What can business learn from saving Apollo 13?

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Sensemaking lessons from Apollo 13
March 26, 2023

“Houston, we have a problem”

On 13 April 1970 astronaut Commander Jim Lovell made one of the great understatements of the last century – “Houston, we have a problem”

Sensemaking Audit
March 20, 2023

The Case for Sensemaking Audits

Creating the right organisational culture and psychological safety necessary to give voice to quiet, diffident and dissenting colleagues is a laudable ambition.

whatsapp
March 9, 2023

Unfolding events are seldom grounded in logic

In a recent Sunday Times article, Matthew Syed attempts to put into perspective the recent purging excoriation of conduct by politicians and officials during the pandemic: ‘The WhatsApp witch-hunt chisels away at our sense of fair play’. His central thesis being one that will chime, not only with politicians, but all leaders who face a […]

creativity
March 2, 2023

The creativity argument

There is an argument voiced numerous times by prominent people, some notable, some notorious, that creativity and productivity are impacted when workers work at home alone rather than together in an office environment. I have heard the same argument from a close colleague, for whom I have the deepest respect, even though two of the […]

business consulting
February 15, 2023

A new and unique alternative to the ‘discovery’ phase  employed by consulting practices  

This paper has not been written as an attack on [organisational] consulting practices, but it does make a strong case to suggest that some activities such as the cliché of ’30 graduates crawling over a company with their clipboards’ is now so ‘analogue’ as to be in the throes of redundancy. On a positive note […]

business opportunities
February 15, 2023

Why we remain committed and excited about the opportunities of Organisational Sensemaking TM

Timing, timing, timing! There has never been a better time to challenge the staid, outdated and outmoded forms of information gathering and dissemination in organisations, for which we offer a genuinely unique solution, based upon mimicking the science of sensemaking in the construction of our Organisational Sensemaking TM diagnostic.   Throughout the world organisations have received […]

social capital
February 12, 2023

Still shuffling?

As someone who has experienced working in an office, working from home and hybrid working, I have no particular axe to grind about whether employees should return to the office or hold out for a more flexible working arrangement. Each way of working has its own advantages and disadvantages which have been detailed in many […]

Revolut
January 23, 2023

Revolution in company culture

In her meticulous annual review of workplace trends, Jeanne Meister identifies mostly positive changes for employees in 2023 including more inclusive caring behaviour by companies and provision of schemes to support hybrid working, from collaboration to learning. On hybrid learning, Meister quotes Vincent Maurin, e-Academy lead at Arcelor Mittal, who says, “We are envisioning pop-up […]

stagflation
January 15, 2023

Coping with the stagflation blues

The outlook in 2023 for the British economy and hence many British companies is grim. Stagflation, the combination of high inflation and persistent low growth, has returned to the UK. As Tony Danker, director-general of the CBI. puts it – “Britain is in stagflation—with rocketing inflation, negative growth, falling productivity and business investment.” Ian Stewart, […]