The Law Of Raspberry Jam Viktor Cessan & Esther Derby

The argument over whether specialists or generalists are more valuable to an organization has been going on FOREVER.  And the answer is --of course-- it depends on what you’re trying to do.

In this episode we continue our conversation and exploration of learning in organizations and we look at generalists and specialists partially from a learning point of view. We also talk about the implications of the trend with the decreasing number of generalists in tech.

We’ve seen many organizations invest huge amounts of money and energy in training as part of agile transformations and all sorts of other changes. These investments often have disappointing results. Sometimes the new way looks a lot like the old way, but with new names.

Lot’s of factors contribute to this.  However, there is a common thread. There’s almost always an overemphasis on what to do and how to do it. Why something works, when to do it, and when to make adjustments get little if any attention.

This is the difference between explicit and implicit knowledge--and that’s what we talk about in this episode.

People and teams have the opportunity to learn all the time, not just in training. And, in order for knowledge to be generated, we need to provoke learning. But what is provoking learning, how do you do it, and how do I recognize when learning is not happening? That's what we talk about in this episode.

The download that we talk about in the episode is available here.

In an earlier episode, we talked about how to enter a system. Now we'll talk about how to leave. Parting may cause sadness--we're ok with people missing us on an interpersonal level. But we work hard to make sure they can carry on just fine without us.

 

In this episode, we share our thoughts around how to leave, why it matters, and we share some practical tips.

In episode 11, we talked about Observing systems and in this episode, we explore using Reflective Observation as a way to help a system see the system.

By using interviews and observations, we help people see patterns and gaps clearly. Thus, they can choose their own actions to improve which in our experience leads to greater buy-in compared to prescriptions from an outside "expert".

However, how do you engage in reflective observations? How do you make sense of what you see and hear? How do you present it to the system? Those are just a few of the things we cover in this episode.

Enjoy!

-Esther & Viktor

We, humans, are greatly influenced by the people around us. Our social networks affect our behavior and emotions. They can be a source of support buoying us up. But what happens when most of your network is in the same distress? When sorrows pile on, the whole network can spiral into trauma.  In this mini-episode, we’ll talk about what you can do if you are in an organization that is experiencing a cumulative accumulation of sorrow and network trauma.