Podcast appearances and mentions of Chris Argyris

Welcome to a very special mini-series on The Inner Game of Change. I'm thrilled to take you on this journey as we explore something both timeless and practical: Mental Models for Managing Change.In this episode of Mental Models for Managing Change, we explore a mental model that helps us pause, reflect, and challenge how we make sense of the world around us: The Ladder of Inference.Developed by organisational psychologist Chris Argyris and later popularised by Peter Senge, this model shows how quickly we move from observing facts to taking action — often based on assumptions, not evidence.It is especially useful in moments of tension, misalignment, or misunderstanding — and in change work, those moments happen often.If you have ever walked away from a meeting wondering, “How did we end up on such different pages?”, this episode is for you.Learn how to recognise the thinking patterns that drive your decisions, how to stay grounded in what is observable, and how to open up better, more constructive conversations — even during complex change.Listen now to step off the ladder, and into clearer, more intentional leadership.Send us a textAli Juma @The Inner Game of Change podcast Follow me on LinkedIn

We are embarking on a transformative journey with Michael Hamman on Inner Agility: The Key to Business Agility on Our Agile Tales. Michael believes in the potential of the workplace as a catalyst for personal, professional, and social transformation. His work with many organizations, teams, and leaders has enabled them to embrace a greater holistic team and enterprise-level agility by nurturing their inner capacity for leadership agility in the face of the complexity, volatility, and uncertainty of the 21st-century world.In this episode of Agile Tales, our discussion with Michael delves into the concepts of inner agility and its pivotal role in achieving business agility, highlighting Chris Argyris' theories on espoused theory versus theory in use. Michael provides insights on the challenges of honest communication within organizations and the psychological strategies people employ to avoid discomfort. He emphasizes the importance of self-awareness and the limitations that our inner operating systems impose on our sensemaking and interactions. Michael also touches on the IDG's inner development goals and the need for methods that enhance our capacity for complex sense-making. The episode underlines that true organizational transformation stems from a deeper personal transformation and increased awareness of our underlying beliefs and assumptions.00:00 Introduction to Agile Tales01:13 Espoused Theory vs. Theory in Use05:29 The Cost of Avoiding the Truth06:53 Organizational Transformation and Human Change11:10 Experience Wheel and Inner Agility16:59 Understanding Our Inner Operating System19:30 Developing Inner Capacity for Sustainable Goals24:56 Enhancing Team Collaboration and Sensemaking29:35 ConclusionMichael Hamman is the author of Evolvagility: Growing an Agile Leadership Culture from the Inside Out. The book provides a blueprint for what it means to be an agile leader in today's complex world and offers a practical roadmap for getting there. He is the head of development at Transformation Designs and is a Co-creator at the Centre for Inner Agility.Visit us at https://www.ouragiletales.com/about

What if the secret to impactful leadership and thriving relationships lies in embracing honesty, even when it's uncomfortable? On the Uncommon Leader Podcast, we sit down with Todd Holzman, CEO and founder of Holzman Leadership, who shares a deeply personal story from his childhood that shaped his unwavering commitment to truthfulness—a lesson passed down by his father. As we explore Todd's upcoming book, "The Power of Candor," he provides insightful strategies for navigating the "honesty dilemma," where truthfulness and relationship preservation often collide.This episode unpacks the real cost of sidestepping honest conversations, both in personal and professional spheres. Drawing from pivotal moments, including a significant leadership lesson from 1998 and a consultancy experience with Red Bull, we underscore the transformative power of candid dialogue. Todd's stories illuminate how confronting the fear of negative outcomes can lead to enhanced performance, conflict resolution, and averting unnecessary chaos in any arena, whether at home or in the workplace.Diving into the intricacies of communication, we highlight the teachings of social scientist Chris Argyris and dissect the "candor gap" prevalent in healthcare and sales industries. Our conversation touches on emotional intelligence and the SIPA framework for difficult discussions, reinforcing the importance of introspection and self-awareness. Todd also reveals his motivations behind creating an app to democratize high-quality communication training, aiming to equip leaders and individuals with the tools to handle real-world conversations effectively and authentically. Join us as we challenge the norms of communication, advocating for a more honest and meaningful exchange in every interaction.Thanks for listening in to the Uncommon Leader Podcast. Please take just a minute to share this podcast with that someone you know that you thought of when you heard this episode. One of the most valuable things you can do is to rate the podcast and leave a review. You can do that on Apple podcasts, or rate the podcast on Spotify or any other platform you listen. Did you know that many of the things that I discuss on the Uncommon Leader Podcast are subjects that I coach other leaders and organizations ? If you would be interested in having me discuss 1:1 or group coaching with you, or know someone who is looking to move from Underperforming to Uncommon in their business or life, I would love to chat with you. Click this link to set up a FREE CALL to discuss how coaching might benefit you and your team) Until next time, Go and Grow Champions!!Connect with me

Andy and Mon-Chaio explore the dense yet insightful book 'Action Science' by Chris Argyris. They discuss Argyris's method of developing self-knowledge to break existing norms and achieve actionable knowledge. The conversation covers the core principles and propositions of action science, including the importance of understanding one's reasoning, questioning underlying assumptions, and fostering mutual learning. Tune in to discover how self-awareness can transform not just individuals but entire organizations. Transcript - https://thettlpodcast.com/2025/02/04/s3e4-action-science/ References Action Science - https://actiondesign.com/resources/readings/action-science The School of Life - https://www.theschooloflife.com/ Episode on Future Search - https://thettlpodcast.com/2025/01/28/s3e3-future-search/

In this episode of the NEGOTIATEx podcast, we explore the extensive career and insights of Diana McLain Smith, who has championed systemic change across various domains for over 35 years.Starting from political activism, Diana transitioned into organizational learning under mentors like Chris Argyris, influencing her approach to managing conflict and fostering adaptive environments. Her discussion delves into the power of personal agency in effecting systemic change, drawing parallels between historical and contemporary societal challenges. Lastly, Diana emphasizes the need for individual and collective responsibility in addressing deep societal divides and building resilience amidst political and social turmoil.  

For Episode 163, Marsha explores the relevance of Chris Argyris's "ladder of inference" model in the context of current global crises and the US election. The model, which breaks down the process of data selection, interpretation, and decision-making, is used to understand how individuals form opinions and beliefs.To access a full transcript of this episode, please visit http://www.marshaclarkandassociates.com/transcripts/a-dangerous-dance.To find out more about Marsha or to purchase a copy of her book, "Embracing Your Power: A Woman's Path to Authentic Leadership & Meaningful Relationships," visit her website at www.marshaclarkandassociates.com.

In this episode of the NEGOTIATEx podcast, we explore the extensive career and insights of Diana McLain Smith, who has championed systemic change across various domains for over 35 years. Starting from political activism, Diana transitioned into organizational learning under mentors like Chris Argyris, influencing her approach to managing conflict and fostering adaptive environments. Her discussion delves into the power of personal agency in effecting systemic change, drawing parallels between historical and contemporary societal challenges. Lastly, Diana emphasizes the need for individual and collective responsibility in addressing deep societal divides and building resilience amidst political and social turmoil.

I began my life's work in two communities on opposite sides of Boston, one predominantly Black, the other predominantly White, both made up of hard-working, low-income families. For twelve years, I worked alternately as a community organizer, a journalist, and a counselor alongside people struggling to navigate circumstances largely stacked against them. Where they went, I went—to their homes, theirschools, the streets, the courts, even prison. The experience was a master class in hard-earned resilience on the one hand and learned helplessness on the other.That experience eventually led me to return to school to figure out how to inspire and empower people to create systems that work for them, not against them. As an undergraduate at Boston University and as a doctoral student at Harvard, I had the privilege of learning from and working alongside some of the world's best thinkers on how to navigate conflict and effect change in all kinds of systems from families(David Kantor) to organizations (Chris Argyris, Donald Schön, Ed Schein, Peter Senge) to nations (Howard Zinn, Roger Fisher).For the past 40 years, I have led long-term change efforts in some of America's most iconic businesses and cutting-edge nonprofits. Along the way, I discovered that it is possible to turn intergroup conflict into a powerful force for constructive change. Out of this fundamental insight, I developed an approach to conflict and change called Leading Through Relationships (LTR)TM with frameworks and tools captured in my own and others publications and used around the world by my colleagues and students.In addition to dozens of articles, I am the author of Divide Or Conquer, The Elephant in the Room, and Remaking the Space Between Us, and the co-author of Action Science with Chris Argyris and Robert Putnam. As a partner at the Monitor Group, I chaired Monitor University, and as chief executive partner at New Profit, I led a culture change effort that readied the firm for future growth.I share my life with negotiation expert and Getting to Yes co-author Bruce Patton, my husband of 30 years, a rambunctious border collie rescue, and a junkyard mutt.

Mon, 26 Feb 2024 13:11:41 +0000 https://sozial.podigee.io/13-new-episode cc97da3a009aa07ebb3a058d50751b2a Fällt es Sozialarbeitenden schwerer als anderen Berufsgruppen, Fehler zu akzeptieren? «Das ist mir auch schon begegnet, es ist aber nachvollziehbar», sagt Michael Herzig. Soziale Arbeit erfordere ein hohes Mass an Selbstreflexion, Ernsthaftigkeit und Verantwortungsbewusstsein. «Das verträgt sich schlecht mit einer Just-do-it-Kultur und mit Experimentierfreudigkeit.» Dennoch: «Der grösste Fehler in der Sozialen Arbeit ist, partout keine Fehler machen zu wollen», sagt der ZHAW-Dozent. In der zweiten Folge des Podcasts «sozial» zum Thema Fehlerkultur sprechen Michael Herzig und Regula Freuler über dialogisches Qualitätsmanagement, innere Haltung und die trügerische Sicherheit von Checklisten. Fehlerkultur in Ihrer Organisation Die eigene Fehlerkultur zu reflektieren und dabei eine gemeinsame Haltung zu erarbeiten, ist ein relevanter, grundlegender Schritt in der Strategie- und Organisationsentwicklung . Michael Herzig kann Sie dabei professionell begleiten. Schreiben Sie an dienstleistung.sozialearbeit@zhaw.ch oder kontaktieren Sie michael.herzig@zhaw.ch direkt. Literatur und Methoden, die erwähnt werden in dieser Episode: In seinem Buch «The Fifth Discipline» prägte der Verhaltens- und Politikwissenschaftler Peter M. Senge den Begriff der lernenden Organisation. Das englische Original erschien 1990, die deutsche Übersetzung «Die Fünfte Disziplin» liegt im Verlag Schäfer-Poeschel vor. Das Modell der Left-Hand Column nach Peter M. Senge, erklärt von ihm selbst in der MIT Open Library. Chris Argyris, Donald A. Schön: Die lernende Organisation: Grundlagen, Methoden, Praxis. Klett-Cotta, 1999. (Englisches Original: Organizational Learning II. Theory, Method, and Practice. Addison-Wesley, 1996) Mehr über Soziale Arbeit hören und lesen? Wir informieren über News aus Forschung, Studium und Weiterbildung in unserem Newsletter. 13 full no ZHAW Soziale Arbeit

