Nowadays discussions about hierarchy abound, especially in organisations, some arguing you need hierarchy to run an organisation, otherwise you have chaos, while others deploring the negative effects of hierarchy, such as stifling innovation, or treating humans as mechanical cogs. …

Meeting Complexity with Complexity Never has there been so much complexity in our world. Running institutions is proving increasingly difficult due to the complexity they are operating under. Complexity appears to have a life of its own, making it more difficult for organisations to organise themselves sustainably. Or is it? Is our world really…

Lean, Agile, Teal… how does sociocracy fit in? I’d like to explore the relationship between sociocracy and various other methods currently being discussed in the context of the future of organisations and of work. How does Sociocracy fit in with Lean, Teal, Agile, and all the many other recent movements? Where does Sociocracy sit? I’ve been involved…

What trained Open Space Technology Facilitators could do for Organisations Many companies suffer from a lack of cohesion and connectedness. Managers and staff alike generally lack a holistic view of their organisation in terms of its internal flow of energy and value creation. Most people in organisations do not have…

Social Learning in Self-organised Organic Learning Centre To survive and thrive in 21st-century humanity, society, organisations, communities and individuals need a new set of skills which enable us to work with unpredictability and complexity. The knowledge and skills we learned at school are no longer serving us; they are mainly…

What are the Key Barriers to Effective Cooperation within Organisations — and how to overcome them What follows is an article I wrote over 20 years ago. It had very little traction, and it is only now that I realise part of the reason is simply because collaboration was not…