A

Activity Systems

Such a system is composed of sub-systems that combine to produce an outcome. For example, if a doctor is the system in focus then they rely on rules, instruments, a community, division of labour and a patient to be active as a doctor. If you focus on a nurse, they may serve the same patient, but their activity system will be different. These and other sub-systems must flow together if their is to be a seamless service for the patient. The whole system is in a state of dynamic change. The patient can be the object of the system in one moment and it's subject the next. Collective activity (which is composed of lots of small actions) is connected to the same object or motive of which the individual participants may not be aware. But individuals engage in actions that meet a need or goal. The challenge is to connect collective objectives and personal goals to give direction and energy to the system. This is often described as linking vision and action. Businesses see these actions as commodities with prices.

Active Listening

This is a way of listening that focuses entirely on what the other person is saying and confirms understanding of both the content of the message and the emotions and feelings underlying the message to ensure that understanding is accurate.

Action learning

Action learning is a method for individual and organisational development. Working in small groups, people tackle important organisational issues or problems and learn from their attempts to change things. (Source: Action Learning for Managers, by Mike Pedler)

Action Learning was developed by the late Reg Revans and is based on the principle of regular and rigorous “learning by doing”. In essense, groups of managers or other individuals come together periodically to work on real life organisational problems. They form a group (the action learning set) that has a set advisor who acts not as a teacher but as a facilitator / resource person. The aims of action learning are to develop the ability of the managers or individuals to pose entirely new questions, to help them recognise their existing experience for future problems, to develop and change organisations by helping managers to see their strengths and weaknesses, and to create a momentum to go on dealing with future problems through a continuous process of learning and development. (Source: AMED.)

Read more about action learning on Wikipedia

Appreciative Inquiry

Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is a process that focuses on leveraging an organisation’s core strengths rather than seeking to overcome or minimise its weaknesses. It is based on a deceptively simple premise: that organisations grow in the direction of what they repeatedly ask questions about and focus their attention on.

Appreciative Inquiry uses a four-stage process:

DISCOVER: Identifying organisational processes that work well.
DREAM: Envisioning those processes that would work well in the future.
DESIGN: Planning and prioritising processes that would work well.
DESTINY (or DELIVER): Implementing the proposed design.

AI does not seek to change people; instead, it invites people to engage in building the kinds of organisations and communities that everyone wants to work and live in. AI involves whole systems—even hundreds or thousands of people. In doing so, it strengthens an organisation’s ability to capitalise on people’s energy and passion, and realise its full potential around a shared vision.

As AI becomes a regular way of working, individuals at all levels and in all functions identify best practices that the organisation can build on in order to respond to new challenges. The acts of spreading that knowledge and initiating action become routine.

AI is a principle-based process that builds principle-based organisations. By involving the whole system and tapping into people’s highest aspirations and most inventive thinking, AI helps organisations produce exceptional results by aligning their leadership, strategies, structures, and practices with their core purpose and essential guiding principles.

By implementing AI, organisations, teams, and individuals can achieve and maintain positive change, and create truly extraordinary organisations that contribute to the well-being of their stakeholders, their communities, and the planet.

(Primary source now defunct; read more about Appreciative Inquiry on Wikipedia)

Adaptation

An attribute that an organism has to secure its survival or reproduction. It can respond to changes in its environment to remain viable in that environment.

Advocacy

Advocacy is the process of taking and working for a particular sides interests in a conflict. Lawyers engage in advocacy when they represent a client in a legal proceeding. Defendents can also engage in advocacy themselves, arguing for their own position in negotiation, mediation, or a political debate. Any attempt to persuade another side to consider your demands offered on behalf of another is advocacy.

Alignment

This happens when the actions of employees directly supports the key goals of the organisation. It therefore requires clarity about the key goals of the organisation, commitment to initiatives that promote the key goals and accountability for actions that affect those goals

Analytical Problem Solving

This is an approach to deep-rooted or intractable conflict that brings those in dispute together to analyse the underlying human needs that cause their conflict, and then helping them work together to develop ways to provide what is necessary to resolve the problem

Attunement

Strategic visions (and the plans that follow them) are typically linear and limited. People go through the process of change by aligning themselves to the goals but not attuning themselves to the heart and passion issues that are required fora real commitment to change.

