The Organisation Development Company Newsletter

As summer draws to an end and autumn arrives, we trust that you have settled into your working year, and have a good sense of both your direction and achievements.

This month’s newsletter has more on how we can help you map, explore and develop the informal social networks within your organisations and teams; and how your relationships amongst your peers affects what goes on deeper in your organisation.

We also invite you to two events:

• Wednesday 19th April - join us at 4:00pm in celebrating the opening of our new office
• Wednesday 17th May - Diana is presenting on organisation network analysis, mapping and exploring informal netwroks in organisations

Best Wishes,

Exploring and developing informal relationship networks

Formal structures, of who reports to whom, reflect formal decision authority; the informal networks of power, influence and relationships affect how the decision will be implemented.

The relationship between the formal and informal network is crucial to a group or organisation’s successful functioning. As leader, you don’t need to have a direct relationship with the opinion leaders however you do need to have a good relationship with someone who does.

The Organisation Development Company specialises in helping you map, explore and strengthen the informal networks of relationships in your organisation; encouraging sharing of tacit knowledge, skills and expertise, building communities of practice, and getting things done.

Two methods are now available for mapping and exploring informal networks: Social network analysis (SNA) and Organisation network analysis (ONA). Diana has expert knowledge and experience in these methods.

Come to our presentation on:

Organisation Network Analysis and Social Network Analysis

Leaders behaving badly

None of us really followed our teachers and parents when they said ‘do what I say, not what I do’. It is the same in organisations. The behaviour of leaders sends messages of what’s really valued in an organisation. Gossip, cutting remarks, ignoring others, making excuses, forcing or avoiding decisions, all have an impact, as does being interested, being available to listen, asking questions to discover what others think and feel, and enjoying making decisions with peers.

Our work in both the public and private sector reinforces this. While organisations’ values espouse collaboration, teamwork and people being valued, executive behaviour often reinforces silos, individual ownership of problems, and budget protection encouraging duplication. When policy groups’ snipe at operations, policy is not implemented well. When sales executives ignore or over-ride their production peers, delivery problems occur. When TV executives snipe at one another, we notice unworkable staff contracts.

Professor Lynda Gratton of the London Business School, joins Chris Argyris, Manfred Kets de Vries of INSEAD and Lou Gestner ex-CEO of IBM in saying how executives behave with one another directly influences the organisation culture. Lynda Gratton says simple things like two executives not talking with one another, creates silos deeper in the organisation.

Gratton speaks eloquently on executives destroying human capital, destroying commitment and destroying engagement. Heavy stuff. She goes on to say that executives encouraging conversations in their organisations build commitment and engagement with one another. Gratton says facts and people’s emotions are part of the conversation; people being authentic with one another are the key. Diana believes something so simple as engaging in conversations with peers and colleagues and those around you have dramatic and positive affects deeper within your organisations.

The Organisation Development Company offers team network assessments and executive-maps, your personal network of relationships, including role relationships, the patterns of behaviour.

These network maps are based on J L Moreno’s work. Moreno (1889 – 1974) identified the social atom as the smallest social unit. The social atom comprises the smallest number of emotionally significant people (both personal and work) and their inter-relationships around an individual in order for him or her to be alive and learning.

Phone Diana to discuss you or your team’s assessment of network relationships on:
04 499 5559,
or email: dianaj@orgdev.co.nz

We are moving downtown

The Organisation Development Company has new offices. We are leaving Newspaper House in Boulcott Street, and from 10 April you can find us on:

Level 3 of Old Wool House,
139 – 141 Featherston Street.

Our contact details remain the same:
Phone 04 499 5559
PO Box 1441
Wellington