Tag Archives: actors

March 22, 2019

A Dialog on Complexity in the Organization | The #orgdna #globalchat 3/30/19 9-11am EDT

By Chris Jones

As we resume our twitter chat on organization complexity, we’re excited to welcome members of Plexus Institute to the conversation.

In the footsteps of David Bohm, we know conversations can lead to emergent outcomes. The #orgdna community, like Plexus, provides a place to spark new thinking and new opportunities for collaboration.

Since 2012, our conversations have explored key aspects of complexity facing the modern organization, as we seek to understand and guide:  stakeholders (as actors); key roles (as catalysts); initial conditions; agility; and most recently, org culture.  In successive chats we’ve taken deeper dives, where more focus was needed. And we’ve found planning, like scaffolding, can be useful. We post a few questions for each chat in advance to frame the dialog, but as the conversation unfolds, we will explore detours that seem compelling in the moment … a working example of social, adaptive learning.

Here are the framing questions used Saturday, 3/30/19. Transcript of insights (tweets) are attached in comments.

  • Q1. What do we mean by “organizational dna?”
  • Q2. What do we mean by the “dna of collaboration”?
  • Q3. How do concepts and methods of complex adaptive systems influence an organization’s dna, for better collaboration and outcomes? 
  • Q4. What are some examples of an organization’s sense-making, in practice? 
  • Q5. Are certain initial conditions needed for sense-making in an organization to be possible?

Much to learn, and much to discuss.  As always, we hope to see you online .. and again, welcome to the #orgdna #globalchat community!

– Chris Jones aka @sourcepov | Charlotte NC US

1 Comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in complexity

February 17, 2018

Will Roles/Edges shift in post-Hierarchy Orgs? | frame for #orgdna #futureofwork 2/19/18

By Chris Jones

Our conversation on the Future of Work continues, navigating with a Coggle mind map we starting building last Fall.  For February, we’re picking up with our January discussion on actors and roles (see transcript), infusing a new dynamic, the shifting of boundaries and edges.

To get you thinking, here’s a meta question:

In a post-hiearchy organization, where a flat or networked model drives new kinds of interactions, what will be different?  Must our mindset change on how we work to solve problems?

Let’s discuss via Twitter Monday, 2/19 from 9-11pm, using this outline:

  • Q1. In terms of roles, how should actors (catalysts, creatives, connectors) behave without hierarchy?
  • Q2. How might edges or boundaries appear in practice, post-hierarchy?
  • Q3. Are ‘boundaries’ necessary? Are ‘edges’ a better frame?
  • Q4. How should we think about teams in this brave new world?

Share your thoughts. Just drop us comments on this post, or better still, join us live using hashtag #orgdna; additional details are below.

Our conversations are lively.  I hope you’ll join us.

–  Chris Jones @sourcepov in Charlotte NC

 

ABOUT THE GROUP. Over the last 5 years, a self-selecting band of OD thinkers has been discussing the future of the organization, using hashtag #orgdna. The group continues to evolve, with 20-25 active contributors.

ABOUT THE TWITTER CHAT. On any given month, 5-10 of us come together on Twitter for conversation, which is open to all. For the chat itself, we recommend a tweet streaming app like TweetDeck. Just add #orgdna to your tweets, and we’ll start to exchange ideas at the appointed hour. We’re now running 2-hours to accommodate time zones; just join for any part that you’re able.

ABOUT THE TOPIC. Much is being said on “the future of work” and its unfolding dimensions. See Deloitte’s Tom Friedman interview, Use #futureofwork in your tweets for additional cross-over engagement.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR. Chris Jones is a thinker, instigator, and explorer of edges, unpacking the forces inside organizations for over 30 years. Look for more here on the #orgdna blog, on Medium – or for the deepest dive to date, over on Amazon.

 

1 Comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in edges, roles

January 14, 2018

Actors & Roles: A Deeper Dive | frame for #orgdna #futureofwork 1/15/18

By Chris Jones

A hearty Happy New Year to you, and thanks for stopping in.  Your timing is good, as we are just now organizing our 2018 agenda.  We’ll continue to use our Coggle diagram as a guide. It’s a topic map we’ve built from prior #orgdna chats, with an infusion of complexity thinking.

For 2018, we’re drilling deeper into the details, for a more pracitical, actionable discussion .. focusing on how the real work gets done.

Let’s use our MON 1/15/18 chat, 9-10:30pm ET, to dive into Stakeholder Factors.  Here’s the preliminary outline, in the form of our chat questions:

  • Q1. Why call them “Actors”? Is it, perhaps, where the action takes place, moving from theory into practice?
  • Q2. Focus on Key Roles: Skills, interests and task demands will vary, but what roles are always essential?
  • Q3. How do Catalysts function? Is this becoming the Leaders primary role?
  • Q4. Why Titles can hurt: Do they sustain calcification?
  • Q5. Long-term Change is hard. Can adapting in real-time be easier?

The conversation may move beyond this outline. This just gets us started.  In fact, the Coggle model we’ve created is evolving with the conversation too, as we learn more.

As a reference during the chat, I’ll insert our latest Coggle map; we’ll be discussing the upper left branch, in yellow.

ORGDNA_FutureOfWork-v1-OCT2017

For more in depth viewing, try the ORGDNA-FutureOfWork PDF .

We’d love your input on all this. Just drop us comments on this post, or to individual members tweeting at #orgdna. Better still, it may be easiest to simply join us live; details are below.

Our conversations are always lively.  I hope you’ll join us.

–  Chris Jones @sourcepov in Charlotte NC

 

ABOUT THE GROUP. Over the last 5 years, a self-selecting band of OD thinkers has been discussing the future of the organization, using hashtag #orgdna. The group continues to evolve, but the number of active contributors hovers around 20-25.

ABOUT THE TWITTER CHAT. On any given month, 5-10 of us come together on Twitter for conversation, which is open to all. For the chat itself, we recommend a tweet streaming app like TweetDeck. Just add #orgdna to your tweets, and we’ll start to exchange ideas at the appointed hour.

ABOUT THE TOPIC. Much is being said on “the future of work” and its unfolding dimensions. Don’t miss Deloitte’s recent Tom Friedman interview, hosted by Deloitte CEO Cathy Engelbert and their senior strategist John Hagel. Add #futureofwork to your tweets for additional cross-over engagement.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR. Chris Jones is a thinker, instigator, and explorer of edges, unpacking the forces inside organizations for over 30 years. Look for more here on the #orgdna blog, on Medium – or for his deepest dive to date, over on Amazon.

1 Comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , | posted in leadership, roles