Hi Cathy, I just got back from a 4-day, technology-free vacation at the Sleeping Lady Lodge near Leavenworth with the women of my book club. Nice to get away with girlfriends! Thank you for asking these four questions and prompting me to reflect on our time together at lunch last week. My own self-organizing groups always do this for me (and always ask the best … [Read More]
I just came across this picture of Bonzai from December 2010. Like many indoor cats, she had a thing for lying near—and ideally laying on—laptop and computer keyboards. She preferred our older Mac laptop, which put off more heat that our PCs and newer Mac laptop. Like many cats of her generation, she felt that lying on newspapers was just too old school, too 1995 … [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]
I’ve blogged before about my own powerful, visceral experiences being part of and with self-organizing groups. When I began to study these groups in earnest years ago, I noticed that each time I met with one (my own or others) I had a similar experience. I was reminded of images of old war veterans I’d seen in parades and on TV during memorial events. I … [Read More]
Happy holidays! And happy Wednesday if you don’t celebrate holidays this time of year or ever! If you’ve read the Collective Self blog in the past, you may suspect that I’m unlikely to be capable of writing a concise post on this subject. If you’re one of my own self-organizing group members, you’ll know that on my own I’m about as capable of writing a concise … [Read More]
If you’re familiar with this subject, let me know what it means to you. Here are my current thoughts. Self-organizing work groups are spontaneous groups, created from within, to accomplish work of the moment. Regardless of how the group may appear to have started, groups come fully into the self-organizing space the moment group members recognize that they: get more from the group’s spontaneity than … [Read More]
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