Archetypes

Predefined patterns of behavior that we are each born with. You display your archetypal psyche in the way you think, feel and act. Archetypes comprise psychological patterns derived from historical roles in life, such as the Mother, Child, Trickster, Servant, etc., as well as universal events or situations, including Initiation, Death and Rebirth.

Assumption

A statement of information or a belief accepted as truth without proof. It may be necessary to encourage others to question their own and other people's statements to clarify the meaning applied, the conclusions drawn or inferences made. The reasoning then becomes clear.

Attractors

Attractors can be the basis of an approach to organisational change. It's a representation of where behaviour in a given situation may be leading. That direction is influenced by the rules and forces operating at the time. Think of a river. As it digs deeper into the landscape it attracts more rainwater from the surrounding land. Values, goals, theories, leadership in groups are all attractors - bringing people together for a shared purpose.

Autopoiesis

The tendency of nature to be autopoietic addresses one of life's mysteries - how we create and recreate ourselves as independent entities with unique identities. It makes us resistant to change because we reject anything that we do not recognise as us. It enables our bodies to reject viruses and our minds to reject ideas that are seen as a threat.

B

Brainstorming

A team talk exercise that encourages creative or divergent thinking. It involves the holding of all ideas and deferring judgement until everyone's ideas have been expressed. It reduces the domination of the group by one or two individuals.

Beliefs

The thoughts we use to guide our decisions and actions, although we tend to forget and see them as indisputable facts. With any action a belief comes first. We find evidence to support our beliefs in our experience. Once we've got a belief, we tend not to question it, unless a bad experience forces us to.

Blindspots

This happens when a person's visual field does not work, yet they can see other things clearly. It is also used to describe people who cannot see a point of view or recognise the existence of something or someone.

Business Plan

A plan is a statement of intent and a business is a collection of activities in an entity. A business plan is therefore a way of focusing the activities of an individual, group or organisation to achive a desired result. There needs to be a return on the investment or consumption of resources. If not, what is the purpose ? Good business plans extend to customer-facing staff. They are clear about what amount of service is to be given to which types of customer, how it will be delivered, how much it will cost to support and deliver and what the benefits will be for the funders or investors. More ... free Business Plan Outline.

C

Change Zone

That place in time and space where anything is possible. It exists in the zone of change between order and chaos. It is a state of dynamic unpredictability that makes it the opposite of being in a 'comfort zone'.

Capability

A capability is a combination of tasks, relationships and processes that together deliver performance as defined by your goals.

Chakras

The body contains seven energy centers, known as chakras. Together, these energy centers -- data banks, as they are sometimes referred to - are an archetypal depiction of your individual maturation through seven distinct stages of development. The chakras represent levels of psychic power and intelligence that extend around the body, and connect us with other spiritual bodies and souls. Their natural energy that can be accessed around each chakra enables you to grow, heal and change yourself.

Charisma

Possession of individual traits and skill such as articulate speech, flair, self-confidence, and strong convictions that connects well with followers. It can be used as a powerful tool to motivate or inspire others.

Coaching

Helping self and others gain new perspectives their intentions and behaviours, to understand what's posible and how to access inner resources such as motivation, commitment, passion, etc.

Co-creation

Co-creation is the process of working with others as equal partners to bring into being something new that delivers the greatest amount of value to the greatest number of stakeholders (see entry below). The new creation could be something tangible such as a new product, a new service or a new venture, or it might be something intangible such as a new experience for the customer, a new vision and strategy for the business, or a new corporate culture.

Read more about co-creation

Collusion of Mediocrity

Paul Levy writes: “The Collusion of Mediocrity is an unspoken collective agreement to avoid challenge in order to avoid discomfort. The result is mediocrity. The collusion of mediocrity is the greatest sickness in our society. It is responsible for poor quality, dissatisfaction, frustration, the deaths of millions of people. People who challenge mediocrity are often called ‘troublemakers’ by those who collude in mediocrity. However, if the motive of the challenger is improvement of the community or organisation, it may be exactly the kind of trouble that is needed. Motive is all.”

