Adaptive organizations, fit for the future
and a good place to work

We ask the right questions,
enabling organizations to balance Agility and Coherence,
using the best from Organization Design, Agile and Lean

Growing an Adaptive Organization is hard work for the whole organization, management and staff.

There is no easy fix, responsibility cannot be delegated away. Power must be paired with accountability. Coherence must be balanced with autonomy.

But it is worth the effort. A new type of resilience and dynamic stability emerges, viability in a turbulent world.

We can help with a set of skills and tools that have proven helpful. Every organization is different, we mix and match them according to the needs of your situation.

Growing the Adaptive Organization

Organizations must fit for purpose to be successful and a great place to work.

Mastering Complexity with System Science

Systems, Cybernetics and Complexity Tools

Unlike machines, organizations are complex and can only be understood as a whole.

The Power of Agile and Lean work principles

Agile transformation consulting

Agile als Evolution, pragmatische Skalierung auf die richtigen Strukturen und Praktiken.

Adaptive Leadership and Management

Leadership as a shared activity

Leading means being consistent, authenticity. Leadership also means creating structures.

Growing the Adaptive Organization

Adaptive is the new efficient.

Organizations must be people-centric to be successful.
They adapt, their structures support rather than restrict.
They continuously gain new skills through learning and innovation.

For lasting success, the adaptive organization needs to be both effective today and develop new capabilities.

This includes traditional strengths and a new culture that drives collaboration, efficiency and flexibility.

Success comes with a holistic view of operations and strategy, autonomy and coherence, the ability to master today’s challenges and fitness for the next adventure.

Successful in a changing world

In order to achieve the company’s goals, they need
Adaptive organizations
, far more flexibility, initiative, motivation and
new capabilities
.

The Big Picture

The
Big Picture
provides an overview of techniques an practices from strategy to implementation. It is a reference for possible journeys, it serves as a guide, source of information and glossary.

GRADO Community

The
GRADO Community
(GRADO = growing adaptive organizations) accompanies the way to an adaptive organization. Travelers who wish to actively participate are welcome. We firmly believe in open innovation.

Master Complexity with System Science

Steering and controlling in a complex environment is … complex.

Organization Design must match the Context

Machines can be improved by improving their components.

But complex organizations cannot be reduced to their components, they are not mere machines.

Organizations must be seen as a whole, a change at one part can cause unexpected behavior somewhere else.

An impactful decision system and effective control, interactions and feedback loops must be designed for the specific context and need a deep understanding of the appropriate control systems.

System and Complexity Sciences provide valuable tools for managing today’s organizations.

The Viable System Model

Viable System Model

A robust and adaptable management approach to dealing with complexity is crucial today.

The Viable System Model (VSM) helps with the analysis and design of organizational structures, especially decisions and communication. The VSM implements organizational cybernetics.

About the VSM Model

We offer consulting and training for the VSM and Organization Design.

VSM Training

Find out more about the training and certification program. Book a course.

Viability Canvas

The Viability Canvas has been created for an easier start with the Viable System Model (VSM). It has been designed to allow a start with the VSM with a limited blast radius.

Use it for diagnosing the structures and deficits, the decision making and the information systems of an organization.

Get started with the Viability Canvas

We offer consulting and training for the use of the Viability Canvas.

Viability Canvas Support

We offer workshops, consulting or training and mentoring programs around the Viability Canvas and the VSM.

The Power of Agile and Lean work principles

Focusing on customers, value creation and dynamic planning
keeps us grounded.

Lean has brought the focus on value creation and flexibility. Agile has continued that change, first for software developers, then all over the industry. Lean and Agile brought back the human aspect into organizations.

When embarking on the agile journey, only the first steps are visible; there is no complete plan or timeline. It is more than a simple revolution, it is a fundamental change from a static
to a dynamic view. A one-time event is therefore not a sufficient description – the hard work always began after the revolution.

Agile is an evolution. It is all about learning, organizational development, and helping organizations evolve faster.

Scaling agile changes its aggregate state. Agile teams differ from lean-agile value streams, and business agility is something else.

Agile Evolution collects principles without being restricted to practices, so it can be used in combination with one or more other frameworks.

Agile Evolution

Transition should have a focus on learning and helping organizations evolve faster, focusing on principles and values.

Although learning is also part of other concepts and frameworks, we consider learning to be a “first-class citizen. It is not an afterthought.

It is time to put measures to develop an agile mindset and culture at the center of the discourse.

Agile Evolutionis a business agility framework that starts with transition and identifies structures for continuous evolution. It is agnostic to agile practices, so it can be used in combination with one or more other frameworks.

Pragmatic scaling

Scaling agile structures change the aggregate state. Working agile must adapt to the scale and the context of the organizaton and its environment.

We provide an education program for advanced Coaches and Managers for Team.of.Teams and Value Streams.

Master Classes for Agile Functions

We offer consulting, training and mentoring programs around the the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe©) and Agility beyond frameworks.

In the meantime, there are some Experiences that can help steer efforts in the right direction. These are patterns that you can use as a guide. These are not designs that are easy to adopt.

Adaptive Leadership

Becoming an effective manager and an authentic leader

The theme of management is how people work together, the development of structures and strategies in organizations. Leadership works with people.

Leadership has a significant influence on the daily experiences of my employees. Working with other people respectfully and at eye level is universal.

The common theme is giving direction. This requires: competence, being consistent, authenticity. In this respect, leadership is a collective activity, each individual leads.

Adaptive Leadership

Leadership in a Nutshell
(click to enlarge)

The Adaptive Leadership in a Nutshell, an overview of what is involved in adaptive leadership. The basis of our programs and courses.

Learning Journeys

Develop skills, competencies and experience.

Competence is more than knowledge

Learning is an integral part of work and must be possible at all times. Just like our eTrainings and Tapas. Learning becomes modular and self-directed, while at the same time support is needed. Just like our blended learning offerings.

Plan learning journeys together

Today, qualification is more than training. Companies need a Concept, employees want a perspective and support. Maybe our concepts are interesting there. Do you find yourself in any of the scenarios?

News and Community

Travel Community
describes the concept for communication and provides some real-world scenarios.

Dandelion in the wind

Meetup – The GRADO Meetup is the place where practitioners enjoy an exchange of ideas and actively drive Open Innovation for the topics.

Wiki – mehr Informationen über Konzepte, Diskussionen und unfertiges