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Thinking, Fast and Slow

April 20, 2017 By Don

Thinking, Fast and Slow – by Daniel Kahneman

Daniel Kahneman, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for his seminal work in psychology that challenged the rational model of judgment and decision making, is one of our most important thinkers. His ideas have had a profound and widely regarded impact on many fields – including economics, medicine, and politics – but until now, he has never brought together his many years of research and thinking in one book.

Winner of the National Academy of Sciences Best Book Award in 2012
Selected by the New York Times Book Review as one of the best books of 2011
A Globe and Mail Best Books of the Year 2011 Title
One of The Economist‘s 2011 Books of the Year
One of The Wall Street Journal‘s Best Nonfiction Books of the Year 2011
Winner of the 2011 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Current Interest

Filed Under: Books, Uncategorized

Returning To Our Core Competencies

February 22, 2017 By t3stcas7

We are excited to be returning to our core competencies – helping leaders and their organizations prepare for change and uncertainty (and we’re talking about much more than risk mitigation) – and then helping them manage the parts they can control, and navigate the parts they can’t. This can start by getting clear about the changes they want to make, or know they need to make – while also becoming more prepared for changes that may be coming that they don’t yet know about (VUCA).

We’ve learned a lot and it feels right to be back “home.”

Cindy and Don

Filed Under: Uncategorized

5 Principles for Navigating Change

September 7, 2013 By Cindy

As food for thought, here are 5 principles that will enhance your leadership capacity for navigating change in the midst of uncertainty.  We’ll explore them in more detail going forward.

  1. Prepare for the unexpected
  2. Plan for the expected, knowing it will change
  3. Be clear about why, flexible about how
  4. Practice safe-fail, since fail-safe is no longer an option
  5. Measure what you must monitor what you can

 

Filed Under: Change, Leadership, Uncategorized

Welcome to our new website!

September 3, 2013 By Cindy

Hello! We are very excited to share our updated website. It looks at what we believe the future will demand of us – as individuals, as organizations, as communities – and how we can best prepare to meet those demands. Although some of the news can feel overwhelming or defeating, we believe there’s huge positive potential to be tapped as we move into different forms of leadership, relationship and organization.

On the site you will find concepts – both new and newly applied – that can be used immediately by you and your teams to better navigate the white water of today’s complex and uncertain environment.  We also offer a bunch of questions, to get you thinking differently as a way of widening your perspective and expanding the possibilities.  We don’t claim definitive answers to the challenges we all face, individually or on the larger stage.  What we do believe is that we can learn best together. So we encourage you and others to contribute your understanding and stories as a way for us all to expand our own capabilities.

Let’s make our journey one that benefits us all!  Your participation and feedback is encouraged and welcome.  Thanks for visiting.

Don and Cindy

 

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Talking about “managing” change

August 12, 2013 By Cindy

We think the phrases “managing change” or “change management” are misleading – and even potentially problematic. While we can manage a technical fix, we really can’t manage an adaptive change. And using language that implies that we can potentially leads to unrealistic expectations, insufficient preparation, blinders to what’s really going on, and a lack of vigilance.

We need to be clear about which dynamics we can actually manage (fortunately, there are some) – and which we can’t.  And, for those we can’t manage, what can/must we do.  Which ones need to be monitored or tracked.  Which ones take us along for a ride so what we’re really doing is navigating them.  Which ones frequently happen under the radar that we need to bring out into the open, normalize, and address again and again as the process moves forward.

This distinction and clarification will make a difference in whether you engage productively with uncertainty and ongoing change, or how badly it buffets you and your organization while you continue to cling to the idea that you’re somehow going to be able to “manage” it.

Filed Under: Change, Uncategorized

An overview of our Change Model

August 12, 2013 By Cindy

Change begins with a Current State – how things are right now – and looks forward to, and plans for, a Future State – how we want things to be on the other side of the change. We create a plan – how we think we will get to that Future State – shown here as the “orange line”. (Copyright on these images is held by Knowesys 2010.) We assume, predict (or hope) that we will be able to follow this plan and go directly from Current State to our desired Future State. But it almost never happens that way.

Instead of following the Predicted Path, at some point something will happen that will force a deviation from that predicted plan. We call these Destabilizing Events, and they cause the organization to “fall” into what we call the Cauldron of Change (or, as one of our clients calls it, the “Conundrum of Chaos”). This “fall” creates a discrepancy between how the change is happening and how we thought it would happen (the Predicted Path). Now, new actions will need to be taken – this creates the “Green Line” or the Transactional Path of change.

So far, so good – right?! But while we are navigating this unexpected and unfolding new path, another dynamic is at play. The Destabilizing Event also triggers people’s experience of and reaction to the change, the Transitional Change – or what we call the “Red Line.” This is the emotional reaction to change by the people involved – the dynamic that is too often ignored or avoided, but that must be addressed in order for the Green Line transactional path to succeed in guiding you out of the cauldron to the desired Future State. The challenge with the Red Line is that people’s experience of the change is usually unpredictable and often unknowable – yet this ongoing dynamic must be dealt with. How well (or how poorly) you deal with the Red Line determines how deeply your organization will fall into the cauldron and how long you will be there. The deeper and longer, the more painful it is for the organization – its people, its productivity, its finances, and its future.

By understanding our change model in greater detail, and using our process and tools to navigate the Green Line and deal with the Red Line, you will reap two immediate benefits in the change initiative you have planned. You will spend less time in the cauldron, and it will be less painful while you are there. You’ll also reap long-term benefits. Your organization will be much better prepared for the next change (and it will come!) even if it’s brought on by some completely unexpected external destabilizing event.

Filed Under: Change, Uncategorized

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