Read more about The Collusion of Mediocrity

Coevolution

A process whereby living things adapt to each other's needs over time. The relationship is said to be symbiotic, as one entity adapts to its environment, other entities that connect to it also adapt. For example, as one company adopts IT and wins customers other follow to stay competitive.

Coherence

This is an alignment of context, viewpoint, purpose and action that enables everyone involved to work together towards a shared vision

Collaboration

The ability to multiply people's strengths to deliver a result that no one party could have achieved alone. It creates synergy. This happens because collaboration creates simultaneous ownership, it allows independent actions yet produces multiplied results.

Common Ground

Common ground or commonalties refers to the things two people or groups share, or hold in common. These may include living in the same place, having similar values, interests, or needs, or even similar experiences or fears. Although people in dispute often assume they have nothing in common with their opponents, they almost always have some common ground, even if it is only a common desire to live in peace and security without having to fear the other.

Complicated

A state in which a large number of parts are intricately combined, making the situation very difficult to analyse and understand without help. When we try to cram in more things then problems become more complicated. Machines are complicated - people are complex.

Communication Channels

Communication channels are the means available to communicate with another person or group. They may include direct face-to-face communication, telecommunications (telephone, e-mail, written communications), or indirect communication through third parties or the media.

Community Organising

This is a process through which an expert helps a group of individuals engage in collective action to address a social problem. Community organisers help people work together to get what they want or need: they may help people work together to get more jobs in a community; they may help people fight an unfair government law or ruling; or they may help people work together to force a polluter to clean up their industrial process so it no longer pollutes the local environment.

Complexity

A state in which the parts are meshed together into a web of intricate relationships. It is possible to see the whole but not how the constituent parts (subsystems) fit together. When we try and make use of connections and understand mutual dependencies things become complex because the connections are 'hidden' and unpredictable.

Complex Adaptive Systems

Living things are, by their very nature, complex, adaptive and systemic. Their behaviour results from the interactions and relationships between the entities that make up the 'system in focus' and the environment, or the bigger system of which the 'system in focus' is a part. For example, the body is composed of subsystems such as the nervous system and cardio-vascular system, while at the same time it is part of an environment with an ecosystem and a social system.

Compromise

A solution to a mutual problem that meets some, but not all, of each parties' interests.

Concessions

Concessions are things one side is prepared to give up to try to de-escalate or resolve a conflict. They may simply be points in an argument, a reduction in demands, or a softening of one side's position.

Conciliation

Conciliation involves efforts by a third party to improve the relationship between two or more people in dispute. It may be done as a part of mediation, or independently. Generally, the third party will work to correct misunderstandings, reduce fear and distrust, and generally improve communication between those involved in the conflict. Sometimes this alone will result in dispute settlement; at other times, it paves the way for a later mediation process.

Conflict Management

This term refers to the long-term management of intractable conflicts and the people involved in them so that they do not escalate out of control and become violent.

Conflict Resolution

This term (along with dispute resolution) usually refers to the process of resolving a dispute or a conflict permanently, by providing for each sides' needs, and adequately addressing their interests so that they are satisfied with the outcome.

Conflicts of Interest

This term refers to the situation in which a person has a vested interest in the outcome of a decision, but tries to influence the decision making process as if they did not. In other words, they stand to benefit from a decision if it goes a particular way, but they participate in the decision making process as if they were neutral. An example would be an expert from the tobacco industry testifying that tobacco is safe and does not cause cancer. If he argued this on the basis of scientific merits, rather than his connection to the tobacco industry, he could be charged with having a conflict of interest which altered his position on tobacco research.

Consensus

Consensus decision making requires that everyone agrees with a decision; not just a majority as occurs in majority-rule processes. In consensus-based processes, people must work together to develop an agreement that is good enough (though not necessarily perfect) that all of the people at the table or in the room are willing to agree to it. This would result from an Open Space Event for example.

Constituents/Constituency

Constituents or one's constituency refers to the people a decision maker or service provider represents. The constituents of a governmental leader are the citizens he or she represents in Parliament or other legislative body. The constituents of a negotiator are the people he or she is negotiating for; members of a union, perhaps, or of an interest group or business. A constituency is the geographical area or describes the type of people referred to.