What do you think of when you hear the word 'error'? It's highly likely you'll think of it negatively as a defect. The obvious way to manage defects, particularly in safety-critical industries, is to have detailed procedures, strict compliance, and zero tolerance for errors. But we know that this doesn't always work. After all, if it did, we'd have far fewer errors.My guest on this episode takes a different approach. He specializes in helping organizations, particularly safety-critical ones where the cost of getting something wrong can be death or injury, to reduce errors, improve safety and build trust. He calls this human reliability. His name is Dr. Jake Mazulewicz, and he's been a firefighter, an emergency medical technician and a military paratrooper.Nowadays, he brings all of those experiences to bear in helping organizations design processes and cultures that allow humans to manage the complexities that don't always allow themselves to be neatly codified into standard procedures. As you'll hear, he's got some fascinating ideas about designing safety models that flex to meet the situation's needs. Key Moments In The Show (mins:secs)02:14 — Dr. Jake's background05:25 — Mechanistic vs. Adaptive systems06:28 — The big problem: too many leaders treat ALL systems as Mechanistic systems09:10 — What to say to a commercial pilot when you're walking off their aircraft after the flight lands10:40 — Four work guidance modes11:00 — 1) Procedures11:53 — 2) Guidelines like, “To find out what an organization values, follow the money."13:00 — 3) Principles like “A jury doesn't decide what to believe. A jury decides who to believe."21:20 — 4) Tacit Knowledge — You can solve complex problems, but can't explain how26:40 — “All models are wrong, but some of them are useful.”31:10 — How one team of electricians dramatically improved safety by using FEWER procedures35:57 — Letter of the law vs. spirit of the law38:20 — Have you heard of Philip K. Howard?... "Let's pretend I haven't.”42:10 — We write rules when we don't have enough trust44:55 — Build trust by overcommunicating your intentions45:25 — “Commander's Intent” in military mission plans47:55 — Listen for "Weak Signals" like hearing, “I'll do whatever it takes…"50:40 — Stay resilient by catching a system before it goes “exponential”54:00 — Chris Argyris' 17-word, 4-step recipe for creating a toxic work culture57:10— A new Early Warning System58:20 — Ask an expert, “What's a 'Weak Signal' in your field, and what does it mean?”1:04:55 — Why a non-punitive approach is so helpful and so uncommon1:10:10 — How to get in touch with Dr. Jake — reliableorg.comFurther InformationTo find out more about Praxtical Human Performance For Leaders visit www.reliableorg.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jake-mazulewicz/

Aki Salmi: Working With BDD To Help Agile Teams Understand And Deliver On Business Needs Read the full Show Notes and search through the world's largest audio library on Scrum directly on the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast website: http://bit.ly/SMTP_ShowNotes. In this episode, Aki shares two impactful stories of change. Firstly, he recounts a scenario as a scrum master in a team with two-week sprints. Because the team was “ok” with letting a feature slip from one sprint to the other, that feature eventually took four weeks to deliver, after which the team found out that they implementation did not align with the business. Implementing Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) with tools like Specflow facilitated better communication with the business, ensuring subsequent deliveries met business needs. Aki's second story reflects his realization about strong opinions and conflicts. Aki learned the value of active listening and being open to others' perspectives. In this episode, we refer to Chris Argyris' "Knowledge for Action" [IMAGE HERE] As Scrum Master we work with change continuously! Do you have your own change framework that provides the guidance, and queues you need when working with change? The Lean Change Management framework is a fully defined, lean-startup inspired change framework that can be used as the backbone of any change process! You can buy Lean Change Management the book at Amazon. Also available in French, Spanish, German and Portuguese.   About Aki Salmi Aki is a software crafter and shares the joy of coding and the value of empathy at work. That is, Aki works on ones and zeros (code) and everything else (humans). You can link with Aki Salmi on LinkedIn.   

Easily listen to Social Skills Coaching in your podcast app of choice at https://bit.ly/social-skills-home00:01:10 In 1974, business professor Chris Argyris created a handy tool00:06:22 How to Use the Ladder in Your Own Life00:16:02 Consider the following speech made by Barack Obama at the 2004 Democratic National Convention00:18:23 George Lakoff is an author and professor of cognitive science and linguistics.Hear it Here - https://adbl.co/3N9lsjI • Poor communication arises as a result of a mismatch of perspectives, approach, or conversational skill. People process information differently, but to avoid misunderstandings, communicate consciously and use the “ladder of inference.” It shows the unique way that people use their experiences to make meaning: observations > selected data > meanings > assumptions > conclusions > beliefs > actions. • Conflict can occur when people are on different rungs. To improve communication, see where people are and how their ladder of inference is working for them, then speak to that, in sequence, and without blame or shame. • Good communicators deliberately create their own frames during conversations and position their line of thinking by using specially chosen words, expressions, and images. Change frames and you change meaning. • Deliberately engineer your conversational frame and invite the other person in using pre-existing concepts they're familiar with to improve the chances they'll be receptive. Remember that reality is fixed, but the meaning of reality is dynamic and subject to change. #ACTIONS #ACTIONSBELIEFSCONCLUSIONSASSUMPTIONSMEANINGSSELECTEDDATAOBSERVATIONS #Argyris #ASSUMPTIONS #BELIEFS #Birkin #ChrisArgyris #CONCLUSIONS #GeorgeLakoff #Hermes #MEANING #POOLOFOBSERVATIONS #SELECTEDDATA #RussellNewton #NewtonMG #SocialSkillsCoaching #PatrickKindConsulting #PatrickKing

Gary Ryan shares Chapter Two of his Amazon Kindle #1 Bestseller "Disruption Leadership matters - lessons for leaders from the pandemic" The chapter title is, "Start by assessing your mental models".In this episode you will learn:What are "Mental Models"?The mental models Gary recommends for leadership successEmployees are human beings, not human resourcesLearning and oxygen are equally important for human beingsSmart, hard workCash is king, clarity is queenWhoever receives the output of your work, so they can do their work, is a customerOwn your roleHow you can apply these mental models to all aspects of your lifeHow you can influence other people's mental modelsAnd much more!Click here to download the FREE AudioBook and eBook versions of Disruption Leadership matters - lessons for leaders from the pandemic (join folks from 20 countries have accepted this opportunity).Connect with Gary Ryan on LinkedIn here.Sign up for Gary's newsletter here.Check out Gary's Life Planning for Success and Life Harmony Online Program here. If you would like support in creating a high-performance culture based on treating people as human beings, please click here to contact Gary Ryan

If Agile is a “Copernican revolution in management,” as Ed Denning suggests, is it also a “Copernican revolution in leadership? That question spawns more questions before we can answer it meaningfully. Is management (the quality of managing) different in leadership (the quality of leading)? Are managers (people who manage) also leaders (people who lead)? Who are the managers (which people manage)? Who are the leaders (which people lead)?In this workshop, we'll address how to begin answering these questions for yourself, by introducing participants to “leadership models” and “how to build yours.” The session will be practical because we learn by doing; it will be interactive because we learn faster when interacting (doing) with others. The session will be thought-provoking because only you can develop a leadership model that's your own.The first learning objective will be focused on revealing and reflecting back to you on what your assumptions and understandings of leadership might be. Some of these assumptions may be unconscious, based on biases, or both. This section will be interactive using real-time questions to solicit data and feedback to help open our thinking about leadership. At the end of this section, participants will have tools to reflect on their leadership assumptions and some of those assumptions explored and declared.The second learning objective will be focused on how we traditionally study and teach leadership, and why those established practices make no sense in the Agile/Lean organization. This section will be a short lecture, using a statistical model to expose the limited utility of our traditional approaches to understanding and developing leadership in the organization. At the end of this session, participants will have some tools for beginning to tease out what they think “leadership” is, what is “good” leadership, what is “bad” leadership, and who the leaders are in their organization – as well as some references to continue this reflection going forward.The third section will introduce leadership as a systems model, including a meta-model for defining and improving that model. This section will involve an interactive group breakout exercise. At the end of this session, participants will have a good start on their unique leadership model to help them “show up with leadership in the moment” or perhaps not – because the task at have may fall outside the boundary of our leadership system.Speaker: Christopher CurleyAn ICE-CE, Chapter Leader ("People Manager") at a global financial institution serving a team of Agile Coaches, a graduate of the Schreyer Honors College at Penn State, with degrees in political science and history, and a student of leadership for the past thirty years (James MacGreggor Burner, Barbara Kellerman, Ahmed Sidky, Bela Banathy, Chris Argyris, et al.) I introduced this topic on Marsha Acker's "Defining Moments of Leadership" podcast.Certified Agile Coaching expert (ICE-CE), Program (SPC 4, PMP), and Team (CSM) Leader with +15 year history of delivering quality products, improving the efficiency of processes, and developing performing teams, spanning Fortune 100 enterprises to mid-sized technology, manufacturing, and financial sectors. Led Agile/Lean transition and adoption across the enterprise, including hardware design teams, software development teams, infrastructure services, business operations teams, manufacturing, and marketing.https://www.linkedin.com/in/ccurley/ Find us here: www.agileleanireland.org

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We begin with an acknowledgment of the Winter Solstice, and the importance, in a time that is often very busy, of slowing down, like the earth in the Northern Hemisphere, of being relatively still and opening to the generative dimensions of darkness. We then review the main elements of what we explored last week, pointing to the main aspects of the Buddha's teaching on "views" (including belief, positions, etc.), explored through four core texts, and three ways of practicing with views. We then bring some further ways of practicing with views. One is opened up by working with the model, from Chris Argyris, of the "Ladder of Inference," in noticing tendencies to go from direct experience to generalizations (obviously very useful at times), and how sometimes reactivity drives us "up the Ladder" to generalizations. A second is in working with relatively unconscious or half-conscious views, whether about oneself, others, or the nature of things. We close with discussion, intentions, and the dedication of merit.

