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Takeoff projects help students complete their academic projects. Register at takeoff projects today to find and learn about different interesting big data projects and grab the best jobs. Get started right now.
One of the core tools that we use at PosWork is the Appreciative Inquiry model for strengths-based change. For organisations wanting to find a positive alternative to the traditional risk management approach, Appreciative Inquiry is a great option.
Participants in a meeting of the Japanese OD Network self-organizing in a dialogic container to discuss what they learning from an embodied experience of constraints, Kanzan University, Nagoya, 201…...
In this film of Relational Heroes, we explore the work of Otto Scharmer on leadership, focusing on deep listening and the power of circles of support in shaping more conscious, relational systems. Full length film #RelationalHeroes #OttoScharmer #TheoryU #DeepListening #RelationalPractice
Through his Theory U framework, Scharmer describes four levels of listening from downloading what we already know, to listening with empathy, to generative listening that allows something new to emerge. He invites us to move beyond debate and control towards presence, curiosity, and collective awareness.
We reflect on how these ideas resonate with relational practice, Family Group Decision-Making, kinship care, and trauma-informed work especially the importance of creating circles where people feel seen, heard, and supported to shape their own futures.
Listening, in this frame, is not passive. It is a relational act that redistributes power and makes space for possibility.
This video is shared on our channel for learning purposes, as part of our ongoing exploration of relational heroes whose ideas help us cultivate more attentive, participatory, and life-giving practice.
“The quality of results in any system is a function of the quality of awareness from which people operate.” – Otto Scharmer
If you’re interested in leadership, systems change, social work, kinship care, or building circles of support that generate new futures, this episode is for you.
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A braided river delta in Alaska, image courtesy of NOAA Not as the be-all and end-all of their organizations and teams, but a good leader will hold a container in the workplace in which disagreemen…...
In this conversation with members of Virtuous Company's Leadership Program (Programa Lideranças Virtuosas), Otto Scharmer distills a lifetime of wisdom on leadership and systems change.
Dr. Scharmer is a Senior Lecturer at MIT and Founding Chair of the Presencing Institute, having dedicated the past 20 years to helping leaders embrace cross-sector systems transformation.
He is an action researcher who co-creates innovations in learning and leadership that he delivers with institutions in business, governments and civil society around the world.
Through his bestselling books “Theory U” and “Presence” (co-authored with Peter Senge and others, with whom we also had the honor to speak with last year), Prof. Scharmer introduced the groundbreaking concept of "presencing". He also co-authored “Leading from the Emerging Future: From Ego-system to Eco-system Economies" and, more recently, “Presencing: 7 Practices for Transforming Self, Society, and Business”.
Prof. Scharmer co-founded the MITx u-lab, which has activated a vibrant worldwide ecosystem of transformational change involving more than 250,000 users from 186 countries.
In collaboration with colleagues, he co-created global Action Learning Labs for UN agencies and SDG Leadership Labs for UN Country Teams in 26 countries, which support cross-sector initiatives for addressing urgent humanitarian crises.
🟢 Dans un monde extrêmement focalisé sur le manque, la correction des écarts, la chasse aux dysfonctionnements et la résolution permanente de problèmes, tout le monde est épuisé.
🟢 Les leaders sont submergés, les équipes désengagées, l'organisation fragilisée.
🟢 C'est pour cela que depuis plus de 15 ans, nous accompagnons les leaders à focaliser leur management intentionnellement et obsessionnellement sur les ressources pour réveiller les forces et l'enthousiasme des équipes, gagner en agilité, et faire de votre culture managériale un avantage décisif face aux enjeux de votre organisation.
🟢 C'est le n°1 d'une série APPRECIATIVE INQUIRY FRANCE ou Gilles Hauvette et Bernard Tollec aurons le plaisir de vous partager leur expérience, histoires et résultats de cette nouvelle façon de manager et transformer au quotidien en focalisant sur les ressources (Points Verts) plutôt que de se perdre dans les manques et problèmes (les Points Rouges)
In this episode, Susan interviews Harrison Owen the celebrated creator of Open Space Technology which was “channeled” through him, he claims, because of the presence of good gin as well as past inspirations from a village where he lived in West Africa that handled differences by sitting in a simple circle. Open Space has been used in more than half of the countries on earth in what has been a 30+ year experiment in what Harrison observes as the “natural occurrence of peace and high performance.” In this episode, Harrison talks about how Open space evolved and why he thinks it works in high conflict situations. He describes some specific applications – the first, to a conflict between government agencies and Native Americans about where to build a highway on tribal lands and, the second, a meeting of 50 Israelis and Palestinians in Rome who were at polarized odds. “One of the interesting things that struck me early on (about Open Space) is how hugely conflicting people who had spent a considerable amount of time trying to deal with a particular issue would, for whatever reason, find themselves in an Open Space and, more often than not, come out hugging and kissing – problem solved.” In his typical fashion, Harrison provides insight in just about every sentence he utters including reflections on why Open Space isn’t used even more widely than it is given its consistent effectiveness.
