This is an invitation to join the pathfinder cohort and help develop the Tensions Management approach so organisations that are struggling, can benefit, level-up, thrive and prosper. Collaborators will apply Tensions Management techniques to solve real issues in their organisations as part of a global action learning research study. The knowledge applied is not new, […]

Ever wondered why managers struggle to overcome resistance to change? Why institutions consistently talk about improvement but cannot increase operational efficiency? And why do some sectors perform so badly when compared with others? Tensions Management is a better way to overcome resistance to change, as it addresses social and technical factors simultaneously. Dr Russ Lewis […]

Flawed Advice and the Management Trap, Chris Argyris, 2000 Social tensions in organizations prevent people from doing what they privately believe to be right. People espouse one model but employ another; they do not walk the talk. The gap between words and actions is compounded (by repetition) to become the infamous strategy – execution gap […]

Microsoft killed Wiki on Teams - who knew they would delete our data too - here's how to restore it

Most ways of working still rely on functional hierarchy, where managers make decisions and workers do the work. Managers know they can't change this work structure, but they can transform its effectiveness without asking for permission and without needing a budget. Before exploring the changes that transform the way people work, we need to recognise […]

Today’s challenge is that traditional management approaches, where managers tell people what to do and how to do it, are not as effective as they once were. Agile transformation takes years, but changing management’s focus from people to tensions could be a better solution. It is simpler, faster, and considerably more cost-effective. Management is the […]

One of my favourite books on organisational change is ‘Who Moved my Cheese?’ It’s short, and mice looking for cheese to eat is an appealing analogy. It’s a model for managers because it covers four theoretical outcomes of change. Those outcomes are: what happens if I (or we) do, or don’t make this change, what […]

Business Agility Leadership Coaching (BALC) emerged as a consequence of asking leaders and managers across HSBC how they wanted to improve their agile leadership. Our proposed solution hit a sweet spot because we were 100% oversubscribed at the start and interest just kept growing during the three months of the structured learning events. The 'secret […]

In the standup, we had a (brief) team discussion about tracking progress. I reacted against Jira because a) I dislike the user interface as it's a collaboration killer, and b) we aren't a software development or IT support team. Standup game visualises progress Three weeks later, team members Sam Thomas and @HughHadfield demonstrated this way […]

Contrary to popular belief, managers are not there to ‘make difficult decisions’. What makes a decision difficult usually, is a lack of information. What makes a decision dangerous is the lack of knowledge of how to use that information. If a manager selects one item from a list of choices or approves an initiative instead […]

Agile Delivery means putting value in your customer’s hands in weeks not years. It also means being able to change your mind about what you want to deliver, as often as the market demands.

One key action: Agile Guidance for C-Suite leadership If my job title was a three-letter acronym and the first letter was a “C”, I might be un-festively fed-up with people telling me how to run my agile digital transformation. Two more ‘top ten something-or other things CEOs and CIOs should worry about’ appeared last week, […]