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We begin with an acknowledgment of the Winter Solstice, and the importance, in a time that is often very busy, of slowing down, like the earth in the Northern Hemisphere, of being relatively still and opening to the generative dimensions of darkness. We then review the main elements of what we explored last week, pointing to the main aspects of the Buddha's teaching on "views" (including belief, positions, etc.), explored through four core texts, and three ways of practicing with views. We then bring some further ways of practicing with views. One is opened up by working with the model, from Chris Argyris, of the "Ladder of Inference," in noticing tendencies to go from direct experience to generalizations (obviously very useful at times), and how sometimes reactivity drives us "up the Ladder" to generalizations. A second is in working with relatively unconscious or half-conscious views, whether about oneself, others, or the nature of things. We close with discussion, intentions, and the dedication of merit.

(Spirit Rock Meditation Center) We begin with an acknowledgment of the Winter Solstice, and the importance, in a time that is often very busy, of slowing down, like the earth in the Northern Hemisphere, of being relatively still and opening to the generative dimensions of darkness. We then review the main elements of what we explored last week, pointing to the main aspects of the Buddha's teaching on "views" (including belief, positions, etc.), explored through four core texts, and three ways of practicing with views. We then bring some further ways of practicing with views. One is opened up by working with the model, from Chris Argyris, of the "Ladder of Inference," in noticing tendencies to go from direct experience to generalizations (obviously very useful at times), and how sometimes reactivity drives us "up the Ladder" to generalizations. A second is in working with relatively unconscious or half-conscious views, whether about oneself, others, or the nature of things. We close with discussion, intentions, and the dedication of merit.

Video, transcript, and more: https://leanblog.org/461  My guest for Episode #461 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is Gauthier Duval, the Director of the Lean Center of Excellence at Veryable. He's applied and taught Lean for over 18 years, including time with Freudenberg-NOK (an auto supplier featured in the book Lean Thinking), Simpler Consulting, and other manufacturing companies in the U.S. and Europe. Today, we discuss topics and questions including: Your Lean origin story? The next steps in your career and learning?? Freudenberg-NOK — 2004 — Growtth Consulting spinoff Working with Lean – Europe vs. US? Simpler – worked with Chris Cooper – Episode #129 Your view on the role of what's often called “kaizens” (kaizen events) vs. ongoing daily kaizen improvement? Multi-day events vs. small discontinuous improvements? How should people be participating? The role of the senior leader? Kicking a company president out of a Kaizen Event?? Lessons you've learned on the psychology of change? Organizational behavior and organizational development? — how do you define that?  What makes an organization a “learning organization?” Chris Argyris — why should more Lean people be reading his work? Tell us about Veryable – the company, the problems you solve and how it works… How to expand “JIT” beyond just materials? Variable labor in a “lean mindset” way — including “respect for people”?? The podcast is sponsored by Stiles Associates, now in their 30th year of business. They are the go-to Lean recruiting firm serving the manufacturing, private equity, and healthcare industries. Learn more. This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network.   

The idea of the Ladder of Inference was introduced by Chris Argyris in 1970.  The concept became widely known when he and Peter Senge published The Fifth Discipline in 1992.  The Ladder of Inference helps us visualize how our brain processes work. Some of it with lightning speed. By better understanding what is happening, we can better address what isn't serving us well. The Ladder of Inference appears in a number of sources online. Here are two: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ladder_of_inference.svg and https://www.toolshero.com/decision-making/ladder-of-inference/Do you have comments or suggestions about a topic or guest? An idea or question about conflict management or conflict resolution? Let me know at jb@dovetailresolutions.com! And you can learn more about me and my work as a mediator and a Certified CINERGY® Conflict Coach at www.dovetailresolutions.com and https://www.linkedin.com/in/janebeddall/.Enjoy the show for free on your favorite podcast app or on the podcast website: https://craftingsolutionstoconflict.com/And you can follow us on Twitter @conflictsolving. 

Summary We all suffer from bias. Here's how to manage bias more effectively.   Transcript Welcome to episode 135 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we bring research to life in your leadership. This week we look at ways to manage bias. If you ask people to picture in their mind a doctor, most will automatically assume that the doctor is male. If you ask the same people to picture in their mind a nurse, most will automatically assume that the nurse is female. It's true - more doctors are male, and more nurses are female. When we guess at someone's gender based on their profession it's like we're using approximations and rules of thumb. We are guessing at what's most likely. But our guesses can be wrong, and based on faulty assumptions. All of that can lead us to have biases that shape our behaviour. If I'm hiring a doctor, do I tend to dismiss female candidates? If I'm hiring a nurse, do I put males further down the list? My beliefs and assumptions then become a real problem - they can lead to bias and prejudice. Understanding how this occurs can help us to identify and manage our biases more effectively.  A helpful framework for this is the Ladder of Inference from Chris Argyris. Here we picture a ladder that we're climbing. The ladder starts with what we observe. That's the first rung of the ladder. We then select data from what we observe. We then add meanings, both cultural and personal, to that data We make assumptions based on those meanings We draw conclusions based on those assumptions Those conclusions shape our beliefs about the world We take action based on our beliefs All of this loops back to influence what we observe This process is natural and can be helpful - we need beliefs to guide us through the wealth of data and information coming our way. But it can also be problematic when it ends up with prejudice and unfair treatment. So what can we do? First, we need to accept that we all have biases. No one is ever bias free, and it is extremely difficult to eliminate a bias completely. But we can reduce bias and we can minimise the impact of bias. To do that, we need to challenge our beliefs. How do we do that? Here are three ideas: Pay attention to who you spend time with. Most people tend to spend time with people who are similar to them. Start by going back through your calendar and noting who you're spending time with.  Actively seek to work with people who are different to you. Broaden out your inner circle. Look around for the people who are most different to you, whether that's culture, profession, age, gender or any other factor.  Become curious about other people. Be genuinely interested in other people and their perspectives. Just listen to understand. You don't have to agree with everything they say, but you also don't need to argue back. Our workplaces will be far more positive if we can effectively manage bias, and it all starts with us.

Waarom maken leiders zo vaak dezelfde fouten, van jouw afdelingschef tot de minister-president? Omdat ze niet op zoek gaan naar hun eigen ongelijk, legt econoom Marilieke Engbers uit, die tientallen keren als vlieg op de muur meeluisterde aan de top van bestuurlijk Nederland. Met Kustaw Bessems spreekt zij over haar specialisme: dat wat niet wordt gezegd, maar wel wordt bedoeld. En duidt waarom critici als Pieter Omtzigt of Sylvana Simons zoveel weerstand ontmoeten en waarom de corona-aanpak zo gevoelig is voor fouten. Besproken literatuur: Marilieke Engbers, Onder commissarissen. Hoe het ongezegde in de boardroom de besluitvorming beïnvloedt (Atlas Contact, 2021) Chris Argyris, Teaching smart people how to learn (Harvard Business Review Press, 2008)Lee Ross, The intuitive psychologist and his shortcomings: distortions in the attribution process (Stanford University Press, 1977) Willem Feenstra, Over politieke druk, bedreigingen en onderlinge spanning. Een jaar in het voetspoor van vijf OMT-leden (Volkskrant, 2021)(https://www.volkskrant.nl/kijkverder/v/2021/een-jaar-in-het-voetspoor-van-vijf-omt-leden-over-politieke-druk-bedreigingen-en-onderlinge-spanning~v420752/ ) Donald C Hambrick en Gregory D.S. Futokomi, The seasons of a CEO’s tenure (Academy of Management, 1991)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How Secure Is Your Ladder? How often do your assumptions mislead you? There was more to the situation than you noticed…if only you had realized!...How much difficulty, time, relationship damage could have been avoided if you hadn't jumped to conclusions? In today's podcast, Rhonda and Dale take you up and down the rungs of the Ladder of Inference. They'll give you an insight into how it works so you'll better understand why you think the way you do – and how that thinking can derail or enrich your conversations. Listen as they explain how to stay on the lower rungs to see more clearly, think more deeply and understand more accurately…..before you act. The Ladder of Inference was first developed by Chris Argyris (1982) and included in The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook by Peter Senge (1994 and 2014). Join the coaches as they explore how FearLESS Leaders can use this essential tool to reduce conflict, increase trust and build stronger relationships.  Listen for the mastery challenge at the end of the podcast. Stay in touch as you experiment. You can find us at www.conversationsforfearlessleaders.com

To lead in turbulent times, we need to stop believing everything we think! When we interrogate how our mind works we can see more of what's really going on and we can compare notes with team members so that -- together -- we can make better decisions. Links: Ladder of Inference by Chris Argyris and excerpt from the Fifth Discipline Fieldbook.

Chris Argyris picks his all time Newcastle United 11 and subs and manager.

Facilitation - From Good to Great. True shares his insights from years of experience on the crucial differences between being a "good" facilitator and being a "great" facilitator, channeling these into three key themes. True also drops in plenty of nuggets for those keen to learn more: Adult Learning Resources True Mentioned David Kolb: https://www.skillshub.com/what-are-kolbs-learning-styles/ Andragogy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andragogy Chris Argyris: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Argyris. Pay special attention to Double Loop Learning. How to Get in Touch with True Linkedin.com: https://www.linkedin.com/in/truett-black-72a95321/ True Development Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBiJnT5FsOhGdLdk6vWp0Cg True Development Company Website, English version: https://true-development.com/en/one-page/ My Personal Website: www.truettblack.com

This week John and Matt talk about the ladder of inference and leaps of abstraction. First proposed by Chris Argyris, way back in 1970, the ladder of inference is a way of describing how you move from a piece of data (a comment made to you, or something that you have observed to happen), through a series of mental processes to a conclusion. We discuss how this method can be used in our culture to gain empathy and understanding for those who may not agree with our point of view.

