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In this book swap conversation, we discuss organizational design and unblocking barriers within companies with Jurriaan Kamer, author of the books 'Unblock' and 'Formula X'. In the context of Unblock and Maneuvering Monday, we explore the importance of leadership, metrics, employee empowerment, and corporate culture, while also sharing insights on writing and publishing books.

Some of the main themes from the conversation are

• Organizations often feel busy yet unproductive due to systemic dysfunctions
• Autonomy in teams must be balanced with alignment to organizational goals
• Leadership teams should function as cohesive units rather than individual silos
• Metrics can distort productivity and lead to unintended consequences
• Effective meetings require clear processes and engagement from all participants
• Corporate culture is shaped by behaviors and decisions, not just stated values
• Engaging employees in conversations about barriers can lead to actionable solutions

Jurriaan shares lots of great, tangible advice and methods for how to navigate when you feel stuck in organizational dysfunctions. If you would like more advice, you can visit his website or check out his services.

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In this episode, we discuss the intersection of gender, finance, and leadership with our guest Rikke Lundsfryd, author of "Meget Mindre" (loosely translated: "Much Less"). The conversation explores the persistent gender gap in pension savings, the societal expectations placed on women, and the importance of financial literacy. Rikke shares insights from her book and personal experiences, emphasizing the need for open conversations about financial equality and the role of women in financial decision-making. The episode also touches on the challenges of publishing and the importance of sustainable investments.

You can buy Rikke's book here, read more on her website, and we absolutely also recommend that you check out her podcast, which deep dives into the different themes of the book.

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In the final part of chapter 5, things start to get real when Marie learns from Willie that Natalie purchased spare parts from Russia for Zebra Apps' physical data center, and that she likely traveled there together with Frank and Andrea. She also learns that every time the engineers create new features for ASLO, they  increase their physical footprint in the data center.

Jenni and Marie explains to Jaque why Zebra Apps is bleeding money, and suggest him to create a better way to charge their customers for the products. They collect feedback from the engineering department, and agree to investigate the options to either migrate away from the data center or keep it and provide hosting services to other companies. But could their product quality challenges be solved by simply talking more to each other? Could it be more about culture - and taking responsibility for the whole product as a team?

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In this commentary episode, we are pleased to talk to Paul Hargreaves, CEO of Cotswold Fayre & Flourish and renowned author of the books Forces For Good and The Fourth Bottom Line about purpose-driven and compassionate leadership.

We wish Zebra Apps had a CEO like Paul. And not just as Chief Executive Officer, but Chief Empowerment Officer, who makes sure that everyone in the organization is working to their full potential.

We discuss how Zebra Apps' customer-led strategy is out of control, and there is an absence of leadership and culture-setting across the whole business. A leader must be present - but how? Paul has several suggestions, including letting go of your individual office - and maybe even your desk! - to ensure that you spend time with your employees. While we do not talk detailed models and frameworks, Frederic Laloux (author of the book 'Reinventing Organizations' and one of the leading figures in the new ways of working movement) is brought up during the conversation.

We learn that people who eat together generally stay together, and the true/literal meaning of the word "company" (from Late Latin companio, "bread fellow," com meaning "with, together" and panis meaning "bread"). We discuss the importance of rigorously reinforcing habits, and being your true self at work, even if it gets messy from time to time. And then we talk a bit about how global conflicts and pandemics impact businesses in ways we could never imagine 5 years ago.

Curious to learn more from Paul? You can find him on LinkedIn or visit his website, where you can also find more information about his books.

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Marie interviews the engineers to map out who work on the different aspects of ASLO. She learns that they belong to two teams, and uses an animal metaphor to convince Jenni to reorganize the engineering department to fix the quality issues, and to start funding the teams in a way that ensures continuous improvement.

Marie meets up with Anne, and learns that she is secretly conspiring with Jason and Jaque to save Zebra Apps. Jaque shares that Zebra App’s financial situation is problematic due to the subscription structure, and that he suspects that Nathalie has been considering selling Zebra to a Russian company - which could explain why she did not want to offer ASLO for free to the children fleeing from Ukraine.

Thank you to Katie Christensen for reading this episode.

