Recent Blogs

I am currently writing a chapter for a new CIPD book to be published next year and my theme is "developing an OD strategy from an HR perspective".

A friend of mine told me this story the other day:

He said that a major technology company invited a group of teenagers to discuss the following question - "To what extent has technology changed things forever?" A good question and not an unreasonable one for a technology company to consider.

After much discussion one of the youngsters raised their hand. When invited to speak she said - "I think you have asked us the wrong question."

On Saturday I managed to persuade my wife to spend the evening watching rugby. I know, I'm an old romantic!

But this was no ordinary rugby game. It was about the 1995 rugby world cup played in South Africa and we went to see the exceptional film INVICTUS.

In post-apartheid South Africa, the Springboks symbolised the old racist, apartheid regime. The Boks were beloved in the Afrikaans heartlands and Mandela faced a dilemma - what should he do about the Boks?

Last week one of my clients asked me to tell them in one sentence what I thought change management is. Wow! How do I get all that stuff about change into one sentence?

How do we know we are doing the right things in our organisations? It is not an easy question to answer of course, but it is a question that has surfaced frequently in recent discussions I have held with a range of clients. 

Three themes have emerged from these discussions - which are echoed in an excellent article in today's FT about the work of Russ Ackoff, and which prompted me to write this blog.