Almost any framework can and will generate business-positive results, if the people affected by the change are choosing it, and they are encouraged to “inspect and adapt.” The use of Open patterns (Explicit Agreements, Clarity of Authorization, etc) is also essential.

Let’s put a fine point it:

Here’s what Scrum co-creator Jeff Sutherland has to say about the wisdom of inviting VOLUNTEERS, if you want real success with org-level change.

Video length: 1 minute

Here are some resources to explore along the way:

EXECUTIVES and TEAMS: TESTIMONIAL VIDEOS

EXECUTIVE VIDEO TESTIMONIAL: Client Executive Interview: An executive from the public company NUANCE explains how 8 Open Space events rapidly delivered on the desired outcome: accelerated culture change leading to higher performance in the 900-person Global Engineering division. Length: 2.5 minutes

EXECUTIVE VIDEO TESTIMONIAL: Client Executive Interview: An executive from public company INTUIT explains how Open patterns transformed the leadership team and then the entire operation of a 180-person division of INTUIT. Length: 15 minutes.

EXECUTIVE VIDEO TESTIMONIAL: Client Executive Intererview : The senior leader of Software Engineering of a division of a public company describes his experience of the OpenSpace Agility engagement model and the super-positive outcomes that resulted. Length: 15 minutes. Part 1 of 2.

VIDEO TESTIMONIAL: Client Team-Member Interview. A UX designer who was initially a big resister of the move to Scrum describes his experience of Open patterns and how it was the best work experience of his career. Length: 15 minutes.

SELECTED INTERVIEWS WITH PIONEERS IN ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT AND GROUP LEADERSHIP:

INTERVIEW: My interview of Jamshid Gharajedaghi, who did pioneering work with Russell Ackoff and took systems thinking to the 3rd generation. As he wrote:

The analytical approach has remained essentially intact for nearly four hundred years, but systems thinking has already gone through three distinct generations of change. The first generation of systems thinking (operations research) dealt with the challenge of interdependency in the context of mechanical (deterministic) systems. The second generation of systems thinking (cybernetics and open systems) dealt with the dual challenges of interdependency and self-organization in the context of living systems. The third generation of systems thinking (design) responds to the triple challenge of interdependency, self-organization, and choice in the context of sociocultural systems.

Click here to access the interview

SELECTED GUEST APPEARANCES ON VARIOUS PODCASTS AND INTERVIEWS:

PODCAST: My first interview on the Jim Rutt Show. Jim Rutt is a current Trustee and former Chairman of the Santa Fe Institute of Complexity Science. In this one I explain the 8 patterns of Open business agility and the agile organization in practical terms, with real-world stories, explanations, and examples. We also cover what an open space organization is & how it scales with business size/type, Jim’s experience with agile, types of agile processes & common pitfalls, learned helplessness, what Open Space Technology is & how it works, managing ambiguity & change management, inviting vs delegating as a leader, understanding authority and its connection to complex system functionality, boundary management, semiotics, and more. About 1 hour.
PODCAST: Episode #2 on the Jim Rutt Show, where we compare and contrast two books on leadership & social coherence, Michael Suk-Young Chwe’s Rational Ritual & Christopher Boehm’s Hierarchy in the Forest. We cover ritual as a mechanism for large-scale coordination, the relationship between common knowledge & ritual, China’s management of common knowledge, America’s weak-sauce rituals, meetings as games, how egalitarianism increases group decision quality, role-based vs position-based leadership, how weapons may have enabled egalitarianism, personal sovereignty as careful authorizing, Jim’s guest selection algorithm, authority information as social glue, rapid adaptability of informal authority systems, Graeber & Wengrow’s critique of Boehm, egalitarianism as a game, making role-based leadership scalable, leadership invitation, and much more.
PODCAST: The Coaching Conversation. In this one, I discuss the INVITING LEADERSHIP book and offer an explanation of Invitation-Based Change™, Open patterns, and Open Business Agility. 1 hour.
PODCAST: Agile Uprising. In this interview I explain OpenSpace Agility, an engagement model used to reduce risk by generating tremendous employee energy and employee engagement in your enterprise-change program. 1 hour.
PODCAST: Agile Atelier. Here I offer I wide-ranging discussion of Invitation-Based Change™ and the essential nature of employee engagement in enterprise change programs. 1 hour
PODCAST: The Conversation Factory. In this interview I explain how executive leadership teams who focus on employee-experience design get the best results. And how leadership of a change initiative is in large part an exercise in…game design.
PODCAST: Dare Real Agile. This is a fun interview and conversation on Open patterns, Invitation-Based Change, the Agile Industrial Complex and more. Total time: 1 hour.

Tools and Resources:

Download: The Scrum Checklist for Executives: Download this valuable tool that helps inform and prepare executives for what it takes to effectively implement Scrum across the enterprise.

THE SCRUM GUIDES: Download and examine the current and previous versions of the Scrum Guide going back to 2009.

Detailed White Papers:

Assessing Your Business Agilty
Preparing for Success with Training and Education
Starting your Business Agility Pilot
Measuring & Managing with Selected Metrics & Preparing for Scaling
Preparing For The Challenges of Scaling Up, Skilling Up, and Staffing Up
Scaling Strategically: Measuring and Managing
Guiding and Leading The Ongoing Change
Managing Towards Continuous Improvement