Louise Erdrich, courtesy of Maria Popova Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and living alone won’t either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love.…...
My spark bird was a Bufflehead duck seen in 1991 through the binoculars that were a childhood gift.I was walking with Caitlin across a bridge in Peterborough on a still and hot summer night and we…...
Objective probability estimates the odds of an event occurring through data analysis. It uses concrete measures instead of guesses to provide a reliable forecast.
As civil society, we see ourselves as drivers of change. But, sometimes we can get so bogged down in the day-to-day humdrum of our work, that we lose our energy and drive to explore new terrain – to find new ways of doing things. We also sometimes lose sight of the inner progression that is happening in ourselves, and our role in manifesting the future.
Developed by Otto Scharmer, Theory U is an approach to creating change based on a process of inner knowing and social innovation. Professor Scharmer says: “When you deal with managing change, the bulk of the job is moving people from a “silo view” to a “systems view” – or, as we would say, from an ego-system awareness to an eco-system awareness. In fact, what surprises me most is how reliably we can create conditions that allow for that kind of shift in awareness to happen. You can’t manufacture it. You can’t mould it like a piece of metal by hammering on it from the outside. But you can create a set of inner and outer conditions that allows a group, an organisation, or a system to make that move, to sense and see themselves from the emerging whole”. He continues: “There is a distinction between two types of cognition: normal (downloading from existing mental frameworks) versus a deeper level of knowing … to activate the deeper level of knowing, one has to go through a three-step process:
1. Observe - Become one with the situation 2. Retreat - Go to the deeper source of knowing, Access that knowing and let it come to the surface 3. Act - Act swiftly for the deeper knowing
To help us understand Theory-U, we spoke to Hans van der Veen, a Clinical Psychologist who founded the Klein Karoo U.lab, which is based on the principles of Theory U. The Klein Karoo U.lab has taken on interesting community projects, including a Theory-U process with one of the high schools in Oudtshoorn to see if the participants who were teachers, parents, learners, could create approaches that would bring positive change to the school. With Hans, is Lisl Barry, a parent at Oudtshoorn High School, who participated in that process and who shares her experience and what she thinks they achieved at Oudtshoorn High School by using the Theory-U process.
The Learning Lunch (https://learninglunch.dgmt.co.za/) podcast features three types of episodes: Deep Dives; Nourish & Flourish; and Best Bites.
Each podcast/learning lunch session is structured as follows: The Main Meal - A ±30-minute podcast The Takeaways - Instructions for a ±30-minute group reflection based on what you listened to.
And it’s really the only place I’m writing anymore. And that’s a good thing. Get yourself your own blog on your own site and you’ll always be in charge of your own work.
Cynefin is just one of seven frameworks used by the Cynefin Co. to understand and work with complexity.Here is the complete list at present, left here for posterity: The Cynefin Framework Estuarin…...
Back in 1995 I came across Open Space Technology, in a huge conference in Whistler, where 400 people were exploring public participation practice.Witnessing the facilitators hosting this event was…...
What if the best way to solve a problem was to stop analyzing it? 🛑 Discover in under 8 minutes how Appreciative Inquiry revolutionizes change management by focusing on what is already working rather than what is failing.
What you will learn:
The Shift in Perspective: Why analyzing a malfunction is never enough to spark the energy for a restart.
The Performance Lever: How to secure the "collective brain" to handle complexity more effectively.
2 Concrete Cases: How to transform inefficient meetings and break down silos between departments.
The Practical Challenge: The exact question to ask tomorrow to get immediate results.
🚀 The Bottom Line: You don’t transform an organization through constraint; you transform it by changing the quality of the conversations.
Resources: 🌐 Official Website: https://appreciative-inquiry.fr 📚 Recommended Books: A5 - Deploying Appreciative Inquiry | Life is at the end of a question.
What is something you feel proud of? And what are the things you are great at?
Appreciative inquiry is a great tool to help you grow professionally and personally. In this video, #DrGalia explains what Appreciative Inquiry is and how you can use it to support your growth.
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VIDEO (Audiogram) Version Guest: Otto Scharmer, MIT Senior Lecturer Why does leadership fail during disruption, even when leaders are experienced and well-intentioned?