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In the first part of chapter 5, we have invited guest expert Michelle Leedy, who is an organization effectiveness, design and transformation business leader, passionate about creating value and positive impact through authentic leadership. Michelle brings more than 20 years experience in consulting and leadership roles across multiple business industries and functions to the table.

As Marie makes a CLM (career limiting move) and decides to join the engineering department to help fix ASLO, she seems to be so caught up in her own orbit that she misses what's going on in the universe that surrounds her. Decisions are made reactively and without much analysis or rationale. We talk about to value of taking a step back and assessing the situation before jumping to conclusions.

We debate whether engaging in scuttlebutt (thanks for teaching us a new word) can be helpful when building trust in a new group or is just problematic. We discuss integral parts of a business operating model, how to know which leaders to listen to, and how to do competency assessments. And finally, Michelle gives her take on whether Erik really has Marie's best interests in mind or if he's simply out for her job.

Concepts and frameworks

• Stakeholder Analysis
• RACI
• SWOT Analysis
• Business Operating Models
• PESTLE Analysis
• 360 Assessments

Would you like to learn more from Michelle? Please do not hesitate to contact her through LinkedIn.

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In this first section of chapter 5, the UX Designer Jason makes a comeback at Zebra Apps. A mysterious meeting is taking place with attendance by the full leadership team and a white-bearded man. And Marie's colleague and employee Erik once again urges her to use her informal power and influence to help the engineers fix their dysfunctions and save Zebra's star product ASLO. Will she accept and join the hooded man-children in the engineering department?

Thank you to Katie Christensen for reading this episode.

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In this special edition episode, we talk to IT Service Management specialist and value stream thinker David Billouz about the fourth chapter of Marie's journey in Zebra Apps.

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In the last commentary episode of chapter 4, we talk to Mary Lemmer, who is not only the founder of the company Improve, but also a keynote speaker, conference session facilitator, longtime entrepreneur, writer/author, and improv comedian.
 
The story episode is full of attempts to solve the team communication and culture problems that have been identified earlier, and to disclose the key lessons from the commentary episode up front: 

1. The way you approach a situation makes a difference
2. You need to acknowledge the root of a problem before you can fix it
3. Sugar will not solve your company's culture problem

We discuss some of the possible reasons to trust a leader besides professional capability, and how cinnamon buns are nothing but #emptyperks, when Zebra Apps' management continuously leave out diabetics like Willie. And frankly, when is sugar really the right solution? We talk about the impact of information hoarding, communication gaps, and imposter syndromes.  The importance of people's tone of voice. And finally, a kind recommendation to everyone listening: "If it feels weird, do it."

Frameworks and models

• Paradox of knowledge
• The Tiny Things Tuesdays ritual, where the team get together to surface tiny things that need to be paid attention to. 
• CliftonStrengths Online Talent Assessment to look at employee's strengths and potential to improve
• Thrive, tested, thanked: A framework for individuals to assess where they thrive, where they feel tested, and how they would like to be thanked.
• Kim Scott's Radical Candor 
• The acceptance principle: Saying “Yes, and” — A principle for improv, business & life | by Mary Lemmer | IMPROVE | Medium

You can learn more about Mary on her website, or about the company Improve on their website. Also, check out Mary's TED Talk: “How improv can improve your leadership and life”.

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Marie and Mark are interviewing for the CFO position, and Marie learns from the employees in the Finance department that they are not wishing for a specialist manager, but a leader to represent them in the management team. Natalie suggests the VP of Sales, Jaque, which disappoints Mark. Jason returns to Zebra Apps, and Paul bakes cinnamon buns for an extended HR breakfast. Joseph makes assumptions about Marie's health, and Erik suggests that Marie takes a break from her job in HR to become a full-time coach in the Engineering department.

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In the second part of chapter 4, we are lucky to get hands-on advice from queer millennial expat leader Laurence Paquette who works as Vice President of Marketing for the large renewable energy company Vestas.

The story episode is full of drama, and the conflict avoidance reaches a new high when Zebra Apps' management fails at setting boundaries when it comes to physical aggression. And suddenly, everybody is calling everybody on a Sunday.

