SYNNECTA Blog
Organizational Development
Mental Change? Agile organizations need new »identities«
On the agile triangle (methods, structure, culture), one of the most difficult aspect remains that of cultural change; that is neither new nor surprising. What we call culture is a combination of many factors that cannot be grasped by causal thought and are therefore...
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Agile organizations and their growing pains
The group was silent. They stayed silent, even as the inviting manger tried to send an optimistic and constructive message. Questions were ignored or answered with vague and irrelevant responses. Although the conversation livened up a little in smaller groups, it...
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A plea for learning by experience in group dynamics and against the over-methodization of agile procedures
Among the employees and managers we meet who work in agile environments, more and more have recently asked us how to deal with dominant informal leaders. Both sociometry and group dynamics know informal leadership as a key phenomenon: it is a frequent cause of a range...
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Agile Teams & Collaboration/Conflicts
Does »Agility« and »Controlling« fit together? On the ICV ControllingBlog Hans-Peter Sander, Head of the ICV Team PR/New Media, tells about his Agile Culture Coach training that he completed in five modules in 2017 at SYNNECTA. Today: »Agile Teams and Collaboration«...
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Agility needs Diversity
Agility is the answer enterprises have found to a changed world and to a changed context of doing business. Society, markets and the competitive landscape have changed to possess a greater degree of contingency - in the phrasing of companies today, this is known as...
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Agile Methods and Scrum
Does »Agility« and »Controlling« fit together? The big Munich »Controller Congress« had the title »Agile Controlling in the digital reality – managing upheavals successfully?«. I received a fantastic offer: Deep immersion into the subject during a professional...
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Why agility and diversity belong together
»Not yet an answer« Consider a group of people. They are all different, not the same, but they have one thing in common: they work together. They were told that work these days needs agility, and diversity. Everyone nodded in agreement. All of them have the same...
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»The tale of one who set out to learn agility«
»Agility« and »management control« – that's a match! Even this year's large Munich »Controller Congress« agreed when they titled the event »Agile controlling in digital reality: Managing upheavals successfully«, didn't they? Or is it not a match after all, as some...
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Why dynamic skills are becoming so important now
The demands on organisations are growing steadily, while the private and business world is becoming more complex and increasingly less predictable. As the recent past has clearly shown, we are challenged daily by issues which are always good for surprises: not only...
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»The World in Upheaval« – Book launch at the Mercator Foundation Berlin
The book »Anders wirtschaften – Integrale Impulse für eine plurale Ökomomie« (Economising Differently – Integral Impulses for a Plural Ecomomy) provides an approach to achieve a systemic understanding of corporate organisation and leadership. On Tuesday,...
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Industry 4.0
It is currently the main economic issue, and there is hardly any topic whereby the impact on industry and society is discussed so controversially. When it comes to the question of how digitalisation changes the working world, different opinions determine the public...
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Agile Talent Management (II): New Formats and Interventions
I described the fundamental aspects of agile talent management in my last blog post on the topic of talent management: a development-guided notion of talent, talent enabling, self-organization and a supportive talent culture. Building on that, I will now propose...
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Agile Talent Management (I): What is talent management in a situation of constant change?
The form of talent management I witness in many organizations is maintained via talent identification and process management. Yet, these inflexible models are rarely able to permit the flexibility that is required in complex, agile environments. If talent management...
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Strategic Simulation Game – SYNNECTA Global Logistics
This is a game of six stations with set game boards and role ascriptions, thirty-five players, a range of supply concepts, several thousand Lego bricks, a great number of containers, lorries and ships. It is the goal of this game of quick rounds to produce eight Lego...
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Age!
»A society that cannot bear old age will be destroyed by its own selfishness.« Willy Brandt How old are you? When I was six, I thought I was old - I was, after all, about to start school. When I was eighteen, I did not feel like an adult. And now? I feel young,...
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Supervisions: Visiting places of modern and hyper-modern art
In Berlin, people are queueing up to see an exhibition comparing expressionist and impressionist painting. It is a very regulated experience of art: this is well established, known art. There will not be any exceeding challenges, irritations or surprises. Here, on the...
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Dimensions of Agility
»Agility« has become a key term for anyone keen to show that they are »ahead of the times«. Yet, at the same time, use of the word often elicits negative reactions and rejection. Beyond showmanship and buzzword bingo, however, the term hides valuable notions and...
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Cultural sensitivity allows a more effective Change Management: organizational culture as a field of discourses in tension
Cultural anthropologists have addressed the cultural aspects of organizations and companies since the 1920s, beginning with the Hawthorne Experiments. Now, economists and management have come to recognize that organizational culture is a resource for economic success...
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New Leadership – New Organizations
Criteria for a Successful Transformation (Part 1) Everyone knows that an organization's viability for the future is decided by its ability to react and adapt to fast and fundamental changes to its conditions. Many know how organizations can be modernized, transformed...
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New Leadership for a New World – Democratizing Organizations – initial realistic steps
In 2010, Georg Diez wrote in the newspaper SZ Nr. 275: »We are on the brink of this new century, the contours of which we can at least discern. A new green hedonism, a new technology euphoria, a crisis demolishing old hierarchies and enabling new realities, thus...
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Positive Mind to Ignite Potential
For some time now, I have been following what may be called a Positive Psychology Cycle for my life. I may be rather late in coming to realize how lives can flourish with the simple Positive Mind notion if only each one of us began to apply and practice its simple...
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The Future starts today
The future starts today. It is going to be the way it will be. And yet it was decided yesterday and today whether we will be ready for it, successful and content. Our prediction tools have by now taken on the guise of magical rituals. We are under pressure to perform...
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»Trust is an Attitude« – Musical Inspirations on the Culture of Improvisation
Life is a lot like jazz... it's best when you improvise. (George Gershwin) I believe that the ability to improvise is becoming more and more important for individuals, teams and organisations in an increasingly VUCA business world. Where volatility, uncertainty,...
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Cultural difference
An old fable Two frogs fall into a bowl of cream. Its insides are smooth. They cannot climb out. One frog succumbs to his fate, sinks to the bottom and dies. The other frog kicks and kicks with all his might, his will and his stamina. He does so for a long time. And...
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Trust? – »Of course, but you have to earn it!«
On the path to slowness In business and in private, our world is dominated by diversity, indecision and fast changes. It is increasingly rare to find reliable constancy. This situation is well described by the keyword VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity,...
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Change Management? It does exist. Yet: What form does it take?
»You must either make a tool out of the creature, or a man of him. You cannot make both.« (John Ruskin) A lot of research has gone into the dynamics of Change projects and successful ways of providing support for the attainment of goals over the course of the last...
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IN-WASTE-MENT: a provocation
»I love the one whose soul wastes itself, who does not want gratitude and does not give back: Because he is always giving and does not want to preserve himself.« Friedrich Nietzsche has his controversial figure Zarathustra say these words, and thus creates a person...
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Sexual orientation – a taboo in the workplace?
If you could answer one question for yourself: »Are you experiencing the contact between people in your company as free form discrimination – especially when it comes to different sexual orientations?« In surveys, usually 85-90 % of people consider themselves in...
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SYNNECTA TrendLab
Society and economy are shaped by changes. The cycles of supposed stability get shorter and shorter. Accordingly, human resources and organizational development have to question themselves permanently and pose the question whether traditional instruments and theories...
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Bridging the Generational Gap
Dealing with generations in the organisational context X, Y, Z, I ... seeing generational gaps and the differences they bring by as a simple trend would be a clear understatement of the phenomenon. Who, among you, hasn't heard at least once of the stereotypes and...
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