Tomomi Sasaki and I sat down to talk in-depth about her journey of self-awareness and inner work as a facilitator. We met at an advanced facilitation masterclass I ran for Google at their Sprint Conference, way back in 2018. She tweeted at the end of 2020: I've been facilitating workshops for about a decade. The first few years were ferocious, needs-based learning. Workshops took a tremendous amount of energy to plan and run, and after each one, I'd faceplant onto the nearest sofa. Once things became manageable, I plateaued. I worked on plenty of facilitation assignments (and did a bunch of public speaking about lessons learned) but I was coasting and I knew it. Then @kaihaley and the @GoogleDesign Sprint Conference gave me the gift of a full day training from @dastillman, and I started to think of facilitation as a practice. (you can listen to my conversation with Kai Haley here.) Building a practice sends a different kind of signal into the universe. This gives me watershed experiences that blows apart a door I didn't know was there. Behind each door is a whole new landscape to explore, and new friends to explore it with. It happens consistently, once or twice a year. I don't know what's behind that cadence but it is an amazing thing. You *think* you know the edges of the land and then... ah hah! It gets me every time. It had been a while since we'd connected, but when I read that twitter thread, I knew we had to sit down to talk about her journey to thinking about facilitation as a practice and what that meant. Tomomi is a designer and partner at the independent design studio AQ, and a frequent collaborator of Enterprise Design Associates. She's also a top-notch facilitator and, as you might have learned by now, a very reflective practitioner, and in this episode she gives some invaluable advice about how to improve at the skill of facilitation - beyond tips and tricks. I loved it when Tomomi said that “The insight for me was that I need to take care of who I am and what I'm bringing into the room as a facilitator because that's part of what's going to happen in the dynamics.” Tomomi is essentially saying in her own words what Bill O'Brien, the late CEO of Hanover Insurance said, that “The success of an intervention depends on the interior condition of the intervener.” When we facilitate, when we lead a group, we are noticing the system...and what we choose to respond to, focus on or call out will shift what happens in the system. The question here is...how do you affect change in a complex system...that YOU are part of?  Many people treat learning and change like a purely technical challenge: They have a deficit in performance and the assumption is that they can learn better ways of doing and apply them. Similarly, we think we can apply a pattern or tool (like a facilitated workshop agenda, exercise or the like) and get a reliable result - like a baking recipe. But any bread baker will tell you that the weather, the flour and your mood can shift how things go. Dough is alive. There are two challenges with this mechanical, recipe, way of thinking...one is that people and systems of people are complex...so, the likelihood of things going exactly according to plan without any need for adaptation and improvisation is...unlikely. People, like dough, are alive. The other issue is that many people think it's new and better ways of doing that are needed...where it's actually different ways of thinking, different mental models and assumptions...which will naturally lead to different ways of doing. Some folks (Chris Argyris and Donald Schön) describe this as the difference between single-loop and double-loop learning and others even point to triple and even quadruple loop learning...the core of which could be self-awareness, or seeing how we ourselves can affect the system. This is the transition from facilitation and leadership as “doing to” or performance to “doing with” and presence. The way you show up internally will change what happens in the session. https://organizationallearning9.wordpress.com/single-and-double-loop-learning/ As Tomomi says later in our conversation,  “I think what struck me was that in facilitation, we think so much about the participants, and the first question you basically asked in the master class was who are you? Until that moment, I hadn't really thought about that, and I think that's why I was getting so burnt out. You give and give without really an awareness of what you're doing to yourself or what you need to be. Then the realization is that, oh, that's where your strength comes from, it's where the practice needs to be built on, because you can't change that much, right?... So, might as well work with what you have. “ I care deeply about this idea. I think that facilitation and leadership more generally, is about expanding your range of capabilities - your ability to show up, on purpose, as the occasion calls for it. Tomomi suggests we can't change *that much...but we can try to grow. I have a free course on Exploring and Expanding your roles as a facilitator, which you can find here. There is so much goodness in Tomomi's reflections. I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did. Head over to the conversationfactory.com/listen for full episode transcripts, links, show notes  and more key quotes and ideas. You can also head over there and become a monthly supporter of the show for as little as $8 a month. You'll get complimentary access to exclusive workshops and resources that I only share with this circle of facilitators and leaders. Support the Podcast and Get insider Access https://theconversationfactory.com/conversation-factory-insider

In today's episode, we make the connection between the Scrum Framework and continuous improvement. Few Scrum Teams start from a position where everything works smoothly. Often, you initially don't know very well who your stakeholders are, you don't have access to them or you can't release as frequently as you'd want to. So there's a lot to improve and to learn. And if that doesn't happen, you're bound to get stuck in deep Zombie Scrum.At the same time we see many organizations engage in "Agile Transitions" that promise to change from one state (e.g. waterfall-based development) to another (e.g. Agile) in a short amount of time. But an exploration of organizations that have undergone such transitions shows that stakeholders are still not involved, releases still happen very infrequently and little value is delivered to stakeholders.So we draw from two helpful perspectives - organizational learning by Chris Argyris and the force field model by Kurt Lewin - to understand how continuous improvement is vitally important to effective Scrum - and change in general - and unlikely to be rushed on by "Agile Transitions" and "mindset changes".We apologize for the sound quality here and there. The gain of our microphone was a bit too high, which means that there are a few cracks here and there. The good news is that we've learned to reduce the gain now for the next recording :)Support the show (https://bit.ly/supportheliberators)

At its core, Scrum is a framework for learning. But learning is hard when what you learn remains superficial and never challenges existing rules and beliefs. In this episode, we talk about the foundational work by theorist Chris Argyris on organizational learning. He developed a model for organizational learning that distinguishes between single- and double-loop learning. Where single-loop learning concerns itself with correcting mistakes in the actions that you take, double-loop learning takes it several steps deeper and challenges why you're even taking those actions. In our own work, we recognize that Scrum doesn't work when there is only single-loop learning. For example, many Scrum Teams struggle to find the best way to estimate their work and experiment with story points, t-shirt sizing, or functional points. But the deeper question is; why are we estimating work that we know is inherently unpredictable? What existing beliefs are making us estimate our work, that we should revisit and change?The Liberating Structure "Myth Turning" is all about double-loop learning:http://bit.ly/2JOmr9PWe developed a deck of Powerful Questions to help you challenge existing beliefs:https://bit.ly/3o6HaaSSupport the show (https://bit.ly/supportheliberators)

Neste episódio Laércio Lins faz uma abordagem e reflexão sobre a teoria de Chris Argyris, A ESCADA DA INFERÊNCIA.

Deb Welch “If you can develop capacity in people you can accomplish anything and everything”    A Quick Summary How can we grow as leaders? The “Where's Your Head At” hosts are joined by Deb Welch, an experienced international educator who has worked in various roles in the education sector for many years. In this show, we hear tips from Deb and learn from her perspectives of how we can grow as leaders in education today.    Show notes In this episode… Introduction for Deb Welch (2.36) Deb's time at AISH (3.50) Thinking about your growth as a Head of School (6.17) Transition to Carney Sandoe (7.30) What were the opportunities that helped Deb on her career path? (9.20) What does Deb think is the most important thing for leaders to get right? (13.45) Proudest proud and sorriest sorry (16.05) Chris Argyris - Double Loop Theory of Feedback (16.55) Reflection and its importance (17.40) Significant changes in education over the past 20 years and what will see in the future (18.40) The stages of problem solving at AISH (22.45)   Bio  Deb Welch  Deborah Welch is the Senior Consultant for Carney Sandoe and Associates. Prior to this she was the CEO of the Academy for International School Heads (AISH). She was the Director of the American School of Doha and the Deputy Director for Learning at International School Bangkok. She was also Director of Teacher Training Center (TTC) and a course developer, trainer and consultant for Principals' Training Center (PTC). Deb has been a teacher, curriculum director, staff developer, university instructor and educational consultant. She holds a Ph.D. in human and organizational development and a master's in educational leadership and curriculum. She has a teaching certificate, and administrative and superintendent endorsement from Colorado   Links  AISH Carney Sandoe and Associates Constructivist model of learning Chris Argyris

The lads look at the fall out from #NUFC Takeover collapse

Caroline looks at an established model developed by Chris Argyris, the business theorist, which analyses the thinking process that we go through, usually without realising it, to get from a fact to a decision or action.All our knowledge has its roots in our perceptions. Leonardo da VinciCaroline Stockmann is Chief Executive of the Association of Corporate Treasurers (ACT). The ACT is the only professional treasury body with a Royal Charter. We set the global benchmark for treasury excellence and lead the profession through our internationally recognised qualifications, by defining standards and by championing continuing professional development. We are the authentic voice of the treasury profession representing the interests of the real economy and educating, supporting and leading the treasurers of today and tomorrow. www.treasurers.org Produced by Juris Productions

In this episode, I explain the Ladder of Inference, a term created by Chris Argyris in 1970 to provide insight into the mental processes that occur within the human brain. The process works perfectly with the principle of Self-Awareness, the first step of developing Emotional Intelligence, and how we parent our children. I touch on how to explain privilege to children and how to build empathy in the process! https://thisreallifebooks.com/coaching/ https://thisreallifebooks.com/books/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/eqaboveiq/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/eqaboveiq/support

In this episode of the FiDE broadcast we talk about learning on various levels. As the shift from best in the world to best for the world opens up new possibilities, learning looks different. The first loop focuses on the WHATs - to do things right, the second loop aims on the HOWs - to do the right things. The third loop adresses the WHYs - why we do things, and the fourth loop reveals the ROOT - the core assumptions behind how we look at things. The concept of learning loops in general and the second loop of learning in specific was introduced in 1991 by Chris Argyris in the book Teaching Smart People How To Learn. The concept has then been developed by Robert L. Flood & Norma R. A. Romm (Diversity Management: Triple Loop Learning, 1996) by Pontus Rystedt & Stellan Nordahl (Fourth Loop Innovation, 2018). --- The FiDE broadcast - an exploration of life. FiDE is the abbreviation for the Foundation for Intentional Decisions. At the same time it means trust in Latin. How would a life, a way of working and a society based on trust look like? In this series of ten episodes Jens Rinnelt and Stellan Nordahl explore life - what it means, what it implies and how we can look at it, choosing life affirming directions. If life is what we perceive as life, what then is perception? What informs our perception, or in other words how do we make sense of the world? And can we choose how we look at the world? In this broadcast we embark on a philosophical and experience-based journey to explore life itself and the fundamental assumptions we hold about it. We look at how we form the worldviews, our perception, that we hold. We explore what happens if we choose to take on a different pair of glasses of how we look at the world. Adopting a complex, holistic and life-affirming worldview provides us with a practical and applicable ethical model for everyday decision-making on societal, organizational, team and personal level. Please support us on www.patreon.com/BestfortheWorld

How do we get through this when we’re all so angry and sure we’re right? What’s coming next?The ability to create understanding between people is crucial for relationships. It's especially important in today's heightened environment of polarization. Our emotional reactions can lead to defensiveness, anger, and divisiveness, or to deeper human connectedness, dialogue, and collaboration. The choice is ours. Heidi provides insights and tools for coming out of this with relationships intact.Conversation and Q&A has been edited for time and clarityHeidi and I talk about her formative understanding of others at French Camp.We talk about principles covered by Patrick Lencioni in The Five Dysfunctions of a Team.We also talk about Chris Argyris' Ladder Of Inference and how it shapes our reactions. And the Awareness Wheel as a tool to foster communication. And her mentor Russ Hamilton. 

