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]
Here are a few self-organizing groups I’m learning with/from this week… 1. A touching and cute self-organizing group (love the response of all the different adults in the video): 2. A brave self-organizing group within my neighborhood: The Mitchells trying to save their already paid-off home from foreclosure the end of October 3. A very visible collection of self-organizing groups right now. There are tons of … [Read More]
Hey Doug, thanks for asking me to get more clear on this subject! I’ve only recently started thinking about this idea, which is why I am fuzzy speaking about it. What I believe I see so far has to do with perceived location of the self. That is, in the moments in which I/we think: “individual self” I am capable of leading my individual self … [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.
From 2004 to 2006, I was part of two life-changing, self-organizing groups at the same time: one group of employees actively experimenting in a global for-profit organization and one group of learners actively reflecting on our own experiences in an educational organization. Thanks to these groups, I came to recognize myself as a self-organizing group member, started learning to recognize these groups elsewhere, and was so … [Read More]
In the 25 groups I’ve studied and been part of so far, here are the reasons mentioned for group formation. To: Change the way the organization plans and designs its products (working across silo’d product teams instead of within silos) Help all of our kids (those we had in common that year) to graduate by working more closely during one school year Help group members … [Read More]
Continuing from previous blog. The last two things I see in these groups that helps them sustain themselves are that: 7. As a group, they rely on the group’s strengths (and notice that this is happening) Group members do this in the moment—sometimes talking about it and often not. Here are several examples I’ve seen in the groups I study and am part of: Members … [Read More]
Continuing from previous blog on the subject of sustaining self-organizing work groups. 6. As a group, they become better able to embrace and appreciate: A. Being learners B. Their own and others’ differences C. Their own and others’ limitations And they make the time to notice that this is happening to them. This sustains the group… A. Being learners In the groups I’ve studied and … [Read More]
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