Startups have office politics too

When most people talk about ‘office politics,’ they’re usually talking about larger, faceless organizations. 

But , In reality, whenever a group of people is working together, whether it is three or 300 or 30,000, there is going to be some level of politics to navigate. There is a naïve but common misconception that there are no politics at start-ups. People see the open office spaces, the hoodies, the ping pong tables, and the fast-paced, entrepreneurial environments and believe politics couldn’t possibly be a part of the experience. It does but it’s deferent.

Should we eliminitating job titles?

It's common to assume that employees job titles are a necessity for any organization, that they are needed for organization communication, order or presentation. But there is also nowadays those who challenge that thinking and even move toward radical action of eliminating all job titles across the organization. "If you take someone's title away, there's a good chance you're going to lose that person" is it? Do we even need job titles? Can we do without them (internally as well as externally)? Can we just drastically revamping the company's approach to job titles? 

Emergent Strategy - When Rigid, top-down planning doesn’t work

“There is nothing wrong with strategic planning – except when we believe that strategy unfolds as planned.  Emergent strategy is the recognition that rigid, top-down planning doesn’t work in a world of increasing uncertainty and unpredictability . An emergent strategy is a pattern of action that develops over time in an organization in the absence of a specific mission and goals, or despite a mission and goals.”

Organization Change Ethnography Approach -The 'Insider's Point of View

Our goal is to see people’s behavior on their terms, not ours. Ethnographers generate understandings of culture through representation the 'insider's point of view. 

To develop an understanding of what it is like to live in a setting, the researcher must both become a participant in the life of the setting while also maintaining "detachment."

Organizational ethnography promises to elucidate two aspects for which other methods, such as surveys, are less suitable: (1) its “hidden” dimensions, and (2) its actor‐context relations.

Radically Transparent Organization Culture.

Only few people have confidence in their leaders or mangers. Becoming completely, radically transparent is one of the answers for those issues. When people know why something's happening, and have all the information they could possibly want or need, they don't waste time. People that know why something's being done perform better than people simply told to carry out a task. It’s not easy, and it’s not like a switch you can flip on and instantly motivate employees. But the idea of everyone knowing everything could actually be a major driver of increased organizational performance.

The problem with Performance Appraisal as a Rating Device

Thought by Luis Goncalves ( @lgoncalves1979) Traditionally, companies think that objective measurement can happen within an appraisal process, but is this really true? Performance Appraisals are inaccurate, blends with Stereotype thinking and personal influence. In fact true employee performance has nothing to do with the final “evaluation”.

‘Antifragility’ Learn Fast and Adapt, Or Die

Fragile systems are those systems that cannot adapt to unpredictable, volatile, and random. The term “antifragile” comes from Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s book “Antifragile: Things That Gain From Disorder.”   Antifragile systems or organizations are those that have a culture that enables them to learn fast from their environment and adapt to it. Biological systems are antifragile. Ecosystems are as well.  Human organizations are antifragile. There are cases were the act of predicting can actually cause the system to degrade.  Even if you could predict, you shouldn’t. 

8 Hour Workday - The Beginning of the End

The 8-hour shift makes sense for physical labor and manufacturing work, but with information workers it’s a creativity killer. Nearly all tasks involve creative or strategic thinking. The way we structure the workday these days will probably not lead to a productive work. Want can we do about it? And what are the changes we look for?

Control is an illusion and uncertainty is the reality - Coach to cope with Workplace Uncertainty

The root of our lives is about resisting uncertainty, reaching for a safety zone, but uncertainty is a constant in life and in leadership. And when uncertainty leads to doubt and fear, we find ourselves stuck. Uncertainty, change and crisis result in low employee productivity and performance. We must understand that uncertainty is a daily thing, not only for organizational change but also for small changes in our day to day routine. As coaches we need to know, how it happens, how to deal with it and to offers emotional and practice tools (everyone in his field of practice) to deal with uncertainty.

Indispensible Organizational Myths Any Coach Should Know

Following are myths, mindsets, and motivators you'll find indispensible when guiding an organization through change. No matter what type of an organizational coach you are , all myth are the same. Is this a myth too?