We talk about how to be a female leader. How you can assert credibility and authority while being friendly and fun. And finding your own way to lead without trying to fit into a certain (navy suite and tie) mold. We do not apply theoretical frameworks, but discuss based on our own collective experiences how Marie can maneuver through the different layers of workplace dynamics, leadership issues, software development challenges and personal relationships.

Laurence is authentic and inspiring, and we encourage you all to check out her website for more tips and tricks to navigate corporate life: Millennial neurodivergent leader and mother | LaurencePaquette.com.

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Marie gets closer to Jenni and starts to understand the pressure she is facing from Natalie. Shaine accepts a pay cut to make up for the salary disparity, but it is too late to avoid mass mutiny. After a dramatic incident in the office, Marie is sent home on sick leave. During her time off, Marie is approached by the previous employee, UX Designer Jason, who wants to re-join Zebra Apps because he believes there is hope after Marie has started working on the retention issue. VP of Sales Jaque manages to get Marie back to the office to fix ASLO's quality issues and save Zebra Apps from financial demise.

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Maneuvering Monday - The Podcast - is back! We have been busy this past year, moving homes, having a baby, and getting engaged AND also, we have finally published Marie's story as a book!

In this episode, we catch up and talk about the process of publishing the book, the book launch event, what we would have done differently, how we are doing on book sales, and many other fun facts! We also reveal what will happen to the podcast now, and why you should keep listening to our BOOK SWAP episodes.

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In the first commentary episode of chapter 4, we are lucky to have "post transformation dude" Joe Auslander in the studio to share his great perspectives from his work which he describes as 'physical therapy of the delivery world and organizational transformation'.

We talk about how to avoid getting lost in trying to fix 'people problems', how holding people accountable is not about staring at them with a mean face, and the actual value of whiteboards compared to virtual tools. We discuss "backlog literacy", the idea that backlog management is not just about planning your work, but about communicating, and the ability to tell a story through your work, listen and interact based on this. Listen to learn more about what kind of environment can promote self-organizing teams, and whether there really is such a thing as dysfunction.

Models & Frameworks

• Joe's "Give them rope"-model
• The concept of 'Agile hot-rocking'
• Backlog literacy
• Virtual whiteboard tool Miro
• Ivanna's meditation app: Insight Timer

Pssst: Would you love to learn more from Joe? Joe is a co-host at the podcast Joekub where he talks to his friend Jakub about 'agile, life and monkeys'.

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Mark, Marie and Paul spend a full day offsite to share and celebrate failures, with the purpose of starting to solve their department’s dysfunctions. Marie and Paul learn that Mark has been fighting Natalie to focus on culture since he started in Zebra Apps. Mark also admits that he has not been doing his job as a leader and investing in the HR department as a team. Paul agrees to join Marie’s arranged HR breakfasts if he gets to bake cinnamon buns. 

Marie joins the Engineering department’s stand up meeting only to learn that it is no longer a physical meeting with a whiteboard and post-its, but taking place virtually. Marie learns  that the Engineering department is having serious quality issues with their star product ASLO.

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In the last commentary episode of chapter 3, we talk to global business leader Vivek Menon about the challenges Marie faces as this chapter comes to an end.

Based on many years of leadership experience, Vivek shares his thoughts on the topics of the episode, which all revolve around organizational dysfunction. We talk about equal pay for equal work, professionally educated versus self-taught employees, and intelligent jerks. We talk about lack of accountability, and what role the gender of the VP of Engineering plays (or doesn’t play).

Models and frameworks

• Five dysfunctions of a team by Patrick Lencioni
• Silver spoons and scrappers 
• Levels of resistance
• Stages of conflict

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The identity of the corporate rebel is revealed. Will he get away with it?

Marie aggressively confronts Paul about the salary disparities in the engineering department. Later, she learns from Mark that Paul is under a lot of pressure because of a legal dispute with the ex-CFO Frank.

Marie and her team facilitates a townhall meeting where the employees in Zebra Apps  work through the company values and what they mean. During the meeting, one of the  engineers from Willie’s department makes a scene and leaves the room. The CTO Jenni admits to Marie that the engineering department is dysfunctional and asks Marie to “fix her team”.

