🌿🧭🌳 OD27: Mapping wicked problems ∙ Assessing your organization's Bureaucratic Mass Index ∙ OD goodies
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1. Mapping wicked problems
First pick this week is related to an advanced topic that we’re currently studying: wicked problems.
Some initial considerations on the topic via Wikipedia:
A wicked problem is a problem that is difficult or impossible to solve because of incomplete, contradictory, and changing requirements that are often difficult to recognize.
“Wicked” denotes resistance to resolution.
A problem whose solution requires a great number of people to change their mindsets and behavior is likely to be a wicked problem.
Because of complex interdependencies, the effort to solve one aspect of a wicked problem may reveal or create other problems.
Does any of your current organizational challenges fit the description?
Wicked7.org, an open-collaboration project founded by Christian Sarkar and Philip Kotler, has brought a question that intrigued us:
What if we could model a wicked problem and use the model as a “digital twin,” allowing us to simulate alternatives and outcomes?
Here’s the approach they propose for tackling wicked problems:
This translates to creating a systems map of the challenge, virtually applying the set of solutions/interventions, creating a systems map including the expected effects of these solutions, identifying the assumptions behind these expected effects, testing these assumptions ”in the real world” and then reviewing the map of the challenge.
We invite you to discover more on the Wicked7 website, including maps like the ones below:
Assessing your organization's Bureaucratic Mass Index
Speaking of wicked problems, eliminating or at least minimizing bureaucracy is a challenge for many organizations.
We’ve recently discovered via eatsleepworkrepeat.com a set of questions that Gary Hamel proposes for helping you diagnose the extent of bureaucracy in your organization:
Bureaucratic Mass Index questions
How many layers are there in your organization?
What percentage of time do you spend on bureaucratic chores? (preparing reports, attending meetings, getting sign-off)
How much does bureaucracy slow down your organization?
To what extent are interactions with your manager about internal issues? (eg getting resources, resolving disputes)
How much autonomy do frontline teams have to design their work, solve problems, test ideas?
How often are frontline teams involved in the design and development of change initiatives?
How do people in your organization react to unconventional ideas?
In general how easy is it to launch a new project that requires a small team and bit of seed funding?
How prevalent are political behaviors in your organization?
How often do political skills – as opposed to demonstrated competence – influence who gets on in your organization?
+ A question for reflection:
How much bureaucracy could be eliminated without sacrificing organizational performance?
We invite you to read the whole article on eatsleepworkrepeat.com.
OD Goodies
Curious about more resources on increasing organizational effectiveness?
Here’s a section with very short descriptions and links.
Divinations newsletter: Nathan Baschez shares his take on how businesses plateau for two reasons - 1. Their strategy is wrong (wrong strategy syndrome) or 2. They fail to execute any strategy at all (fuzzy strategy syndrome).
MITSMR: Employees of a tech-focused company who went through a dual-agenda work redesign initiative showed a 40% lower turnover rate over a 3-year period.
Steve Hearsum: There's a book titled "There is No Silver Bullet" in the works - "why leaders and organizations look for easy answers to complex problems, what makes that worse and how to stop".
InfoQ: A cautionary tale titled ”My Team is High Performing But Everyone Hates Us”. Good food for thought about optimizing only at team-level.
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The OrgDev newsletter is curated by Raluca and Bülent Duagi, the team behind Sense & Change. We work as OD Advisers to high performing cross-functional teams, helping them tackle complex organizational challenges.