transform together – the podcast meetup about organizational development

Johannes Schartau, Holisticon
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The world is changing rapidly: AI is revolutionizing the workplace, hybrid teams are becoming the norm, and companies need to become more sustainable and efficient at the same time. Many organizations know they need to adapt. But how? Transform together provides the answers: practical tools instead of theoretical concepts, proven methods from experts who have successfully put them into practice, and a community of people moving forward together. In a unique blend of podcast and meetup, Holisticon transformation expert Johannes Schartau talks to inspiring guests, while live participants can immediately apply and discuss what they have learned.

  1. Aug 24

    How to Have Better Fights in Self-Organized Environments

    Self-organization sounds promising. Until disagreement gets uncomfortable, conflict disappears underground and everyone starts wishing someone would just make a decision. In this episode of transform together, Johannes Schartau talks with Richard D. Bartlett about how to have better fights: conflicts that bring important differences into the open without destroying trust or relationships. Richard explains why psychological safety should not mean avoiding disagreement. It should give people enough confidence to be honest, notice anger before it takes over and say what they are trying to protect. When differences can be expressed with both courage and curiosity, conflict becomes a source of collective intelligence, creative tension and better decisions. Together, they explore how Fight Wise helps habitual conflict avoiders practise assertiveness, how to surface unspoken tensions in groups and why temporary leadership can help self-organized teams move forward. They also discuss authority baggage, developmental “speed wobbles” and the growing temptation to replace difficult human interactions with agreeable AI assistants. A conversation about disagreeing more skilfully and why healthy collaboration may require us to get a little better at fighting.

    How to Have Better Fights in Self-Organized Environments

  2. Jul 21

    Collaborative Strategy with Liberating Structures

    In this episode of transform together, Johannes Schartau talks with Nancy White about moving from traditional strategic planning toward a more adaptive and participatory “strategic way of being.” They explore why strategy begins with purpose, how the six questions of Strategy Knotworking help groups navigate complexity, and why noticing, learning, and adjusting are more valuable than pretending the future can be planned in detail. Nancy explains how Liberating Structures such as Ecocycle Planning, Creative Destruction, and Wicked Questions can uncover hidden tensions, challenge comfortable assumptions, and turn disagreement into a source of learning. The conversation also explores why alignment does not require complete agreement and how organizations can replace three-year master plans with meaningful first steps, shared ownership, and continuous reflection.

    Collaborative Strategy with Liberating Structures

  3. Jul 3

    Track Success Using Evidence-Based Management

    In this episode of transform together, Johannes Schartau talks to Simon Flossmann about Evidence-Based Management, Scrum.org’s framework for connecting goals, measures, experiments, and actual value delivered. Many organizations are very good at producing output: more features, more projects, more initiatives, more meetings. But how do they know whether any of this actually creates value? Simon explains how EBM can help teams and organizations move beyond “we shipped it” and toward better conversations about customer outcomes, product value, learning, and decision-making. Together, Johannes and Simon explore what “evidence” means in the messy reality of product development, how EBM relates to Scrum, Product Goals and Sprint Reviews, and why measuring value can become deeply uncomfortable. They also talk about the difference between being busy and creating impact, why leadership often prefers opinions over evidence, and how teams can start small without turning EBM into another framework rollout. The conversation touches on current value, unrealized value, customer behavior, confidence in assumptions, outcome-oriented Product Goals, organizational change, AI transformations, and the awkward but necessary moment when evidence shows that something simply is not working. As always, the episode is both practical and reflective: less about installing a new method, and more about asking better questions. How do we know whether our product delivers value? What would change our mind? And what can we learn before we spend even more time building the wrong thing?