William Rowden is an executive coach and consultant here at Accenture | SolutionsIQ. His journey to leading transformation initiatives has piqued his curiosity in org development and adult developmental psychology. For the past few years he has been researching how these two inform each other – and how the focus of an organization’s leaders provides a good indicator for the success or failure of business agility transformation. He walks us through the different focuses that leaders – and indeed everyone – have: self-centric, group-centric, skill-centric and beyond. Drawing from the work of Robert Keegan, Chris Argyris, Bill Joiner, and more, Rowden provides useful information for agilists for dealing with leaders of many types – do they shoot the messenger or install feedback loops? Do they see agile as a process or a means to an end? Accenture | SolutionsIQ’s Bryan Stallings hosts. Listen to Rowden's previous episode: Adult Cognitive Development and the Agile Mindset References: - Bill Joiner and Stephen Josephs, Leadership Agility (2007) - Susanne R. Cook-Greuter, "Making the case for a developmental perspective," in Industrial and Commercial Training (2004) - The MAP Institute, "The Leadership Maturity Framework." - DevOps Research and Assessment, “DevOps Culture: Westrum Organizational Culture” - Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey, An Everyone Culture: Becoming a Deliberately Developmental Organization (2016) - William R. Torbert and Steven S. Taylor, "Action Inquiry: Interweaving Multiple Qualities of Attention for Timely Action" The Agile Amped podcast is the shared voice of the Agile community, driven by compelling stories, passionate people, and innovative ideas. Together, we are advancing the impact of business agility.   Podcast library: www.agileamped.com   Connect with us on social media!  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/agileamped/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/solutionsiq/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/AgileAmped

Lucas talks to international conflict mediator and consultant Elise Willer about her work, tips and tricks for dealing with conflict, and the little man that lives inside me. Show Notes * Border Immersion Experience – http://iglesiacristorey.wixsite.com/borderimmersion * Annunciation House – https://annunciationhouse.org/ * Praise Sandwich – https://www.rightattitudes.com/2008/02/20/sandwich-feedback-technique/ * The Inner Observer – https://ieaninepoints.com/2018/10/22/inner-observer-practice * Difficult Conversations by Doug Stone – https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/774088.DifficultConversations * The Ladder of Inference by Chris Argyris – https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC91.htm * Interspace Negotiation or Bargaining – https://healthtrustpg.com/professional-development/resolving-conflict-and-negotiating-for-change/ * Getting to Yes! by Roger Fisher – https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/313605.GettingtoYes Support the Podcast – https://wdtatpodcast.com/support-the-podcast/ Leave us a voicemail! https://www.speakpipe.com/wdtatpodcast Email your feedback to wdtatpodcast@gmail.com Follow us: Facebook –https://www.facebook.com/wdtatpodcast Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/wdtatpodcast/ Twitter – https://twitter.com/wdtatpodcast

Triple Loop Learning was discovered by Chris Argyris, a Harvard Professor. We discovered it in Robert Hargrove's book, Masterful Coaching. The three loops are often called by different names, but one set of names are: 1. Action 2. Strategy 3. Identity

Summary We’ve all heard the mantra - work smarter, not harder. But sometimes our idea of ‘smarter’ still isn’t the smartest way to work. We need to reflect on an entirely different level.   Transcript Welcome to episode 32 of the Leadership Today Podcast where each week we tackle one of today’s biggest leadership challenges. This week we are looking at the importance of taking time to reflect and challenge the work we’re conducting. We’ve all heard the mantra - work smarter, not harder. But sometimes our idea of ‘smarter’ still isn’t the smartest way to work. It’s quite possible to very efficiently completely miss the point, overlooking an opportunity to see things from an entirely new perspective. This is particularly a risk in high-paced, busy environments. Chris Argyris wrote a classic Harvard Business Review article in 1977 called “Double Loop Learning in Organizations”. In the article, Chris provided the example of an organisation that had a dud product, which was eventually discontinued. But those closest to production knew years in advance of the problems. However not all the information about the product’s issues were passed upwards (neither was this information sought out from those in decision making positions). The bad news was watered down. The delay in cancelling the product cost the organisation greatly. Chris highlighted this as a classic example of an organisation failing to learn. People ended up not questioning the work that was being done, but merely trying to streamline it. He saw them using single loop instead of double loop learning. Let’s use an example to describe what Chris meant by single and double loop learning. Let’s say I’m working on a project, and I notice that we’re starting to fall behind schedule - the project is slipping. One option is to work harder - just put in more hours to try to bring the project back to the original schedule. In this approach, we’re looking at the challenge from an ‘action - result’ perspective. To try to change the result, the only lever we can use is to do more of the action. We haven’t actually learnt anything. Chris would call this ‘zero loop learning’. There is no feedback loop between the result that has changed the action, beyond increasing the amount of action. A second option to address the slipping project is to work smarter. Here we notice the project is slipping, so we spend some time planning our approach. This could lead us to change our action - maybe we can streamline a process, or negotiate a change in the delivery date, or change the mix of resources on the project. This single loop from action back to planning may well help. We have learnt something and improved our approach to the project, so that’s a good thing, right? Of course it is - but is it the best course of action? Argyris described this as single loop learning - the gap to performance expectations loops back to a planning step that isn’t present in zero loop learning. This is likely to lead to some improvement, and it is where many people and organisations stop.  Double-loop learning is a completely new way of looking at the issue with the project. Instead of just working harder or smarter, we’re asking ourselves a new question - is it the right work? The double-loop takes us another step back from the project to explore our assumptions. What is the project trying to achieve? Why is this important? If we could start all over again, what other approaches could we use to address this need? It’s getting outside the work, and reflecting on bigger questions. It’s also about taking personal responsibility. Chris Argyris wrote a great follow up article in 1991 called “Teaching Smart People How to Learn”, again in Harvard Business Review. In it he described the work he had performed in management consulting firms, and the tendency for consultants and managers to blame their clients when projects didn’t deliver the expected outcomes. Consultants were quite happy to work on helping clients to learn and improve, but tended not to step back and think about how they could improve. Their focus on improving the performance of clients didn’t extend to themselves. When you don’t step back, the tendency is to blame others. The assumption is that you are approaching the client work well, so any performance issues are related to the client’s inability to learn. It reminded me of a financial institution I once worked with, where senior leaders would often talk negatively about customers. One senior leader regularly joked “this place would run much better if we didn’t have any customers”. Is it any surprise that the failed to see changes in the market and ultimately lost customers? After all, that’s what they jokingly wanted. When I shared the double-loop learning framework in a leadership program, one of the participants shared a story. They had been spending eight hours a week producing a series of reports, drawing data from various sources, and then distributing these reports to various people across the organisation. It’s what their predecessor had done, so was handed across to them as a task to complete. By using their knowledge of Excel, they managed to streamline the report preparation process, reducing it down to around half a day - a great example of single-loop learning. But they never received any feedback about the reports. So they sent an email out to the recipients - how do you use these reports, can I make them more helpful? No response. So they decided to stop producing the reports. Guess what happened - absolutely nothing. It turned out that no one was actually using the reports any more. So they ultimately improved their efficiency by 20% and bought themselves an extra day to focus on things that really mattered. So many people would have stopped at the single-loop step of developing a more efficient way to produce the reports, instead of stepping back and asking what the reports were for, and whether they were needed.   To make double-loop learning work we need a few things in place: Permission to question the approach - testing the assumptions is actually valued and actively solicited A culture that values feedback, even when it’s negative or critical, as long as the focus is on improvement Time to reflect on our approach - so many of us are hyper-busy with no time to reflect - reflection is never going to make it into the ‘important and urgent’ quadrant, so we need to schedule this reflection time in Take a wider view - what’s happening in other organisations, industries, professions, countries - read widely     References Chris Argyris - Double Loop Learning in Organizations - Harvard Business Review 1977 - https://hbr.org/1977/09/double-loop-learning-in-organizations Chris Argyris - Teaching Smart People How To Learn - Harvard Business Review 1991 - https://hbr.org/1991/05/teaching-smart-people-how-to-learn

Alice has had an amazing journey in supporting leaders through their own development and the development of the organizations they lead. She is an authentic leader, environmentalist, and passionate supporter of people's' growth.   Directly from Alice: “Psychological growth and awareness is absolutely the cornerstone of leadership.” “You really need to go through [the swamp through the pain] … to be aware of your own emotions, to not be hijacked by them and to recognize them for what they are.” “Responding rather than reacting as things happen and then to be able to help other people to see” when they may be ‘hijacked.'” In this episode, Alice shared many stories from her upbringing and experiences as a coach and consultant. She helped ground us in the concepts of some amazing experts in the field including Chris Argyris, Don Schon, and Robert Kegan. Her work is not only clearly based in proven research and theory, but also reinforced by her tremendous experiences. She was open and honest in sharing mistakes she made in her experiences as a coach and leader, while offering suggestions to overcome bias and the ladder of inference. Alice emphasized the concepts of double loop learning, deep reflection, and the ladder of inference and explained how these concepts apply directly to leading. Alice then brought our conversation towards emotional intelligence and the power of simply being aware of the feelings you have in the moment to increase your ability to understand and regulate your emotions.  We talked about the role of evaluation, expectations, and failure in organizations and how these elements can align themselves in ways that can either hold us back or accelerate our growth. You can find Alice at her website www.alicenichols.com or on Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/alice-nichols-8954771

First of two episodes on reflection. We often say that learning is horrible and suggest you do it anyway - but how exactly can you learn? We use a model from Chris Argyris - single-loop and double-loop learning - and concentrate today on the single-loop style, most appropriate for gradual improvement of a particular metric or characteristic. SHOW LINKS: - Argyris on single- and double-loop learning: https://hbr.org/1977/09/double-loop-learning-in-organizations - Shu Ha Ri: https://martinfowler.com/bliki/ShuHaRi.html *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2

Second of two episodes on reflection. We often say that learning is horrible and suggest you do it anyway - but how exactly can you learn? We use a model from Chris Argyris - single-loop and double-loop learning - and concentrate today on the double-loop style, which you might want to try if you want to radically change your thinking and try something completely new (which might or might not work!) SHOW LINKS: - Argyris on single- and double-loop learning: https://hbr.org/1977/09/double-loop-learning-in-organizations - Crossing the Chasm: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossing_the_Chasm - Innovator's Dilemma: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Innovator%27s_Dilemma - The Lean Startup: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lean_Startup *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2

Doc Norton talks about the experimentation mindset. This episode is sponsored by Smartsheet. Show Notes: Slides from Doc’s presentation on the experimentation mindset XP = eXtreme Programming Other methodologies that fall into the "agile" category: Scrum, Lean Kent Beck, Ron Jeffries, and Ward Cunningham were all mentioned. They are all signers of the Agile Manifesto. Chris Argyris was mentioned in regards to single-loop and double-loop learning Book: Escape Velocity by Doc Norton - it has increased in price since the recording. It will now set you back at least 5 entire dollars. Supplemental links from Doc: CTO2 DocOnDev Collaboration Contracts Refactoring Code Smells Video: Experimentation Mindset Mob Programming Learning through experimentation PDF: How Organizations Learn From Harvard Business Review: Collective Genius Argyris: Teaching Smart People how to Learn (and PDF version) A/B Testing and the Experimentation Culture Enlightened Experimentation Smart Business Experiments Evidence Based Management link:http://www.edbatista.com/2008/05/double-loop.html[Ed Batista blog post on double-loop learning Lean Change Book: Scaling Up Excellence Experiential Learning Doc Norton is on Twitter. Want to be on the next episode? You can! All you need is the willingness to talk about something technical. Music is by Joe Ferg, check out more music on JoeFerg.com!