Thank you to Katie Christensen for reading this episode.

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Is purpose your boss? In the second commentary episode of chapter 3, we have an interesting talk with Marc-Peter Pijper about holocracy, purpose, how to succeed and learn together as a team, equal pay for equal work, motivation, and not least the many metaphors of Marie's story.

Is the pile of junk in the basement a metaphor for all the problems of the company - and Marie's way of dealing with them? Learn how Marc-Peter thinks Zebra Apps could benefit from using their basement as a space to enable the organization to flourish. We also discuss what would happen if we skip traditional performance bonuses and reward people for their loyalty instead, and how to successfully approach the changes needed in Zebra Apps by starting small and experimenting with self-organization on the team-level.

Frameworks and concepts

• Holocracy
• Self-managing vs. self-organizing teams
• Self-determination theory
• Autonomy, mastery and purpose

Curious to learn more about these topics? Marc-Peter is a columnist for Corporate Rebels, and you can find all his columns  here.

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Going to get the cinnamon buns from the pile of junk in the basement, Marie finds a hidden sugar stash and meets the datacenter technician Willie. During lunch hour in the canteen that day, a dramatic happening occurs, involving sugar and a banner falling from the stairwell.

Marie and Erik learn from Shaine, who was recently headhunted from ConvoSystems, that he has told Willie about his salary in Zebra Apps, which is twice the amount that Willie gets paid. Marie confronts Mark about the salary difference, and Mark indicates that this is not a problem because Willie is loyal to Zebra Apps.

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In this first commentary episode of chapter 3, we are delighted to talk to Rob England and Dr. Cherry Vu, partners in life and in their company Teal Unicorn. Together as a team, they transform organizations to New Ways of Working and Managing by being 'midwifes to the solution' for their customers (listen to the episode to find out what we mean).

Hear real-life examples from Teal Unicorn about how other companies have introduced rituals to cope with and learn from failure. Why is it a problem that there is a lack of psychological safety in Zebra Apps? How could Marie and her peers benefit from the good old marriage counsel 'X, Y, X formula' for feedback? And where would Cherry and Rob start if they had to help Zebra Apps investigate and solve their retention issue?

Visit https://tealunicorn.com/ to get Cherry's facilitation and Big Room Planning (Teal Planning) tips and tricks, as well as a lot more great content for making work better in organizations

Frameworks and concepts

• Humble Consulting by Edgar Schein
• Open Space Technology
• The Phoenix Project by Gene Kim

Pssst: Cherry and Rob write books in English and in Vietnamese about New Ways of Working, Open Management, and even how these ideas illuminate raising a family. Find a full list here: https://tealunicorn.com/books/

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In this first episode of chapter 3, all the sugar packets mysteriously disappear from the tables in the canteen. 

Sheila feels bad about her experience with Frank, and Marie and her team members get together for a structured exercise to cope with failure, each sharing a mistake and celebrating the learnings. Will this exercise help Sheila feel better? And what happens when Marie reluctantly admits to having dropped the bag of cinnamon buns down the stairwell into the heap of junk in the basement of Zebra Apps?

Thank you to Katie Christensen for reading this episode. 

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In this special edition episode, international thought leader, author, lecturer and practitioner Christian Nissen interviews Ivanna and AK about the first two chapters of Marie's journey in Zebra Apps. 

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In this final commentary episode of chapter 2, Futocracy Network host Dr. Ross Wirth joins us to provide some constructive criticism to Marie and her approaches.

What are some of the missed opportunities and facilitation basics that Marie failed to get right at the leadership offsite? How could the five levels of involvement help Zebra Appa succeed with their culture program? And are we naive when we build organizations for stability and expect change readiness?

Frameworks and concepts

• Five levels of involvement 
• Kurt Lewin’s change management model
• Edgar Schein’s learning process

Feeling inspired? Join the Futocracy Network to explore new ways of thinking about organizations, leadership and change with other passionate change-makers.

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In this final episode of Maneuvering Monday the podcast, AK and Ivanna wrap up everything and share the next steps for our book project.

There is a bit of heavy breathing (sorry!) as we discuss Natalie and her trajectory, and how she ends up finally connecting with her purpose and passion after having suffered from 'The Peter Principle' throughout the story in her role as CEO at Zebra Apps. 

