Research in 2016 suggested that the British lose on average 1.3 socks a month, leaving them with numerous mismatches. If a person lived to 81, this would equate to 1,264 lost socks over a lifetime. That’s a lot of mismatched socks. By applying systems theory of variety and variety attenuation however, we can find a simple solution to this annoyance. Open systems Life (and … [Read more...] about Applying the theory of Variety attenuation to a real world annoyance
About Howard Clark
Using Purpose to Design and manage for effectiveness, learning and autonomy
If you were to ask most managers if they trust their teams, they would probably look at you a little shocked and say ‘of course!’ And yet many aspects of our organisations have not been designed for trust. And because we live inside the organisations we are often blind to how a lack of trust has been designed into, well everything (including technology). Let me give you an … [Read more...] about Using Purpose to Design and manage for effectiveness, learning and autonomy
Senior Leadership Knowledge seeking for strategy formation – a case study
Most modern organisations are drowning in information, but often short on knowledge. And as we all know, without knowledge there is no meaningful learning or action. Therefore it is wise for Senior leaders to get knowledge before taking action. I wanted to share what effective knowledge seeking behaviour from leadership teams looks like. The Situation Some years … [Read more...] about Senior Leadership Knowledge seeking for strategy formation – a case study
Designed to fail? Mckinsey’s 70% and all that
Mckinseys get a lot of stick for their claim that 70 percent of change programs fail to achieve their goals (Changing Change Management, 2015). This is partly because how they view change is wrong and this leads to conclusions that blame workers for resisting change, and then blame managers for providing a lack of support. In reality, the percentage of projects that fail in … [Read more...] about Designed to fail? Mckinsey’s 70% and all that
Reflecting upon Personas
Personas have become ubiquitous in many organisations, and are typically used as part of the digital development cycle and latterly transformation programs. Project Managers and interventionists come across this tool more frequently and since 2010 I have seen them used in six different public, private and third sector organisations. For some time I have wanted to do a little … [Read more...] about Reflecting upon Personas