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]
Self-organizing groups are—themselves—leaders. They are different—new to many of us—and the people within them, and close to them, notice. One difference is that everybody within the group is a leader and a follower. Also, many nearby others and observers of the group are also leaders—especially those who decide to slow down and pay attention to the group because they notice that it’s different. Certainly those … [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 was sitting on a ferry last week with my friend D—coming back from our self-organizing group’s meeting—and we got to talking about what makes groups like ours last. She’s part of another group that she really wants to make work. So am I. She’s worried that her other group won’t last, because she and only a couple of other people seem really committed to … [Read More]
Well, my Steelers lost. Sigh. Continuing from Sustaining a self-organizing group for 20+years (1 of 3) From my perspective, this 20-year long, 100+ member group appears to sustain itself because the group is contagious (in a good way). Group members themselves are drawn to it, and the group draws nearby others to it as well. Together group members: Keep learning. Within this group, members appear … [Read More]
An interviewer asked me this question last year—you can still find my response on the Web if you look for it. I’m still fairly satisfied with what I said to him, with one glaring exception. In my three-paragraph answer (good Lord, will I ever be able to say anything concisely?!), I said “I think you have to be a human being to be in a … [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.
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.
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