We talk about Anne and how she started off a bit arrogant, but ended up with good self-reflections (and a bit of a depressing conclusion about the human inability to improve company culture, which we do not believe is true). 

We investigate Carrie's mum's actual problem, and talk about the pressure and competition amongst parents with children in kindergarten and school - and not least society's expectations to us as mothers, when really the fathers of our children are Chief Playdate Officer and Head of Spare Kindergarten Outfits.

We ask ourselves why the two most unlikeable and unpopular characters end up winning in the end, and whether a bit of friction might actually be necessary to progress.

And suddenly, Ivanna quotes John Lennon for the first and last part on this show (and maybe in general?).

Finally, we talk about how it all started vs. how it ended, how we got unexpected praise from a publisher for having a story with "a beginning, a middle part and an end", and then we share the most recurring questions and comments from our beta readers. We disclose the next steps for the book and what we wish we had known before we started to write. And will there be a Maneuvering Monday the movie? 

Thanks a million to our beta readers, guest experts, voice talents, and listeners.

Stay tuned for more maneuvers!

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The culture program is approved at the leadership meeting. Marie meets with Todd from HR in ConvoSystems to get the scoop on Jaque, and Todd shares some unsettling news about Anne and Zebra Apps co-founder Richard.

Marie and her team facilitates the leadership offsite meeting. Marie’s team member Sheila has an uncomfortable facilitation session with the CFO Frank. Later that same week, Frank retires from Zebra Apps and Marie is so startled that she drops a bag of cinnamon buns down the stairwell to the basement floor.

Thanks to Tiffany Lam and Katie Christensen for reading this episode.

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Author and coach Heidi Helfand helps us dissect the second episode in chapter 2 of Marie's journey.

While Marie learns more about Mark and his background, an unknown company rebel hangs post-its on the recently installed soda fridges. Heidi Helfand shares her insights on how Marie and Mark's relationship could be improved using Organizational Relationship Systems Coaching's methodologies. Is Marie unknowingly violating international coaching etiquette? Tune in to learn more about how to coach organizational entities!

Coaching & working with teams

• Organization and Relationship Systems Coaching (ORSC) by CRR Global: Coaching organizational dynamics as systems
• Five dysfunctions of a team by Patrick Lenzioni
• Creating intelligent teams by Dr. Anne Rød & Marita Fridjhon
  • A series of facilitated instructions e.g. deep democracy facilitation exercises

Finally, Heidi quoted fabulous Brené Brown: "In the absence of data, we will always make up stories"

You can contact Heidi on LinkedIn or via email: heidi.helfand@gmail.com. Learn more about her book Dynamic Reteaming on the website heidihelfand.com.

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While Marie gets closer to understanding Mark and his background, an unknown company rebel hangs post-its with insults on all the soda fridges. The HR Development team members plan the culture program, and Mark and Marie presents it to Natalie. But how will she react to the resurfaced company values? And is she even ready to approve a culture program that will require time and effort in the leadership team and among employees? 

Thank you to Tiffany Lam for reading this episode.

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Silicon Valley veteran Sam McAfee from Startup Patterns helps us kick off chapter 2 of Marie's journey in this episode. 

What does it say about a company when it takes an archeological process to uncover previous work done to define and distribute company values? What can we learn from 20th century literature about mind games in the office? And what would Sam do if he had to help Zebra Apps with their dysfunctions?

Mind games in organizations 

• Sam refers to the book Games People Play written by Eric Berne about Transactional Analysis 
• Sam refers to Stephen Karpman's drama triangle, which is a model of dysfunctional social interaction 
• Check out Startup Patterns' article about mind games in the office, further detailing Berne and Karpman's concepts

Influence map

•  Sam talks about creating an influence map, you can find an example of one here 

Team organization

• Sam shares his thoughts about team organization in the episode. You can learn more in this Startup Patterns blogpost 

You can listen to the story part of the episode here.

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Chapter 2 kicks off with a member of the leadership team testing Marie's patience - and Marie learning something new about why Anne left Zebra Apps. Marie also discovers that Natalie did define a mission statement and company values when she founded the company. So how will Marie tackle the culture program presentation for the leadership team? And what's with the big fridges being installed in all corners of Zebra Apps?

