K

L

Learning Lab

Leverage

A strategic advantage, power to act effectively or a way to amplify potential gains.

Learning - personal

Learning - team

Learning - organisation

Learning - community

Learning Contracts

Learning Reviews

This can be done on a one-to-one or a whole group basis, depending on the issue. It involves considering questions such as what went well or less well, what we learned about my own and the behaviour of others, insights gained and how what has been learned has been applied. Many things may need toi be unlearned first. It involves considering, where and when I can use the insights to improve performance.

Learning Sets

Lock-In

Logic

Means our unique concept of rational cause and effect. Everone has their own logic, so if you work backwards from the effects people achieve and ask yourself why someone would want to do it, you will find the belief that caused them to produce that effect.

M

Mechanistic Theory

The theory that all physical phenomena can be defined by calculation without reference to goals or purposes.

Mediation

Mediation is a method of conflict resolution that is carried out by an intermediary who works with the disputing parties to help them improve their communication and their analysis of the conflict situation, so that the parties can themselves identify and choose an option for resolving the conflict that meets the interests or needs of all of the disputants. Unlike arbitration, where the intermediary listens to the arguments of both sides and makes a decision for the disputants, a mediator will help the disputants design a solution themselves.

Mental Model

A representation of the whole body of knowledge unique to an individual; enabling the individual to perform complex thinking tasks. Defining mental models is important in analysing the causes of problems and the definition of success.

Mind Mapping

Mission Statement

Written proclamation that describes the purpose of an organisation and outlines the type of activities to be performed for stakeholders and customers. It should highlight the unique value or services that will be the result of its work.

Meme

A term coined by Richard Dawkins, who defines it as a unit of cultural inheritance that is passed on from brain to brain to secure its own survival and replication.

Metaphor

Words that stimulate and link idaes in new ways so that new knowledge and insights can emerge. They are a powerful way of using language to engage with complex situations and ideas. For example - "an organisation is like an ecosystem."

Mutation

A sudden change. Mutations are changes that emerge from a new combination of interactions producing a different outcome.

N

Needs

Psychologist Abraham Maslow suggested that all people are driven to attain certain biological and psychological requirements, which he called fundamental human "needs." Several conflict theorists, for instance John Burton and Herbert Kelman, have applied this idea to conflict theory, suggesting that the needs for security, identity, and recognition underlie most deep-rooted and protracted conflicts. Most ethnic and racial conflicts, they argue, for instance, are not interest-based conflicts (and hence cannot be negotiated), but are driven by the subordinate group's need for these fundamental needs. Only by restructuring the society so that all groups' fundamental needs are met can needs conflicts be resolved.

Negotiation

Negotiation is bargaining. It is the process of discussion and give-and-take between two or more disputants who seek to find a solution to a common problem. Negotiation occurs between people all the time--between parents and children, between husbands and wives, between workers and employers, between nations. It can be relatively cooperative, as it is when both sides seek a solution that is mutually beneficial (commonly called win-win or cooperative bargaining), or it can be confrontational (commonly called win-lose or adversarial) bargaining, when each side seeks to prevail over the other.

Networks

O

Operating Context

This in effect is the outside-in perspective. It includes anything or anyone in your external environment that affects performance. Primarily, that means customers, suppliers and other external factors such as the economy.

Organisational Change

Organisational Development

A belief that planned change is possible through a systems approach. It adopts a joined-up perspective of organisational relationships and learning in teams, groups and the organisation as a whole. It relies on assessments of situations, structures, systems and people to decide how best to intervene. It involves regular monitoring and evaluation of those interventions as a basis for the development of change plans.

Organisational Learning

The intentional use of learning processes at the individual, team and system level to continuously transform an organisation in a direction that satisfies its stakeholders.

P

Paradigm

An example or pattern of the way we see the world (after TS Kuhn) that is shared with others. It has coherence and meaning, making it an acceptable approach to solving problems.

Paradox

Partnership Working

Performance

Action in accordance with requirements and expectations; purposeful activity using an individual's mental, physical and emotional capabilities; generally a qualitative measure of how things are done; often contrasted or combined with productivity, which is a quantitative measure of output over input.