In it's third year of publication, Nonprofit Performance 360 Magazine set' records for quality and inspiration. Dr. Todd Greer, editor shares his vision for starting this great resource and his vision for the future. Todd Greer holds a Ph.D. in organizational leadership with a major in human resource development from Regent University in Virginia Beach, Virginia; a Master of Science in ministerial leadership from Amridge University in Montgomery, Alabama; completed graduate work in communications studies at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan; and a Bachelor of Arts in communication studies from Defiance College in Defiance, Ohio. He has numerous publications to his credit, including journal articles and book chapters, and has presented at national conferences. He has served as lead instructor and board member with the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce's Innovation PortAL and instructor for the Chamber's Young Entrepreneurs Academy for high school students. He is a board member for United Way of Southwest Alabama and Springboard to Success Inc. which, with the Downtown Mobile Alliance, operates the Urban Emporium retail incubator. He is an advisory board member with Veterans Recovery Resources. He was an instructor with University of South Alabama's Minority Business Accelerator and an adjunct instructor at Spring Hill College. Previously, Greer was executive director of the SynerVision Leadership Foundation in Blacksburg, Virginia; minister of administration for Glen Allen Church of Christ in Glen Allen, Virginia; and head boys' volleyball coach at Highlight Springs High School and assistant women's volleyball coach at Virginia Union University, both in Richmond, Virginia.   Interview Transcript   Hugh: Greetings, and welcome to today's session of The Nonprofit Exchange. Today, we have a very special guest. Russell, it's the first time you've met Todd Greer. Dr. Greer was the one who started The Nonprofit Exchange. He is the founding and current editor of Nonprofit Performance Magazine. Todd, welcome. Todd: Thank you so much, Hugh. Great to be with you. Russell, I've heard such wonderful things about you, and it is great to at least virtually connect with you here. Russell: This is great. I've done my best to bring out your inner English teacher. Todd: It's important. Gaps. Hugh mentioned I was the editor as we started out. Hugh is definitely the publisher. He is not the editor. It is good to have other folks around like you, Russell, to help keep him in check. Russell: It takes a village. That is why there is more than one of us there. Todd: There you go. Absolutely. Hugh: The vision for The Nonprofit Exchange is to interview experts in different fields and to bring really good leadership principles into charities and churches and synagogues, often from business leaders. Todd, in addition to having your Ph. D in organizational leadership, you are ordained as a pastor, and now you are a dean at the University of Mobile. Am I correct? Todd: That is correct. It has been an interesting transition. Hugh and I met in 2014. Hugh had this wonderful vision. SynerVision Leadership Foundation had the vision for a magazine and a community of nonprofit thought leaders that could help to build capacity and to help build and move things forward. I think it's been a beautiful vision to see it come to light, to be something that I've been a part of and that has touched me deeply. Over the past two and a half years, I have been able to move down to Mobile from Virginia where he and I met, start a business down here, see that grow, and see a community of entrepreneurship really raise up. Now I have the opportunity to get in and engage with university students and to work to encourage them for the world that we're inventing each day. Hugh: We're glad to have the academic connection. Even though you have gone on to do some other great stuff, you're still shaping editorial policy. What we have done with the magazine is separate the commercial part from the editorial part. What I do is I'm the champion, and I bring people into the funnel that we set up so brilliantly and around the editorial policy that you shaped so that we keep it really clean and really valid journalism for leadership. Thank you for that contribution to humankind and to SynerVision. You launched The Nonprofit Exchange, which we are doing at 2 pm on Tuesdays EST, and the podcast. We are hitting about 15,000 listeners on this particular podcast, and I have 10,000 on Orchestrating Success. We share some interviews in common, but they are helping people think through their skillset and organizational development and personal skills for developing their teams. Talk about three years ago in September that we launched that first John Maxwell edition. As you were shaping out the vision for this magazine, talk about your thought process. What was important about how you laid down the tracks, and what does that look like? Todd: One of the things that we consistently saw as we were looking at the nonprofit space is that there is good research, and then there is speakers. Then there are some books that are written. But there is a gap in the middle. What we wanted to do was come in and give nonprofit leaders, whether they are board members, staff, or executives, the opportunity to be able to engage with deeper thoughts around a holistic idea. What we started from that day forward is to create these themes within our magazine so that you could look at what we could consider an evergreen concept, something that is not based upon a specific time. It's something that whether you are looking at it three years ago or today, the points are still valid, the theme is still important, it is something that drives home a needed opportunity in that space. We really worked to say, This is not an infomercial. This is not a chance to sell your book. This is not a chance to get yourself engaged in a speaking environment. This is really about bringing the best thought leadership from all over. We have worked with the athletic director of Virginia Tech. We have worked with bestselling authors. We have worked with professors from a number of top-notch schools across the country. We have worked with nonprofit facilitators. We have worked with people that do some speaking across the space. We have tried to engage and bring together for our listeners, for our audience, for our readers as many different engaging and unique perspectives that can help them move it forward. And the reality is we wanted a place that would challenge you. It's one of those things that oftentimes it is very easy for us to become stagnant or to reach a plateau. If we are engaged with new people all the time, it helps. The cornerstone of each issue, there are a couple things we wanted to lay out. One is we wanted to have that big name at that cover that you can look at. John Maxwell was quite a name to be able to start with. You see others that have gone on to head the cover of the magazine. They have done an amazing job. We have wanted to make sure that each magazine touched on board relations. Each magazine touched on that sense of funds attraction. Each magazine talked about a couple things. The second cornerstone of the magazine to me was the Nonprofits that Work Section. It's great to be able to think about these huge nonprofits that have great budgets and are extremely well-known. But how do we seed this idea, this theme exemplified in the life of a nonprofit that is probably going to be one you have never heard of before? We have been able to show these organizations all across the country who are doing exciting things around that theme. It's been one of those pieces where I have learned so many new amazing nonprofits to be able to point to them later on. In fact, there was one that we worked with not that long ago, The Mission Continues. Hugh, I don't know if you remember them from the work that we did with them, but it's exciting right now because Aaron Scheinberg, who we worked with from there, he is running for Congress in West Virginia. He was somebody that we worked with not that long ago on that article. The Mission Continues was a veteran organization to work to continue to engage vets as they come back stateside to continue in that mission, working in the nonprofit community that surrounded them to engage in different missions. You get to see those kinds of things. It's a beautiful thing to be able to engage and think about how all of the good ideas in nonprofit spaces don't come from just nonprofits. They come from all over. Hugh: Good principles are good principles. Part of your inspiration was to have a different theme for each edition. One of the real fun editions I remember was one with Frances Hesselbein on the cover, who is in her late nineties and is expert on millennials. We did this whole issue on millennials. You had an interest in it, as did I. I'm a boomer, you're a millennial. My article was about how we have similarities in core values and principles. You had this really good interview with Frances. Those are the top downloaded interviews on the Nonprofit Exchange podcast. Todd: Hugh, it's a beautiful thing. Frances has now just turned 100 or 101. She is still kicking. I have seen a couple pieces from her recently. I was telling my daughter this last evening. My daughter is a Girl Scout. Frances was for about a decade and a half the CEO of the Girl Scouts of the USA. I was telling her, You have to understand the legacy of those that have gone. My daughter is a third grader. I was explaining to her that what Frances has done, and I use Frances a lot when I am speaking to students, to be able to understand what it looks like that she is engaging, to never stop learning, to always open doors for others in the sense of when you find trustworthy people who are passionate, give them an opportunity. Open the door for them. They may be young or different from you. Whatever it is, understand that everybody needs a door opened for them. Hugh: Absolutely. You have crafted our submissions page. When you go to Nonprofitperofrmance.org, it will forward the URL to SynerVision's magazine page. Then there is a submissions page so people who want to contribute can go there and submit articles. There is very clear guidelines for submissions. The boardroom issue is being designed now, and it will be printed and distributed before the end of this year. Since people are listening to podcasts maybe at any time, it's important that the material on this podcast and in the magazine is timeless. Solid principle. I am going to let Russ insert some questions. Russ, you have been a contributor for the magazine. As you look at the guidelines Todd has crafted, and specifically the identification of the theme- Russ is a very gifted writer. Russ is one of our WayFinders. I don't know if you know that. He has gone through the certification. He is the first certified WayFinder, but we have some more in the chute. He is the guy forging the trail out there. Russ, how do the guidelines for writing and the description of the theme help you as a writer shape your contribution for that article? Russell: It's important to have a clear message that is direct, to the point, that has a lot of punch, and that forces you to really put your best thoughts on paper without any extraneous information. Also, it forces you to up your game because when you are looking at some of the people like Dr. Jeff Magee for example that are sending material into this magazine, you don't want to send a piece in there that is less than your best. People turn to this because they want to know what sort of things they can do to really enhance their performance. What are some of the best practices out there? What are some things that you can take away from this article and actually make it actionable? When I send a piece in, I ask myself what I want people to know, feel, and do. There should be one piece of actionable. If there is more than one, that's better. Sometimes people can get confused. I am trying to either put a sequence of actions or sequence of things to look for or some sort of actionable piece that somebody can take and implement today. It's important to be able to access, understand, and use that information. I was just surfing the Web today, and I came across a list from an organization called Giving Confidence, which points you toward nonprofit resources. It's five podcasts nonprofit people should listen to. I opened that in anticipation of seeing The Nonprofit Exchange. We're not there yet. We're going to make that list. They talk about why people should listen to that. We'll just keep doing what we're doing. At some point, we're going to end up on that list. I think that's a worthy goal for us to shoot for. Hugh: I'm glad to know about that. Russell, you weren't on the journey as we have gone forward. We are on our third year of the magazine, and it is hard to believe that we haven't talked about it on the podcast. We have three years of podcasts. Lots of episodes out there. From an outside perspective catching up, what kind of questions do you want to pose to Todd about the history of the vision or the future? Russell: One of the things I am interested in seeing, because you are in that university space, I was curious as to how many younger people like yourself are moving in to the space because they want to do work that matters and how many are looking at programs that focus on nonprofits and philanthropy. Are you seeing an uptick in that? Todd: That is a great question. If you go back to the work that we did on millennials, that's a huge issue. I don't have the stats in front of me, but the vast majority of millennials say they want to be part of a company and work that makes an impact, and they will do business with a brand that makes an impact. We see a greater sense of social responsibility in this generation than any other generation in quite some time. There is still that struggle of a gap between what I want and what I'm willing to do. So we know that that's not always something where that gap is closed. But we know that there is a desire. We do see it among our students. We happen to be at a university that is a private Christian institution. We have that faith basis in our students where they do want to go make impact. Across the community here in the Mobile area and across the state and the country, we are hearing more and more about programs like social entrepreneurship coming up. We are seeing people including the Beet Corp and other groups where they are saying they think there is a blurring of the line coming before us between the typical business and the typical nonprofit or charity. They do want to engage. They want to do something. The key right now that we are dealing with is how we make sure we are building the right capacity. I think that's to your point. Historically, one of the things we have consistently seen is that the people who come in to the nonprofit space are people who are passionate about a cause. Passion is extremely important. Books upon books upon books have been written of the last decade or so just on passion and why you should pursue your passion. One of the things we are very mindful of—this has been part of the lynchpin for us for the beginning—passion without guidelines, passion without the right framework or strategy or understanding, can be very dangerous. We are asking questions here about how we cross the line between our school of business and our school of ministry, between our school of business and education, between our school of business and music. We are asking those questions. It's already happening a lot in a lot of places, but you are going to see an increase in those. Folks like Businesses Mission is a concept that has really come up over the last handful of years. You have schools that are developing these centers. They are getting out there and serving. We have a great opportunity. I think it means a lot to our communities. I think going back to that millennial piece, and even touching into our current issue that will be coming out here in December about the boardroom. One thing that is important for our nonprofits is to make sure that they are engaging millennials and thinking about what it looks like to have diversity from an age perspective on their board as well. I think the younger generations are incredibly excited about the potential to make impact in the world. Russell: This is important. I have been engaged with my own church here in doing envisioning. We have been basing that on good to great for the social sectors. One of our local guys, Jim Collins, he is just up the road in Boulder. We started envisioning on that. One of the things that was said verbally was we really want to get young people involved. I dove into this process with him. I created a system to work with the faith-based community and created a coding system. What they say and what scores, there is a bit of a disconnect. This is something that is worth exploring further. We want younger people involved, but where are our actions leading us? There is an underlying- This wasn't done to scale to any scientific scale or with the thought of statistical validity in it. There is a lot of open-ended stuff that is my own interpretation of it. It's really interesting. I would love to share some of those codes with you, some of the coding idea with it. The other thing I wanted to say is we have a very strong Businesses Mission chapter. As a matter of fact, I am going tomorrow morning to the monthly meeting. Todd: That's great. What you said is spot-on. There are two pieces that have really stuck out to me. I don't know who said one, but I do know who said the other. Somebody said to me, “You will get what you celebrate.” Step back and think about it. In an organization, whether it's a nonprofit or for-profit, you will get what you celebrate. You say you want something. If you don't celebrate it when it happens, you're not going to get it. That is the reinforcement. When you celebrate something, you are reinforcing that this is the culture we are working to establish. Then the other piece is Chris Argyris. Chris was a theory guy. I want to say he was at Harvard Business School. One piece he brought to light is there is espoused values or theories, and there are values in action. There is often a discrepancy. You think about how many organizations you have come through. You see those values on the wall. You looked at those values and thought, I don't see those organizations. Hugh, you're laughing because you have seen it countless times both in a religious environment and in other nonprofit organizations. It's a hard thing. We set these ideals up, but we often don't create a concrete way to establish those throughout the organization. Going back to the celebration, we often don't celebrate when those things happen. Hugh: We forget that, don't we? I see Russell taking some notes. Russell grabs some sound bites in these that are very astute. Russell, when you were talking about how you construct an article, that was really good information. What do you want people to do? Todd, back to you. As we were putting this together back in the old days, was that part of our thinking? What do we want people to take away? You have a better recollection of some of this than I do. Your focus was on this more. What were some of the takeaways, the impacts, the results that we wanted people to have because they had the magazine? Todd: There are a couple things that really stuck out in the early days we were doing it. Russell, I think you said it great: know, feel, and do. I want people to know, to feel, to do what I want. One of the pieces we said is leading in a nonprofit organization can be lonely. One of the things we wanted to establish is you're not alone. You're not alone in this journey. The things that you're feeling are being felt all across the country by organizations big and small, by religious and those