Thanks to Tiffany Lam for reading this episode.

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This week Benoit Hurel, a partner at The Ready, helps Marie maneuver Zebra Apps. Benoit advices Marie to try radical change at a non-radical scale and to dance with the system instead of fighting it.

Guest:
Benoit Hurel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benoit-hurel/
The Ready: https://www.theready.com/

Methodologies and tools mentioned:
OS canvas: https://medium.com/the-ready/the-operating-system-canvas-420b8b4df062
Human element practitioner: https://www.thehumanelement.com/
Janusian Thinking: https://www.creativitypost.com/article/janusian_thinking
Action meeting: https://medium.com/the-ready/how-to-facilitate-the-best-meeting-your-team-will-have-this-week-763f31b6d7d

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Marie is attending a flower party at her child Ally’s kindergarten, but is late and distracted by her meeting with Anne and the challenges at work. At night, she talks to her husband Thomas about how making the technology work is the easy part - making the team collaborate is much harder.

Marie reads a LinkedIn post about games people play in organizations, realizing that Mark is playing ‘the game of obfuscation’: Keeping everyone on their toes and guessing. During her next day at work, she finds out that Mark has told Natalie that Marie will launch a culture program to fix the retention problem. Although initially angered by this betrayal of trust, Marie remembers the game Mark is playing, and simply agrees to do a presentation of the culture program at the following leadership meeting.

Thank you to Tiffany Lam for reading this episode.

Are you jumping in from this episode?  Watch what has happened in episodes 1, 2 and 3 in this 4 mins video

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What is the ecosystem at Zebra Apps? Can you truly act on your own when you are part of a system?

This week Anne Weber Carlsen advises Marie on how she should maneuver. Anne is the Co-founder of Human by Nature and one of the founding facilitators of the discipline in Denmark.   

Tools & topics

• Regenerative leadership and looking at organizations as living systems
• Ecosystemic analysis  

Guest:

Anne Weber Carlsen

Do you want to jump straight into this episode? You can watch a 4 minute summary of what has happened in the story so far here: https://youtu.be/TylXiIt_F8g 

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Marie finally calls Anne and they arrange to meet.  When Anne and Marie meet, it is awkward and tense. Anne explains that she left Zebra Apps because she could not keep the engineering department together as a single person. The system itself was flawed. 

What does Marie do when she is pushed by Anne? Could Zebra Apps have done more for the children displaced by conflict? 

Thank you to Tiffany Lam for reading this episode. 

Are you jumping in from this episode?  Watch what has happened in episodes 1 & 2 in this 4 mins video: https://youtu.be/TylXiIt_F8g 

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Why is the HR department in Zebra Apps oh so dysfunctional? How do you achieve credible insights into the temperature amongst the employees when there are glass walls between HR, the leadership team, and the rest of the company? And what are the best strategies to follow up when you finally get these insights? Patrick Sheridan answers these questions and shares his real life experiences from daily work with HR in his role as a Transformation Lead in FLSmidth. 

Listen to the story part for the episode here:
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2104440/12659284

Guest:

Patrick Sheridan

https://www.linkedin.com/in/pasheridan/

Tools and topics:

• The role of HR in an organization
• Using employee surveys to create an engagement strategy and deliver the results to line management so they can follow up with their employees
• 3 step approach: Focus on internal communication, get the senior leadership to restate who we are as a company, and reestablish the values
• Dysfunctions of HR due to lack of clear roles and processes
• Purpose and use of exit interviews
• Importance of interdepartmental collaboration within HR - and across all departments in a company
• Awareness of cultural differences across countries e.g. relational and hierarchal structures

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The fate of Zebra Apps is finally decided, and all the characters' stories are wrapped up. What will be next for Marie? Tune in and listen to this final episode of the entire story to find out!

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Marie presents the results of her benchmark to Natalie and Mark. Mark takes note of the free soda missing from their package. During the meeting, Marie understands that Mark has been conducting exit interviews with employees, but never shared the results with her. He promised to share the results. Esther, the benefits manager, shares the results in a stack of printed paper on Marie’s desk. 