Perspective

Is what we see from the position we are looking at things from. Anyone who is in a different position from you is going to see the same thing differently. As our actions are based are base on our interpreation of what we see and hear, a different perspective will lead to a different action.

Perceptions Possibility Space

Power

An individual's capacity to influence the behaviour and attitudes of others. This usually also results in the ability to influence events, decisions and possessions. It can be used productively or destructively. Power is the ability to get what you want, or as conflict theorist Kenneth Boulding put it, to "change the future." This can occur through force (sometimes referred to as "power-over"), through cooperation (referred to as "power-with" or exchange power) or through the power of the integrative system--the system of identity and relationships that holds people together in groups.

Projecting

This happens we see in others some 'thing' ( a thought, belief, characteristic) that we have in ourselves, but don't see and wouldn't like it if we did (which is why we don't. We reject anything that threatens our view of how we like to see ourselves. Our subconscious wants us to be mentally helathy, which means accepting every part of us. The bits we deny get projected onto others.

Problem Solving

This term is sometimes used to refer to analytical problem solving workshops that seek to analyse and resolve issues or conflicts based on identifying and providing the underlying causes or human needs. In other situations, it refers to an approach to mediation that focuses primarily on resolving a conflict (as opposed to transforming the relationships of the people involved).

Q

R

Real Change Leader

Someone who does not necessarily have authority by virtue of position, but fills the role of change agent in a team or organisation as an encourager, facilitator or helper to those who choose to follow their lead.

Reductionism

The doctrine that more complex phenomena can be reduced to their constituent parts to understand how they work. The parts can be classified or categorised and they have fixed, linear relationships between them. Closely associated with Mechanistic Theory.

Reframing

This happens when we change our interpretation of an event, usually by challenging the beliefs that underpin our original interpreatation. It can involve the shifting of perspective to analyse and examine various frames or windows of an organisation's environment. Each frame holds the potential of presenting its own image of reality and can help the leader to develop greater appreciation and deeper understanding of organisations. It often means looking at a problem or situation from a number of different perspectives.

Responsibility

In our moments of choice, we recognise that we don't just hav to react, we can respond. It means looking at our aptions forresponding, weighingup the possible consequences of each option, deciding which one will achieve the best results, and esponding on that basis.

Reticular Operating System

This is a brain function that makes us notice only those the things that are important to us at the time. We need it because we couldn't possibly process all the information we could potentially take in - we would go mad. The subconscious does this work for us.

S

Self-Managed Team

Self-awareness holds the key to accountability in teams. Everyone must be held accountable for keeping the work on track and facilitating the input of other members through open dialogue - helping them to reflect and learn from experience. This behaviour is vital to secure a common understanding of what's important and what success will look like and feel like.

Self-Organisation

Synchronicity

From a Jungian viewpoint, synchronicities are meaningful coincidences; they are events that seemingly have no causal relationship, but are in fact related. On an energetic level, you attract synchronicities into your life, such as when you are seeking guidance. Use your intuition and your archetypes to uncover the significance and meaning of your synchronicities.

Synergy

The effect of 1 + 1 = 5 or 10 or 20. It can be the result of effective collaboration This is because the result has emergent qualities that could not be found by breaking things down into their constituent parts. A team of people can achieve more than the individuals could acting independently. Their heightened motivation, creativity and commitment emerges from their interactions.

Search Engines

Stakeholders

Can be seen as interest groups and impact groups. Impact groups are those that can prevent you from achieving the outcomes. Interest groups will be affecrted by the outcome but can't prevent you from achieving it. You can't ignore the needs of either group., but the distinction is helpful when managing a conflict of interest.

Stress

Mild anxiety can focus attention and energy, whereas prolonged anxiety can sabotage relationships, productivity, clarity of thought, etc. In a state of stress our minds are preoccupied and we feel agitated. The antidote to stress is positive emotions. Positive interactions lead to positive feelings.Good leaders know the importance of creating an enthusiastic and cooperative environment.

