Tag: leadership

Silo thinking

Many of us already experienced this silo mentality in larger organisations, which are often stuck in a ‘command and control’ culture and mindset. Silo thinking in organizations refers to a mindset where departments or teams work in isolation, prioritizing their own goals over the collective objectives of the company. This can lead to poor communication,…
Turn the ship around

If you’d ask me tenwty years ago, if the captain of a nuclear-powered submarine could teach us something about leadership in complex environments – I would prety much shook my head. But it’s true – David Marquet introduced “intent based leadership” and by giving control and granting responsibility for everything a colleague did, from simple…
Dance with the system

Nothing describes an effective approach to handle complexity better than “dance with the system”. The first time I heard this expression was from Jurgen Appelo in his book “How to change the world” ² “Dance with the system” is a metaphor used to describe an adaptive and fluid approach to managing complex environments. In such…
Tribal leadership

This book was a kind of eye opener to me – how personal beliefs influnce the cooperation in teams and organisations. At the heart of Tribal Leadership is the concept of “tribes,” which refers to the social groups or communities that form within organizations. The authors identify five stages of tribal culture, ranging from “Stage…
Fayol’s Bridge

Preface: this post is for organizations, which struggle with their complicated setup. Fayol’s Bridge, named after the renowned French mining engineer and management theorist Henri Fayol, represents a crucial link between the technical aspects of an organization’s operations and its administrative functions. Fayol proposed that managers should serve as bridges between the specialized knowledge and…
Net negative producing developer

This blog post is about an anti pattern – and on top contains another anti pattern in itself (in my opinion). So what is a net negative producing developer? Originally described by G. Gordon Schulmeyer in the early 90’s, it’s basically a member of a (software) team whose contributions to a project result in more…
Appreciative Inquiry

AI is a format I always wanted to implement in my environment or experience it in action. Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is a method used to discover and define a vision for an organization or project by focusing on its strengths, successes, and positive attributes. Rather than identifying problems and weaknesses, AI seeks to uncover what…
Boss versus leader

I bet you saw this meme many times before. And still, it says a lot about past and current management requirements – the change from simple and complicated to complex projects.
Illusion of control

In the realm of work, it’s natural to have a desire for control – over our projects, teams, and processes. After all, responsibility often feels synonymous with power and control. However, in the complexity of modern work environments, this desire for control can become more of an illusion than a reality. I’ve often found myself…
Walk the talk

The term “walk the talk” originates from the idea that actions speak louder than words. It emphasizes the importance of aligning one’s behavior with their stated beliefs or values. The phrase implies that it’s not enough to merely talk about something; one must demonstrate their commitment through consistent actions. Historically, the concept can be traced…