moving From ‘Big Change That Rarely Happens’ To ‘Small Change That Always Does’
We’re obsessed with big change, but what if we’re underestimating the power of the small changes that lie more easily within our reach?
Turn Your Company Into A Problem Solving Machine
Last week I spent four and half hours in a room with my colleagues trying to get to the root of a problem. Six colleagues: 27 hours of just thinking. Einstein believed the quality of the solution you generate is in direct proportion to your ability to identify the problem you hope to solve. If you jump … Continue reading Turn Your Company Into A Problem Solving Machine
Remote Work Is Always Efficient But Efficient Isn’t Always Effective
There is surely nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency what should not be done at all. Peter Drucker This week marked my return to in-person facilitation after 16 months. I’m not going to lie. As I began the week with a 5:30am start and a 90 minute commute, I was hardly overjoyed … Continue reading Remote Work Is Always Efficient But Efficient Isn’t Always Effective
How Do We Emerge From a State of Fear?
Be afraid. Be very afraid. That is how the media approached Covid. Be afraid of everything. Be afraid of being tall. Be afraid of being bald. Be afraid of going to the shops and accepting home deliveries. The fearmongering is relentless. Be afraid of your pets. Be afraid for your pets. Just be afraid. Laura Dodsworth In August last year I went back to the … Continue reading How Do We Emerge From a State of Fear?
Why We Fail To Predict The Future
rns out very different than we imagine. The more our organisations actively think about the future the easier it becomes to close the future gap and put yourself into that future.
Innovating Against All Odds: The Endlessly Adaptable Future of Work
Received wisdom isn’t what it used to be. The future will be made up of shades of grey where few things are certain and the best you can do to prepare is to be endlessly adaptable.
The Return To The Office Has Begun. What Next?
39% would consider quitting if their employers weren’t flexible about remote work.
What happens next now more and more bosses are demanding a return to the office?
How To Kill Ideas (Part 53)
Many organisations act as inhibitors of innovation. Rules and protocols are put in place, often for very good reasons, that preserve the status quo. Over time, organisations develop a set of social norms – ‘the way we do things around here’ – that can quell any creativity or dissent. Organisations can quickly develop an autonomic immune response … Continue reading How To Kill Ideas (Part 53)
Why The Employee Idea Scheme Doesn’t Work
The concept of asking employees to share their ideas to drive innovation is always a good one. Unfortunately, the traditional suggestion scheme is, in my opinion, not the way to go about it.
The Rise of The Four Day Work Week
A shorter work week might force us all to cut meetings, limit email and interruptions, and operate at a much more deliberate, productive and happier level.
How (Not) To Change Someone’s Mind
Faced with the choice between changing one’s mind and proving that there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof. ~John Kenneth Galbraith We live in a perpetual echo chamber. We follow the people we like and agree with on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. We read the news sites that … Continue reading How (Not) To Change Someone’s Mind
Do You Have A Jargon Problem?
We’ve experimentally demonstrated what you may have already suspected: People use jargon not just to communicate, but also to show off. Zachariah Brown, Eric Anicich, Adam Galinsky Do you have a jargon problem? Defenders of jargon say it acts as necessary professional shorthand – it conveys complicated ideas succinctly – and used well, it does. … Continue reading Do You Have A Jargon Problem?
Why We Need To Learn To Unlearn
Why do we persist in presenting plans that offer the illusion of certainty but are bound to be disrupted?
Unlearning is the process of letting go, reframing, and moving away from once-useful mindsets and acquired behaviours that were effective in the past, but now limit success.
The Productivity Paradox and Zoom Fatigue: Why Technology Won’t Solve Our Problems
“Imagine in the physical workplace, for the entirety of an 8-hr workday, an assistant followed you around with a handheld mirror, and for every single task you did and every conversation you had, they made sure you could see your own face in that mirror” Jeremy N. Bailenson –Nonverbal Overload: A Theoretical Argument for the … Continue reading The Productivity Paradox and Zoom Fatigue: Why Technology Won’t Solve Our Problems
Why Do We Believe In Silver Bullet Solutions?
In folklore, a bullet cast from silver is often one of the few weapons that are effective against a werewolf or witch. In business, the “silver bullet” is a simple, but sure-fire solution to a complex and/or chronic problem. Once you use it, the problem goes away completely.
Why do we believe in silver bullets?
Community Is The Most Powerful Unit Of Change
We are less pessimistic about our own lives than we are about larger units. We’re not very pessimistic about our village, we are not pessimistic about our town – but we are very pessimistic about our country, and even more pessimistic about the future of our planet. The bigger the unit you look at the … Continue reading Community Is The Most Powerful Unit Of Change
Three Reasons Why We Fail To Solve Problems
Why do some problems get solved whilst others stick around? Here are three examples of why we sometimes fail and what we could do differently.
Where Did Our Commute Time Go?
The jury is still out on whether the pandemic has ushered in a new era of remote work but either way a lot of workers have saved a lot of time this year. So you’d think we’d have put it to good use.
Have we?
Can The Pandemic Usher In An Era of Creative Disruption?
If we’d followed a conventional big transformation/ big consultancy approach to vaccine development and deployment we’d be getting our jabs sometime around the middle of 2033.
The question is, can your organisation draw on the lessons of the pandemic to forge a more effective partnership with your customers and stakeholders?