In this in-depth leadership conversation, Otto Scharmer explores why traditional change management and executive leadership models break down in complex, fast-moving environments. As organizations face AI acceleration, digital transformation, global uncertainty, and systemic disruption, leaders must develop new capabilities in transformational leadership, systems thinking, and organizational change.
In this episode, you’ll discover: • Why most leadership failure begins with a disconnect from reality • The four levels of listening and their role in leadership development • How “open mind, open heart, open will” strengthens executive decision-making • Why holding space is critical for innovation and team performance • How Theory U helps leaders sense and shape emerging future possibilities, and • What systems leadership looks like in times of crisis.
If you’re an executive leader, innovation professional, board member, or change agent navigating disruption, this discussion will challenge how you think about leadership, strategy, and transformation.
Subscribe for more conversations on innovative leadership, systems leadership, organizational change, and executive development.
Other episodes you'll enjoy: - Leadership at the Edge of Uncertainty with Helle Bank Jorgensen - The End of Stability: Leading in a Disrupted World with Bob Bush, Jr. - Leaders Need More Values with George Limbert For daily wisdom from our guests, be sure to follow us on LinkedIn. RESOURCES: Otto’s landmark book is The Essentials of Theory U; it’s available in paperback at https://amzn.to/4aA4N4v, and as an audiobook at https://amzn.to/4tH38mu.
Our host Maureen Metcalf posts a newsletter every week on LinkedIn. You can subscribe here.
Maureen’s latest book is Innovative Leadership & Followership in the Age of AI. The Kindle version is available at https://amzn.to/44buVz8 .You’ll find further details about it at https://bit.ly/LeaderInAI. Her other 10 books are available on Amazon here.
Loved this episode? Leave us a review and rating! ----------------------- About Our Guest: Otto Scharmer, a Senior Lecturer at MIT and Founding Chair of the Presencing Institute, has dedicated the past 20 years to helping leaders embrace cross-sector systems transformation.
Through his bestselling books Theory U and Presence (the latter co-authored with Peter Senge and others), Otto introduced the groundbreaking concept of "presencing" — learning from the emerging future.
He co-founded the MITx u-lab, which has activated a vibrant worldwide ecosystem of transformational change involving more than 260,000 users from 194 countries. In collaboration with colleagues, he co-created global Action Learning Labs for UN agencies and SDG Leadership Labs for UN Country Teams in 26 countries, which support cross-sector initiatives for addressing urgent humanitarian crises.
Born and raised near Hamburg, Germany, Otto’s early experiences on his family farm profoundly shaped his vision. From his father, a pioneer of regenerative farming, Otto learned the significance of the living quality of the soil in organic agriculture, which inspired his thinking about social fields as the grounding condition from which visible transformations emerge. Like a good farmer who cares for the soil, Otto believes responsible leaders must nurture the social field in which they operate. He emphasizes that shifting our economic operating systems from extractive to regenerative requires innovations in leadership support structures for shifting mindsets from ego to eco. Building that infrastructure is the purpose of the u-school for Transformation.
#Otto Scharmer #Theory U #transformational leadership #leadership #presencing #Theory U explained
Part 1: Why theory matters for facilitation practice In this first instalment of this series I moved the focus of facilitation practice from tools to context.In this instalment I want to explore w…...
Why do so many faithful, hardworking congregations end up stuck in cycles of meetings, planning, and revision—with little energy or movement to show for it? Often, the issue isn’t commitment or effort, but a leadership approach that focuses on fixing problems rather than cultivating vitality.
This one-hour webinar invites leaders to reimagine strategy as a human, hopeful, and spiritually grounded practice in line with EPN’s commitment to gathering the Church for learning, networking, and connection.
Drawing on Appreciative Inquiry, this session will offer practical tools for helping leadership teams notice where life and energy are already present, and then align around a shared vision that can actually be carried forward.
In this session, we will explore how to: * Identify Life: Use Appreciative Inquiry to discern where God is already at work in your congregation and community. * Reduce Fatigue: Simplify structures and administrative processes to ease the burden on clergy, staff, and lay leaders. * Align Vision: Move strategic plans off the shelf and into shared, active discernment that people can own together. * Lead Ethically: Use contemporary productivity tools in ways that support—rather than replace—human wisdom and relational leadership.
Whether you’re leading a vestry, staff team, or congregation through change, this conversation will offer clarity, encouragement, and practical approaches you can begin using right away.
Join us for this EPN presentation and discover how strategy, when rooted in appreciation and shared purpose, can renew both leadership and mission.
