Adaptable Wasielewski, Hedlund & Janlén

Companies are fixated on providing certainty. Exemplified by the primary expectation on leaders and managers to remove uncertainty. Why is this so, and where does this originate from?
In this episode I share some clues, and how you can make use of them to transform your approach and response to uncertainty.

Roadmaps are frequently used to remove uncertainty. However, relying on traditional roadmaps in complex situations creates a fallacy. A big issue is that they don’t take the element of surprise into account.

One differentiator between being good at managing complexity and uncertainty, and being bad at it is strategy. Unfortunately people’s common perception of strategy is simplistic and misleading.

In this episode I elaborate on some misconceptions, strategy’s main purpose and how to practice strategy.

Good Strategy/Bad Strategy - Richard Rumelt
Resources on Wardley Mapping

Working in complex situations creates lots of ambiguity and room for interpretation. Because of this people tend to become puzzled, confused or stuck. When working with uncertainty you can still find options that are reasonable and useful in the specific context. In this episode I talk about some principles and practical tools that are helpful to make sense of and act in complexity.

Visualisations for the examples I share
You can read more about influencing factors in Esther Derby's book.
More about HEXI kit is found on The Cynefin Co webpage.

Complex situations makes it challenging to become a leader that’s appreciated. People and situations within an organisation set a diverse set of expectations on leadership. I’ve noticed that people who repeatedly provide appreciated and appropriate leadership share some common traits that distinguish them from other leaders.

Besides sharing these traits I also share the most basic and useful framing of what leadership entails, that I’ve come across.

Here's an illustration that summaries the traits I’ve noticed so far.
In-depth article on infoQ that covers this and previous episode in writing.

Some of the key people and work that has influenced my thinking and practice in the context of this episode:
Klara Palmberg’s doctoral thesis - Beyond Process Management
Esther Derby on contextual change - 7 Rules for Positive, Productive Change
Dave Snowden on context awareness and navigating complexity - Cynefin framework
David Epstein on generalists strengths during complexity - Range
John Kay & Mervyn King on decisions during uncertainty - Radical uncertainty
Aaron Dignan on complexity conscious - Brave New Work

When people struggle with collaboration they tend to share some typical statements that they hope will improve the situation. Unfortunately, due to ignorance, these statements trivialise complexity. Together with other traits they lead to several negative consequences. 

My observations are that most organisations suffer from trivialisation. To avoid the negative effects of trivialisation it helps to increase awareness of situations that are complex and the traits that encourage and discourage trivialisation.

Announcement that the podcast is back from hiatus with several new episodes being uploaded regularly.