Connection

The ability to share information and ideas. For example, you may create a company Intranet or get people to a meeting, but what people do with the connection depends on the organisation's culture and structures.

Constructive Thinking

Instead of confrontational thinking which creates conflict and confrontation, there must be an attempt to build on everyone's contribution to find a way round the problem that enables everyone to achieve something that they value.. It requires both/and thinking (two positions seemingly in conflict that can both be true in a different context. To get better results you need to think more constructively.

Cooperation

Is marked by a desire for mutual gain or benefit. Each party has to contribute something so that both can achieve a positive outcomes linked to shared goals or objectives. This is because both parties are dependent on each other. One outcome of this is that mutual co-operation between individuals only occurs when a threat is perceived or a huge gain is expected and where confidentiality can be "guaranteed". Thus, there is little day-to-day co-operation because of the risk of individual affairs being exposed.

Coordination

This is the ability to act alongside others who are working independently. It usually accompanies an agreement to share information, telling each other of their policies, plans and outcomes.

Core Competencies

The central skills and value creating capabilities that are perceived as strengths within an organisation. It is the responsibility of management to identify them and then set in place a strategy to develop them.

Cost Benefit Analysis

When consideration is given to both the positive and negative effects of an action or process, where the net effect or evidence is expressed in both numerical and narrative terms.

Creativity

Can be seen as the connecting and rearranging of knowledge in the minds of people who allow themselves to think flexibly, in order to generate new, often surprising ideas that others judge to be useful.

Creative Action

A term coined by the late Edward Matchett for an intuitive idea-to-reality process that springs from a connection with what Matchett calls Creative Energy, containing “the highest intelligence known to man”. Through Creative Action, this force is harnessed to create new works that enrich the world.

Creative activist

1. Someone who helps bring forth – either through theirselves or through others – new creations that enrich the world. 2. The leader of a Now-to-New project. 3. A practitioner of Creative Action.

Credibility

The quality of trustworthiness and other capabilities displayed by a leader that goes beyond their use of positional power to get compliance and respect from peers. It is enhanced by responsible behaviour, dedication and open communcation, and eroded by dishonesty and inappropriate behaviour.

Change

A process that alters a position or state of being so that it is replaced or takes on a completely different form. A transformation. Not to be confused with improvement which is a modification of an existing form.

Change Management

Managing change requires careful planning, extensive consultation, engagement and sensitive implementation. Change must be SMART - specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely. There needs to be clarity and focus for every intervention introduced, which should not be imposed. More ...

Chunking

The mental act of placing knowledge or data into larger 'chunks' in order to connect smaller chunks to each other.

Cognitive Dissonance

This happens when we try to hold two opposing thoughts at the same time. The mind finds it difficult to cope with, so it either reduces the importance or significance of the dissonant beliefs, or increases the number of consistent beliefs or reinterprets the disonant beliefs.

Common Sense

A seeming rarity in life when something is both logical (from our conscious) and intuitive (from our subciscious), from which we get a "that's obvious" feeling.

Coping Strategy

Is a pattern of behaviour that we use repeatedly as a defence against things we fear we can't cope with. They're habits and, like anything else, can be helful or hindering depending on the situation an the use you make of them.

Culture

A set of beliefs, practices, standards of behaviour, assumptions and values that are shared by employees, stakeholders and other members of the organisation. They guide the behaviour and through adoption reduce uncertainty, anxiety and confusion about what is acceptable.

Cybernetics

The theory of communication and control mechanisms in living system as and machines. Also seen as the study of form and pattern.

D

Defensive Routines

The tacit (hidden) practices or experiences developed by the mind to reduce embarrassment, save face, or lessen conflict, but in so doing limit individual and team learning.

Development

Refers to learning that is not tied to a particular role and which implies growth and a better situation. It is often associated with training outcomes, but it can emerge from any event or experience from which new knowledge is created and then used to improve things.

Dialectical Materialism

A form of materialism that sees matter not as something static on which change and development have to be imposed, but as something contained within itself where the tensions and contradictions provide the very motivation for change.

