This large-ish question appeared on my radar this week. Thank you, Lori Schilling, for meeting with me Wednesday and your willingness to tell your story and have a delightful conversation with someone new. It was from our conversation that this question emerged for me. I also need to thank Doug Nathan for suggesting that I connect with Lori. Lori and I sat in a bakery … [Read More]
Here’s something I can say for sure: self-organizing groups increase the resilience of group members and at least some nearby others. I experience this myself every time I’m part of a self-aware self-organizing group—both my own and others. This holds true across all 30 groups I’ve studied—from teacher and employee and consulting groups to friendship groups to milk carton derbys and flash mobs. Here’s an … [Read More]
You can expect amazing things from these groups, but what those things actually are, you can’t entirely know ahead of time. Think about a self-organizing group that you’ve seen somewhere: like several jazz musicians or rappers spontaneously improvising amazing music in the moment or a flash mob of people somewhat spontaneously performing a Michael Jackson or Lady Gaga song in a city park. You can expect to be surprised and wowed. Or you can expect nothing and still be surprised and wowed.
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]
stay connected