    Track Success Using Evidence-Based Management

  4. Jun 11

    How to Change An Organization Using Sociocracy 3.0

    In Episode 16 of transform together, Johannes Schartau talks to Lili David about Sociocracy 3.0 and how organizations can use it to evolve the way they collaborate, make decisions, and distribute authority. Lili explains S3 as a collection of patterns that help people respond to real organizational tensions, make collaboration more conscious and intentional, and improve the way work, responsibility, and decision-making are structured. Together, they explore why useful patterns alone are never enough, what happens when consent decision-making reveals hidden issues, why willingness and trust matter so much, and how organizations can make authority more explicit without simply flattening everything. Lili also shares how her own view of S3 has changed over the years, why she often avoids introducing the terminology directly with clients, and why asking “Do you have any objections?” instead of “Do you agree?” can already shift the quality of a conversation. A thoughtful and practical conversation for anyone interested in organizational change, self-organization, and more effective collaboration.

    How to Change An Organization Using Sociocracy 3.0

  5. May 20

    Cost of Delay, Product Flow and the Role of AI

    In this episode of transform together, Johannes Schartau talks to Joshua Arnold about the shift from project thinking to real product flow and why that shift matters more than ever. Joshua explains why Cost of Delay is such a powerful way to understand value, urgency, and the hidden price of waiting, but also why organizations so often fall back into politics, overloaded priority lists, and “this comes from the top” decision-making. Together, they explore what gets in the way of better flow, how finance and funding models can become part of the solution, why ProductDevOps needs to connect fast delivery with fast learning, and how AI may change product development by making execution easier while putting even more pressure on good judgment. A practical conversation for anyone who wants to build the right things sooner instead of just delivering more things faster.

    Cost of Delay, Product Flow and the Role of AI

  6. May 8

    The New Liberating Structures Menu

    For Episode 14 of transform together, Johannes Schartau talks to Keith McCandless, co-developer of Liberating Structures, about the biggest expansion of the Liberating Structures menu since the publication of The Surprising Power of Liberating Structures. Keith shares what has changed, why the new Liberating Structures Fieldbook brings the experience of the global practitioner community into the repertoire, and how ten new structures deepen the possibilities for working with groups, strategy, relationships, and change. The conversation also explores the principles behind Liberating Structures, the role of minimum specifications, the limits of traditional whole-system change, and why Keith believes real transformation starts by shifting the patterns of interaction at the smallest relational level. Along the way, Johannes and Keith discuss complexity, adjacent possibilities, Creative Commons, the future growth of the Liberating Structures repertoire, and the experiments in the global community that currently excite Keith most.

    The New Liberating Structures Menu

  7. Mar 25

    How to make change more successful

    Many organizations start transformation initiatives with great ideas – and still fail. Why is that? In this episode of "transform together", Host Johannes Schartau talks with Lynn Kelley about why change requires more than just the right solution. They explore the role of leadership, communication, and why real transformation is always a cultural process. Lynn Kelley shares insights from her work with organizations and explains why many initiatives fall short and what it actually takes to make change sustainable.

    How to make change more successful

  8. Mar 11

    Ein Metablick auf Transformation

    Transformation ist überall – aber warum fühlen sich so viele Veränderungsinitiativen trotzdem orientierungslos an? In dieser Episode von Transform Together spricht Johannes Schartau mit Dennis Willkomm darüber, wie sogenannte Metatheorien (insbesondere die integrale Theorie) helfen können, komplexe Veränderungsprozesse besser zu verstehen und zu gestalten. Dennis bringt eine ungewöhnliche Perspektive auf Organisationsentwicklung mit: Als Agile Coach, Führungskraft und Autor der „Roadmap durch die VUCA-Welt“ verbindet er Informatik, Psychologie und integrale Ansätze. Gemeinsam mit Johannes schaut er darauf, warum Transformationen oft nur an der Oberfläche stattfinden – und wie man tieferliegende Dynamiken in Organisationen erkennen kann.

    Ein Metablick auf Transformation
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The world is changing rapidly: AI is revolutionizing the workplace, hybrid teams are becoming the norm, and companies need to become more sustainable and efficient at the same time. Many organizations know they need to adapt. But how? Transform together provides the answers: practical tools instead of theoretical concepts, proven methods from experts who have successfully put them into practice, and a community of people moving forward together. In a unique blend of podcast and meetup, Holisticon transformation expert Johannes Schartau talks to inspiring guests, while live participants can immediately apply and discuss what they have learned.

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