Dialogue

Dialogue is a special kind of conversation. New thoughts and possibilities emerge from the interactions in unpredictable ways. It brings forth previously hidden meanings and understandings. It is also a process for sharing and learning about another group's beliefs, feelings, interests, and/or needs in a non-adversarial, open way, usually with the help of a third party facilitator. Unlike mediation, in which the goal is usually reaching a resolution or settlement of a dispute, the goal of dialogue is usually simply improving interpersonal understanding and trust.

Diversity

The result of an increased variety of members in a workplace who are diverse in background, experience, attitudes, ethnic origin, religious persuasion or gender composition. It requires respect and tolerance for individual differences of all kinds.

Divine

Something that defines your spiritual connection with your God - be it Buddha, Jesus Christ, Allah, etc.

E

Ecosystem

Everything in the natural world is connected to everything else. As Barry White the singer would say "everything is part of everything else baby". Actions in one system can affect the actions and reactions in other system, and vice-versa. Relationships are interdependent, interrelated and interacting between systems and sub-systems. What affects one part of an organisation is bound to have an effect on the others - directly or indirectly.

Edge of Chaos

Order is just a pattern that we interpret as predictable or stereotypical. We like habitual behaviour because it creates feelings of order and comfort. There is order in what we perceive as chaos, it's just that we are unable to see or understand the underlying patterns. As soon as we move out of our 'comfort zone' we enter a 'change zone' which puts us at the 'edge of chaos'. This is where we are at our most creative, where anything is possible and we learn how to cope with different circumstances.

Ecological Change

One of the fastest growing areas for understanding change as a phenomeon that involves the behaviour of an entity in an ecology. It is challenging the traditional view of organisations as mechanisms with a rational closer to organisms. This makes chnage an intricate 'dance' of cooperation and competition, in which cooperation normally dominates. It also provides a framework for understanding the dynamics of change with it's inside-outside dynamic with systems operating at different levels, reflecting the top-down dynamic. x

Emergence

Cooperation can emerge for the benefit of all when independent agents are able to self-organise their interactions for personal gain. Conversation is about emergence because it brings forth new and previously hidden meanings and understandings. It is unpredictable and creative.

Emotions

They are different from feelings, because they are mental states (coming from our thoughts) whereas feelings are physical sensations. Emotions can generate feelings as with anger or a tight feeling in the chest, but they are separate. The same feeling can be associtaed with two emotions - fpr example a churning stomach can be fear or excitement depending on our thoughts. The thoughts are often driven by our needs at the time.

Empathy

The ability to attune one's moods and feelings to a wide range of emotional signals, so they can be felt and appreciated without a word being spoken. It enables people to get on well with each other. But beware, empathy is not putting ourself into someone elses shoes if we take our own frame of reference with us. We need to look at things fro the other person's perspective.

Empowerment

Empowerment means giving a person or group more power. This may be done by the people alone, through education, coalition building, community organising, resource development, or advocacy assistance. It can also be done by a mediator, who can work with the lower power person or group to help them represent themselves more effectively. Although this approach causes ethical dilemmas (since helping one side more than another compromises a mediator's impartiality), it is quite commonly done in the problem-solving or "settlement- oriented" approach to mediation, since this approach works best when the two parties are relatively equal in power. It is sometimes advocated that the empowerment of both parties simultaneously through transformative mediation, which seeks to restore disputants' "sense of their own value and strength and their own capacity to handle life's problems." This approach avoids the ethical dilemmas of one-sided empowerment, though it sacrifices emphasis on achieving a settlement as primary.

Energy

In general terms it is the capacity or power to produce an effect, such as motivation, passion, commitment, etc. It can also be seen as potential power to transform, as in the case of electrical. chemical nuclear, radiant and mechanical energy.

Espoused Theories

The way we explain our actions to ourselves and others. They are often in conflict with our theories-in-use. There is nothing as powerful in the process of change than a practical theory.

Evolution

The process of unfolding or opening out. In biology the development of individual plants and animals which has direction and progresses over time. Some think of it as purposeless while others view it as a creative force. The entire universe is an evolutionary system. Evolutionary change is incremental but not always linear.