that are community-oriented in the nonprofit space. That was a big key for us because a lot of times when you are doing this on your own, who do you have to talk to? Can you share with your board these challenges? Can you share with your staff these challenges? Who can you talk to? A lot of times you are even afraid to share with other executives because you don't want to feel like you're the idiot in the room and you're the one who is falling short when other people, at least what they present, seem so strong. We want to be very real. These are issues that we're facing. That's one of the things that comes up in each one of these themes. The acknowledgement that we are all facing them. We have challenges we are facing. We need a variety of voices to encourage us moving forward. That was a big piece. Next to that is the big piece of we wanted to say this is more than just from the seat of our pants kind of framework. This is about how we work to establish real strategy in our organizations. I think that's one of the pieces that often gets lost. We do without thinking of the strategy. You go back to Stephen Covey's four quadrants. In the nonprofit space, because we are dealing with not an abundance of resources and staff, we are just going so fast through the things that become urgent or the things that flare up in front of us. We take care of those things. We don't step back to create that holistic strategy. The magazine and podcast were intended to encourage us to really step back and think about our strategy around these types of subjects. When we talk about leadership, what's your leadership strategy? How do you build a leaderful organization? I am going to go back to Joe Raelin; he was one of our guests about two years ago from Northeastern University. How do you create leadership throughout your organization? We have talked about succession planning. How do you make sure that when you're gone, the organization not only continues, but also thrives after you're gone? That was a big piece to this. We want you to think about that sense of strategy. What's going on? What's working? What doesn't work? When we talked with Frances and Joan, we looked at Peter Drucker's five most important questions. A lot of what they do is they want you to make sure you are periodically having that review process. For some time in our country, the after-action review was a pretty typical thing in certain types of organizations. In nonprofits, we don't do enough of that now. What worked, what didn't, how would we change it for the next time, and how do we continue to grow that to make sure that it's better fitting our mission and our customer moving forward? I think that's a really key issue that's often missing. Hugh, when you step back and think of all the organizations you've worked with, how many times do you see- In the for-profit world, we are talking about continuous improvement. Did you see a lot of that? Hugh: No. Todd: It's something that I think we do. When the thing is done, we go, Whooo. That was long and that was tiring and I'm so glad that we can put that in a box for a year. The next year, we'll pull that box out and regurgitate the same thing. We don't think about, Hey, this is something. Heaven forbid we ask, Is this thing necessary anymore? Do I need to do this anymore? Are we just doing it because it's what we've always done? Hugh: Absolutely. I was thinking about Caesar when he lost his wreath. He got off his throne and there it was. He said, “I have been resting on my laurels.” We want to get there and rest. We want to think we've made a plateau and we can stop. That's a dangerous place to be. I find that continuous improvement is the jargon in corporate America. What we work on in SynerVision is continuing improvement and personal development. The journey is never over. Part of crafting the whole process and the whole design of the magazine is there is different categories. I forget what you call them, different categories. There is Member Engagement, Strategy, Point/Counterpoint, Executive Office, Grants Corner, Academic Desk, Design Corner, Nonprofits That Work, Board Relations, and Systems Thinking. Talk about why those categories. We have had something in those categories every single issue. Todd: Those are big ones. We wanted to be able to really narrow in. One of the things that I think is way too easy when you are starting a magazine or any kind of medium is to say, “I'll accept this” and have it in this vague space. We wanted to give people a way to look forward to new things that were coming. Some of the pieces we referenced before that featured personality in the Nonprofit Works and the Board Relations—one of the things that we wanted to engage in this is Design Corner. One of the things in the Design Corner was always that idea that all too often, we tend to forget that things can look good and they can come together. In the church, for a long time, we lost our artists. We lost our designers and their input and their value. I think we are starting to see them come back again. The same thing is true in nonprofits. Just because you are a nonprofit doesn't mean that your website has to be ugly or that your engagement with your members or your engagement with your community has to be lacking thought. We wanted to make sure that happens. What this does is it gives us a framework that when we are going out to seek contributors or contributors are coming to us, they know that this is the target I am seeking. We want to make sure that the people we have are experts. They really are bringing their game to the table, and it's somebody that you can trust as you are hearing from them. I think that's a really important piece for us. Hugh, I want to touch on as well: We talked a little bit about this issue that is getting ready to go to print. I know some people will listen to this at some time in the future. One thing we have coming up is social media. Obviously, we don't live in a world where social media is a might. I might do social media. Whatever your organization is, social media is really important. Going back to strategy, you have to have a strategy for it. My wife and I were talking last night while watching an old episode of Madam Secretary. There is good and bad obviously about where we are in social media. Sometimes social media has created this perception of reality that is so far from it. It also has allowed people to get a platform that some people should never have. There are things that are going on where you think you never should have a platform. But nonprofits have a great opportunity to engage with their community, with their members, with their public through a very intentional strategy in social media. We want to make sure people are really conscious in thinking about it. Another tendency is that we look at whomever is the youngest person on our staff and we say, “You're in charge of social media,” just like we say, “You're in charge of graphic design,” just like we used to say, “You're in charge of web design.” We can't just throw it on the youngest person. They may be good, but you have to have a real consistent strategy for you organization. What does this social media strategy look like throughout? What are organizations that are doing it really well? We always want to find those people who are exemplars in our field. How does that impact the board? What's the board's role in that? Do you expect your board members to tweet out everything that is happening from your Twitter account? Do you expect them to engage? What does that look like? What are the expectations that you have? That one is coming up here soon. Following that is what Russell and I were hinting at: this future of the public/private partnership. We are going to continue to see growth in that area. The moniker “charity” is something that really has a bad connotation in our society now. What a charity does is it comes without strategy and without fiscal strategy and they come and say, “Please give to me so that I can give to others.” We love to give. But we are asking the ROI question. Just like we asked return on investment, we are asking what the return is on my impact, on my giving in the nonprofit sector. We really want to make sure that we are thinking strategically not only about where we are at right now, but also about what is coming down the pipeline. How do we make sure that we build the right partnerships with the corporate entities in our environment? If we care about this issue and you care about this issue, how can we collaborate to be able to make real impact in our community? Hugh: That's a word that most of our charities don't understand. Russell, we are rounding out to the final nine minutes of our interview. I am going to give you some more air time. You have some good questions. Is there one brewing for Todd? Russell: When it comes to social media, it was interesting. I was at the Socratic café at the University of Denver. Me and a few other guys get together on Saturday nights to do that. We had an ongoing discussion for eight weeks about isolation. Social media came up, and one of them pointed out, “You seem to be very comfortable. I haven't seen anybody your age that is that comfortable with social media.” I don't know everything, but we talked about being isolated even though people are on social media. There were a lot of things, pro or con, that were raised with social media. There is a balance to be struck, and it's not totally evil or good. We want to be able to have these face-to-face interactions. There is nothing like face-to-face interaction. Social media is a tool. I think a lot of people view it as some sort of mysterious scale of people. After you turn 25, your brain oozes out of your ears, and you have no clue what to do. You have to find your children and your grandchildren. That is not the case. What sort of things have you heard people talk about when you're talking with them about using social media to engage? Is there some resistance? Is there some people who think it's the Holy Grail? What are you hearing people talk about? I think it's a great thing to devote a whole issue to. Todd: Let me touch real quickly on something you said, and then I will come back to the questions themselves. You talked about isolation. That is a very big reality because it wasn't until social media really crept up that we had this acronym FOMO: Fear of Missing Out. I think what it does is it drives us deeper into that sense of isolation because we don't feel like we're part of something, so we withdraw even more. Social media is amoral. It's not moral or immoral. It's amoral. It's a tool. It's a medium. It's a channel. Yes. The question is how do we use this? That's really important. Yours, what kind of feedback are we hearing? In smaller, more traditional nonprofits that typically are led by older executives, there is a fear. How do I do it? How do I engage? What kinds of media do I put out there? Do I do it for my personal social media channels? I might have Facebook. Do I post about the organization on my personal page? Do I do it in the groups? How do I build a following? All of those are big questions. It's not an easy thing. There is not really a one-size-fits-all response to that. One thing that is important—and I know Hugh has done a masterful job in building that social media following. Hugh created a platform where he said I am going to focus on leadership. I am going to focus on how we empower people around leadership. When you see his messages, they are consistent. He is consistently posting about leadership and organizations, and he has built a following around a theme. In your nonprofit, that is a key thing for you. You have to own the space that you are in. You have to be mindful. It's quick and easy to go chase the shiny object. We have talked about chasing money in nonprofits before. That is something that gets a lot of nonprofits off track. They go and chase money. The same thing is true with social media about chasing the shiny object. Not everybody has to have a perspective on every issue that comes up. When LeBron went to Miami, your nonprofit didn't have to talk about LeBron going to Miami unless LeBron was the spokesperson for you in Cleveland. Then you might have something to say. It's being mindful about putting your blinders on when you need to and knowing what you are good at and what you should be talking about. That is a big thing. Your following will come out when you are consistent in what you are talking about, when you have a definitive framing to your social media messaging. We live in a world where the social media algorithms are consistently changing. It used to be photos, and now it is video. Video is the hot piece. Having opportunities. Here we are live on Facebook right? That is a really important thing. Whether it's video chats or small snippets, you want to be able to create bite-size visual media because it is attractive. It will engage more people. It is more likely to be seen by folks than I ate nachos for dinner last night. Nobody really cares, unless you have a great picture of your artisan nachos with your tofu on it or whatever. Then people might care. But I think that is to make sure that when you do post something, you're harnessing all that is available to you. That is another piece. We will talk about it in the social media issue of the magazine. Something a lot of people don't realize is there are very tangible ways for you and your nonprofit to be able to have good visuals. I know Hugh is an Apple guy. Apple made it very available for people to cut and edit simple but good, clean video. You have those more recently in a design perspective. I am blanking on the name here. Canva.com is an organization that came out. One of the pieces they wanted to promote was the idea that not everybody is a graphic designer and can afford a graphic designer, but everybody needs good design. They created a very simple free platform or premium platform where anybody can go in and create good design to be able to make sure that is consistent with their organization in the top-notch perspective. Hugh: That's great. We are doing the wrap here. We have had a really good session, Todd. Thank you for watching this with your vision that is continuing. I hope we continue to execute it faithfully. As you are sitting in this academic seat, you are still editor at this magazine and shaping the editorial policy in a really helpful way. Are there some points you want to leave people with before we end this information session? I want to encourage people to go to nonprofitperformance.org and at least click on the virtual edition. 15,000 people read it every month. It's a Flip file. Go in there and sign in. You can read the archive editions, and you can subscribe and buy issues. It's very reasonable. If a nonprofit executive or pastor were to get issues for themselves and their whole board, then some people are on the same page, and it gives you something tangible to talk about, especially the board issue. Todd, as we are exiting and wrapping up on this interview, what are some things you want to leave people with? Todd: Hugh, when you go back to the initial vision, it's the idea. How do we make impact in our communities? We really wanted to do that. When you talk about some of the download numbers for the magazine and the podcast and the video series, we started at zero. We started without subscribers. We started without followers. We started without any of that. If we can do it, you can, too. It's really important to make sure you have a good message, that you have something people want to listen to, to follow, to read. But you can do it. You can make great impact in your community. You can do great things. You can build it if you want a platform. The key is that you just have to continue. What ends up happening is we see people in our community who start something and they're not resilient enough when the challenges happen. Hugh, you know. Our core team that we started with, we have all gone through significant challenges, life changes, but the key is to continue through it and continue to work together. Truthfully, if you don't like the people you're working with, you probably won't continue. We have had a great group of people, both our core team and folks who have come around us and great new faces like Russell who are able to invigorate and continue to move things forward. I think that's really important for any organization. Make sure that you continue to invite new people in as you continue to hone what your message is. Have fun. Life is too short not to enjoy what you're doing. Hugh: Good, wise words. Russell, you can do it. We have fun. Todd, thanks to you. Thank you so much. Todd: Thank you so much. 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Join Dr. Krister Lowe and today’s featured guest and leading organizational scholar and practitioner Dr. Bill Torbert—a Principal at Action Inquiry Associates—for this week’s episode of The Team Coaching Zone Podcast! Bill Torbert received a BA in Politics and Economics and a PhD in Organizational Behavior from Yale University. He served as the Founder and Director of the War on Poverty Yale Upward Bound program and the Theatre of Inquiry. He taught leadership at Southern Methodist University, at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and from 1978-2008 at the Carroll School of Management at Boston College where he served as the graduate school Dean. He later served as the Director of the Organizational Transformation Doctoral Program. In addition to consulting to dozens of companies, not-for-profits and government agencies, Bill has served on a number of boards including notably at Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare and Trillium Asset Management. As of 2014 he serves as Principal of Action Inquiry Associates and is a Founding Member of the Action Inquiry Fellowship. Bill has published a range of books, papers, psychometric assessments and has created a number of training programs and fellowships in Action Inquiry as well. On this episode of the podcast Dr. Torbert shares his journey first growing up abroad as the son of a father who worked in the Foreign Service and where he had to learn a number of languages. These early experiences set the stage for his future work around “developmental action-logics.” Bill shares some of his experiences as a student of Chris Argyris at Yale and his work trying to create a collaborative program between blacks and whites in the Yale Upward Bound program. He discusses how the work in this program led to his interest in understanding the developmental stages of leaders and organizations. Themes covered in the podcast include: developmental stages among leaders; the Global Leadership Profile; Action Inquiry; single, double & triple loop learning; 7 Developmental Action Logics – Opportunist, Diplomat, Expert, Achiever, Redefining, Transforming, Alchemical; unilateral and mutual power; humanity’s evolution across three stages of action-logics: dependence, independence & inter-independence; action-logics at the team and organization levels; stories applying Action Inquiry with teams; redistributing leadership roles in the team; the moderating role of the CEO’s action logic; the action-logics of coaches; the role of conflict in Action Inquiry; time frames for change and more. Bill shares an interesting tip involving coaching with your eyes closed. Specific resources mentioned in the episode include: Action Inquiry: The Secret of Timely and Transforming Leadership; www.actioninquiryleadership.com; 3 day Action Inquiry Workshops including the Global Leadership Profile; the 3 day Alchemists' Workparty; the Action Inquiry Fellowship; and the 2005 Harvard Business Review article The Seven Transformations of Leadership. This episode provides team coaches with yet another priceless opportunity to learn from a legend in the field. This is an episode you will surely not want to miss!

