Category: Organisations

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Has science reached its limits of growth?

The science ecosystem has been restructured regularly during my career, and I often wonder to what effect.

Effective science, and effective research thrives when there is

  • social space for personal initiative and creativity,
  • time for ideas to grow to maturity,
  •  openness to debate and criticism,
  • hospitality towards innovation, and
  •  respect for specialized expertise.

I have regularly reflected on these words written by John Ziman 30 years ago, and on advice I received early in my management career – “you cannot, and should not try to manage the research – your job is to manage the environment in which you people do their science.”

I recently re-read ” Prometheus Bound: Science in a dynamic steady state” written in 1994 by Ziman, and was intrigued by how much the context in which science is conducted has changed in 30 years, yet the substance hasn’t. Continue reading “Has science reached its limits of growth?”

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Chronic Problems in Organisations

  • No shared vision and values
  • No strategic path
  • Poor alignment: bad alignment between structure and shared values, between mission and systems; the structure and systems of the organisation poorly serve and reinforce the strategic paths.
  • Wrong style: the management philosophy is either incongruent with shared vision and values or the style inconsistently embodies the vision and values of the mission statement.
  • Poor skills
  • Low trust: staff has low trust, a depleted emotional bank account, and that low trust results in closed communication, little problem – solving or poor cooperation and teamwork.
  • No self-integrity: values do not equal habits; there is no correlation between what I value and believe and what I do.

Source:  SR COVEY (1990)  Principle – Centred Leadership, London: Simon and Schuster.  Pp.165-171

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Chronic problems in organisations – community, business, government

When it comes to organisation of all types, there are some problems that seem to persist and persist and persist….

When I first started seriously studying management and leadership in the 1980s, people like Stephen Covey were in vogue.  In 1990, he identified chronic problems in organisations. I don’t see much different today. 

Take a look at this list, and ask yourself how well your organisation is doing and what you might do in your organisation differently.

Continue reading “Chronic problems in organisations – community, business, government”
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Places of Realised Potential

People with a commitment to potential see potential not merely as self-fulfillment but as expressing stewardship and servanthood. Is where you work a place where potential can be realised? 


A place of realised potential:

  • Opens itself to change, to contrary opinion, to the mystery of potential, to involvement, to unsettling ideas.
  • Offers people the opportunity to learn and grow.
  • Offers the gift of challenging work. 
  •  Sheds its obsolete baggage.
  •  Encourages people to decide what needs to be measured and then helps them to do the work.
  • Heals people with trust and with caring and with forgiveness.
  • Is a social environment – people in places of realised potential know that organisations are social environments.
  •  Celebrates.

Source : Max De Pree (1997)  Leading without power. Finding hope in serving community.  Jossey-Bass  ISBN-13: 978-0787910631