Quick update for those of you who are here with me weekly. My neighbors who were fighting to save their house won! They get to stay! Lori’s headline: Self-organizing group saves itself—community helps! http://www.centraldistrictnews.com/2011/10/24/mitchells-get-new-loan-plan-can-keep-their-21st-ave-home. Woo hoo! Ok, now for the 12 tips… If you haven’t heard, Bas and I have just begun research for a series of eBooks we’re writing together. I got these tips … [Read More]
I spend all my time working with and as self-organizing groups and reflecting on what we experience and learn together. Thanks to these groups, I live my life in a very good mood: to the point that, most days, it’s hard to wipe the smile off my face. I recently saw this same experience on the face of a person next to me at Skillet … [Read More]
Last week I spoke to three groups at the International Society for Performance Improvement annual conference about how to rapidly foster self-organizing work groups. First attendees identified their own self-organizing groups by writing down the names of people and groups who came immediately to mind for them in response to the following statements: I get more from the group’s spontaneity than I do from my … [Read More]
I’ll be speaking at the ISPI conference in Orlando in a few weeks (Wednesday morning, April 13th) on this subject. Hope to see some of you there. Here’s the 2-page handout… 7 Tips for Rapidly Fostering Self-Organizing Work Groups As an individual: Prioritize working/being with people who help you trust your instincts while stretching/expanding those instincts. As you can, let go of people and groups that … [Read More]
Self-organizing work groups value collective spontaneity over individual ideas and planning. For me, there’s just no other way of working that’s as interesting, rewarding, fun, and impactful. The tradeoff, though, is that I can’t individually control/plan my way into a self-organizing work group the way I individually planned my way into groups in the past. To become part of a group that values collective spontaneity over individual planning, I’ve learned that I have to prioritize “spontaneous Lori” above “planning Lori.” And I have to actually listen to spontaneous Lori, God help me.
Three years ago when I was asked this question for the first time, off the top of my head I said something like “That with the right group of people, I can do anything.” Luckily for me, because I’m a researcher, that impromptu comment was recorded. I got to listen to it over and over for an entire year as I sought to understand what … [Read More]
This question has been part of my work for five years, since the day I walked away from my first self-org work group determined never to work any other way but as part of these amazing groups. I’ve learned that individuals and self-organizing work groups can foster self-organizing work groups. Here’s how. How individuals foster self-organizing work groups In the 17 groups I’ve studied so … [Read More]
How do you evolve a planned group into a self-organizing work group? It’ll look a bit different for everyone, but for me it appears to be mostly about letting go as an individual. Let go of the individual plans you thought you needed. Let go of the group or people you thought you needed. Pay attention to the people who always show up to talk about what matters most to you (particularly to those who show up for you again and again). Who are they? What does that diverse group have in common? What’s making all of you give up your time with your individual work, families, and lives to be together? What’s drawing you together? That’s where your self-organizing work group lives.
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