The Ladder of Inference helps us recognize how our perceptions and assumptions can affect our beliefs and actions. It reminds us to pause and check in, make our assumptions explicit, and take the time to explore everyone else's. The Ladder of Inference is an example of cognitive bias and was developed by organizational psychologist Chris Argyris and used by Pete Senge in his book, The Fifth Discipline. Learn more with Susan Goodwin, Collaboration and Conflict Management Specialist, DOI Office of Collaborative Action and Dispute Resolution.

The Ladder of Inference helps us recognize how our perceptions and assumptions can affect our beliefs and actions. It reminds us to pause and check in, make our assumptions explicit, and take the time to explore everyone else's. The Ladder of Inference is an example of cognitive bias and was developed by organizational psychologist Chris Argyris and used by Pete Senge in his book, The Fifth Discipline. Learn more with Susan Goodwin, Collaboration and Conflict Management Specialist, DOI Office of Collaborative Action and Dispute Resolution.

Chris Argyris, Ph.D., James Bryant Conant Professor of Education and Organizational Behavior at the Harvard Grad School of Business, spoke on "I-Traps, Leadership, Culture" on Mar. 27, 2008 as part of the UNE's P.D. Merrill Business Ethics Lecture Series.

Chris Argyris, Ph.D., James Bryant Conant Professor of Education and Organizational Behavior at the Harvard Grad School of Business, spoke on "I-Traps, Leadership, Culture" on Mar. 27, 2008 as part of the UNE's P.D. Merrill Business Ethics Lecture Series.