Presented By: * Crystal Stone - Chief Operating Officer, Christ Church Cathedral; Indianapolis, Indiana
How to apply complexity thinking in your organisation If we can’t reliably predict what will happen in our organisations, can’t control outcomes in any simple way, and can’t even agree on what’s true – how do we lead?
That’s the territory explored in this conversation with Dave Snowden. We move beyond tidy change models and into the realities of uncertainty, distributed knowledge and contested meaning. This episode challenges the instinct to simplify too quickly, offering a more grounded way to think about judgement, intervention and action in complex systems.
From Cynefin to estuarine mapping, the discussion examines what it really means to make sense of the present before attempting to shape the future — and why leadership in complexity is less about control and more about creating the conditions for coherence to emerge.
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💼Dave Snowden Founder & Chief Science Officer, Cynefin Company https://thecynefin.co/
Dave Snowden is an internationally recognised thinker and practitioner in complexity science and sense-making, best known for developing the Cynefin framework. His work focuses on applying principles from the natural sciences to social and organisational systems, challenging linear approaches to strategy and decision-making. He is the founder of Cognitive Edge and The Cynefin Company, where he has led the development of practical methods and tools – including the SenseMaker® software suite – to help organisations navigate uncertainty and emergence.
After completing an MBA in Financial Management, Snowden moved into consultancy and software design, creating decision-support systems at Data Sciences, where he became General Manager and Corporate Business Development Manager. His Genus Programme, integrating JAD/RAD, object orientation and legacy management, played a central role in the company’s turnaround prior to its acquisition by IBM in 1997. Following the acquisition, his work became increasingly public and influential.
Since then, Snowden’s work has centred on sense-making, narrative methods, knowledge management and the practical application of complexity science to organisational life. He is widely regarded as a leading voice in helping leaders move beyond best practice and simplistic solutions, and towards approaches grounded in context, distributed cognition and adaptive action.
Garin is an award-winning Organisation Development and Design consultant with over 19 years’ experience. He has supported leading organisations in London, Asia Pacific, Middle East, India and Sydney in achieving their strategic objectives. He has experience working with companies of all different sizes and sectors including Legal & General, BNP Paribas and Citigroup. Garin is Chair of the CIPD Organisation Development and Design Group and Co-Chair of CIPD Culture and Transformation Senior Stakeholders Group. In these roles he delivers regular events that support the development of the OD&D and HR profession. Garin is a regular conference speaker and writer on Organization Development.
Garin is a Chartered Fellow of the CIPD and his qualifications include an MSc in Systemic Leadership and Organisational Development (Grade: Distinction) and a BA (Hons) in Business from Northumbria University.
Dani is an experienced people and organisational development professional having worked as Director of People at Investors in People and led multi-disciplinary business services functions including People and HR, governance and risk and technology in both the not-for-profit and public sectors. She has an MBA from Durham University and has completed the Organisation Development Practitioners Programme at Roffey Park.
Dani works with leaders to take a more people-centric approach to organisational effectiveness and growth delivering transformational people and organisational effectiveness programmes. She works with leaders to develop strategies and create the conditions, culture, structures, and processes that unleash the potential of their people to achieve great things. Dani is TrainingZone's OD Columnist. #complexity #change #emergence
O Cynefin é um framework de tomada de decisão e "sense-making" criado por Dave Snowden para ajudar a identificar a natureza de problemas em cinco domínios: Claro, Complicado, Complexo, Caótico e Desordem. Sua relação com a metodologia ágil é fundamental, pois métodos tradicionais ("cascata") assumem previsibilidade e falham em ambientes incertos. O Agile, especialmente o Scrum, é ideal para o domínio Complexo, onde a relação de causa e efeito só é percebida em retrospecto, exigindo experimentação e aprendizado iterativo.
O framework resolve o problema de diagnósticos equivocados, evitando que soluções lineares e simplistas sejam aplicadas a desafios emergentes, o que reduz erros estratégicos e desperdícios.
As principais armadilhas são o "efeito cobra" (intervenções diretas que geram consequências negativas não intencionais) e a zona de complacência, onde o excesso de confiança em processos "claros" pode levar a um colapso catastrófico no caos. Para evitá-las, as melhores práticas recomendam a execução de experimentos seguros para falhar (safe-to-fail probes), o uso de feedback contínuo (como a técnica "está quente ou frio?") e o diagnóstico cuidadoso do cenário antes de agir.
Para entender melhor, podemos usar uma analogia: gerenciar um sistema complexo sem o Cynefin é como tentar administrar um cardume de peixes dando ordens individuais; o líder só percebe o perigo quando o sistema já reagiu de forma imprevisível ao ambiente.
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