Stewardship

A philosophy developed by Peter Block as an idea that reflects how leaders should behave as if you are looking after the people and the resources so they can be used well and passed on worth more than they were when inherited. It is a wliingness to be held accountable for the wellbeing of the organisation or community as a whole, without the need for direct control or compliance..

Storying

Narrative rich discussions where people tell you everthing in detail, including nuances and feelings. You can learn so much more about what's happening than you can when you just get the facts.

System

A dynamic entity like a cell, organism, organisation or environment which is comprised of interdependent parts, fundamentally characterised by inputs, processes or throughputs, and outputs; parts in interrelationships that work together for the purpose of the whole.

System in Focus

This is the individual or sub-group that is the subject of analysis. Because system exist within systems it is important to be clear which system yoy are looking at so that reference can be made to its environmental system and its sub-systems. For example, a restaurant exists in an environment and is made up of many sub-systems such as cooking food which has sub-systems such as purchasing the ingredients.

Systems Theory

A form of holism concerned with the organisation of 'systems' at all levels of complexity. The inspiration for this theory comes from attemts to see links between physiological systems in biology and human systems in the social sciences.

Spirituality

Social Inclusion

T

Team Learning

Teambuilding

Is the process by a leaderto enhance cooperation, identification and cohesiveness of a group. This might involve emphasising common values and interests, initiation of rituals, symbols and ceremonies, cultivating appreciation and tolerance and incentives to reward mutual cooperation.

Theories-in-use

These are the sources of meaning that link ideas together in our minds to support our everyday if-then thinking. They mediate action and often in contradiction to our espoused theories.

Trial & Error

This is the way we learn from experience - trying to do something, noticing what doesn't work, and changing our approach until we find what works for us. Much of this is based on the feedback we get.

U

Uncertainty

The very act of observation affects what is being observed. The more you focus on one aspect the more you mis on another. The mind only pays attention to its intention, ignoring the things it decides are not important.

V

Values

Values are the ideas we have about what is good and what is bad, and how things should be. We have values about family relationships (regarding, for instance, the role of the husband with respect to the wife), about work relationships (regarding, for instance, how employers should treat employees) and about other personal and relationships issues (regarding, for example, how children should behave towards adults, or how people should follow particular religious beliefs).

W

Win-Lose (Adversarial) Approach

This is the approach to conflict taken by people who view the opponent as an adversary to be defeated. It assumes that in order to win, the opponent must lose. This is opposite to the win-win approach to conflict that assumes that those in disputes will cooperate, a solution which provides a victory for all sides can be found.

Win-Win (Cooperative or Problem Solving) Approach

This is the approach to conflict taken by people who want to find a solution that satisfies all parties. In "win-win" bargaining, the disputing parties try to cooperate to solve a joint problem in a way that allows both parties to "win." This is contrasted with the "win-lose" (adversarial) approach to conflicts that assumes that all opponents are enemies and that in order to win a dispute, the opponent must lose.

Win-Win Situations

Game theory makes a distinction between positive-sum situations (often called "games") which everyone can win (also referred to as "win-win"), negative sum games (also referred to as "lose-lose"), and zero-sum games in which one side wins only if another side loses.

World View

A world view is a person's fundamental image of the world - one's set of core beliefs about how their social environment is put together. It involves one's fundamental values about what is good and bad; it involves beliefs about who does what and why; it involves assumptions about what causes events and what those events might later cause. World views are closely linked with a person's sense of identity. People see themselves as part of some groups and not part of others, of having a particular role to play in society, and particular relationships with others. One's image of who one is results from one's fundamental image of the world and one's image of how one relates to other people in it.

X

Y

Z

Zero-Sum Games or Situations

Zero-sum games or situations in which the only way one side can get ahead (or get more of something) is if the other side gets less. This occurs when there is a finite amount of a resource to be distributed, and the together the parties want more than is available. In this situation, no side can get what they want unless the other side gets less than they want. This is also referred to as win-lose situations.

Zone

An area with distinguishable features or character.