Advocates of ‘continuous improvement‘ often present the associated change process as one involving a linear series of positive steps between current and desired future states. This characterisation of the change process is unfortunately not the way many experience it, especially during the period immediately after a change is introduced. One prominent example of the ‘positive… Continue reading Traversing the Valley of Change: States, Stages, and Lenses
Tag: capacity building
Interdependency, Mutual Dependency, and Co-dependency in your NFP
While the terms interdependency, mutual dependency, and co-dependency sound similar, it is important to distinguish between them if a healthy culture is to be nurtured in your non-profit. Beware co-dependency A co-dependent relationship has been described as a shared psychological condition (meaning pathology) in which ‘one party needs the other party, who in turn, needs… Continue reading Interdependency, Mutual Dependency, and Co-dependency in your NFP
Strategic Archery
Just as “All models are wrong, but some are useful” (George Box), I’d like to suggest that “All metaphors are oversimplified, but some are quite helpful“. Archery, darts, and other target metaphors are frequently used in strategy discussions e.g. “Hitting our target”“Missed our target”“Ready, Fire, Aim” (criticism) Strategic targets are set as part of the… Continue reading Strategic Archery
‘Ratio’-nal thinking in the boardroom
“… terms like ‘reasonable’ and ‘rational’, which are often used when describing the desirable qualities of board deliberation, are about the capacity of the directors (and management) to use sophisticated data and analysis i.e. ‘ratio’-nal thinking.”
What’s the motion?
“… the sooner the meeting has a proposal framed, the sooner debate can focus on what the meeting agrees to”
Habit Chicken or Belief Egg? Which comes first in PD?
Anyone who has stood in front of a class or training room and sought to help ‘students’ to develop their knowledge, skills, and/or attitudes, recognises that ‘deep’ learning only happens when the student makes sense of the new content or skill by extension of their existing framework of knowledge and skill. We all need ‘hooks’… Continue reading Habit Chicken or Belief Egg? Which comes first in PD?