What is in the exit interviews? And what has happened in the past year, that changed everything?

Thank you to Tiffany Lam for reading this episode. 

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What does it say about a company when employees start leaving for jobs with less pay? Can soda really be a differentiating factor for employee retention? And can you buy one unit of trust and two buns of collaboration at the baker's? Our two guest commentators Puk and Claus pose and answer these and more questions in this commentary episode.

Listen to Marie's story that is commented on here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2104440/12213283  

Guests:

Puk Falkenberg

https://www.linkedin.com/in/pukfalkenberg/  

from Good Morning April

https://www.goodmorningapril.com/  

Claus Vagner Pedersen

https://www.linkedin.com/in/clausvpedersen/ 

from Syndicate

https://www.syndicate.dk/en/about 

Frameworks:

Frederic Laloux

https://www.reinventingorganizations.com/ 

Five stages of grief

https://grief.com/the-five-stages-of-grief/ 

The Five Dysfunctions of a Teams

https://www.tablegroup.com/topics-and-resources/teamwork-5-dysfunctions/ 

Transtheoretical Model of Behavior Change

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Wayne-Velicer/publication/285440305_The_transtheoretical_model/links/5662ed8008ae418a786b963c/The-transtheoretical-model.pdf 

Basecamp implodes

https://www.theverge.com/2021/4/30/22412714/basecamp-employees-memo-policy-hansson-fried-controversy 

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It's the end of the month. Another employee resigns from Zebra Apps, an EdTech company. Marie, the head of development HR, is tasked with getting to the bottom of the wave of resignations. Could it be that the company does not offer free soda? Or is there something else at play?

Listen to our guest experts commenting on this episode: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2104440/12153692 

Thank you to Tiffany Lam for reading this episode. 

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Our very last guest on the podcast, Cecil 'Gary' Rupp, is an expert in leadership, business transformation, and Lean-Agile frameworks. With both executive management and management consulting experience, Gary brings a unique perspective to what our friends in Zebra Apps need to be doing to save their own future.

Value stream mapping is the name of the game in this episode. Gary takes us through the concept, which is covered in his newest book, The Lean-Agile Way, co-authored by several other experts (Richard Knaster, Steve Pereira, Al Shalloway).

As a proficient "herder of human cats", Gary shares advice on how to get large numbers of people to go in the same direction by applying a systemic perspective to improve flow. We talk about green Lamborghinis, project vs. product, and Lean vs. Agile. We talk about people, process, information, technology, and services as business enablers. And we discuss Eliyahu Goldratt's point about how it is waste to spend money on anything that is not an organizational constraint.

But most importantly, we discuss value stream mapping from concept to delivery and how this continuous exercise will lift an organization's ability to reach its target. Gary also shares insights into the BLAST and BASE frameworks for team collaboration in a Lean-Agile setting.

Curious? Check out The Lean-Agile Way, visit Gary's homepage and browse his learning site The Lean-Agile Accelerator Bundle. You can also find Cecil 'Gary' Rupp on LinkedIn.

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Richard himself makes an appearance in the meeting, where a group of Zebra employees investigate scenarios for the company's survival. The tension builds as it becomes clear that Zebra Apps will not make it for much longer with its current setup. But then what?

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To kick off the final chapter of Marie's story, we are lucky to be accompanied by Sofie Henriksen, who is a leader within strategy in a digital innovation agency.
Sofie brings her insightful perspectives to the table as we intersect how personalities, actions, and behaviors are understood and worked with in the context of Zebra Apps.

As the end of the story is approaching, all things are escalating and new challenges are coming up. Marie is scrambling to fix the issues, both the visible and invisible ones. And suddenly, the co-founder Richard makes an appearance to provide his input to the future of Zebra Apps. How will his cultural weight and founding myth in the organization impact the tough decisions to be made? And who is even allowed to have intentions for a company?

During the episode, we discuss the importance of guarding your internal brand as a senior leader, how to be a role model (and how not be!), and we touch upon the difficult topic of employee mental health and to what degree the employer is responsible for people's well being. We talk about how involved leaders should be in a self-organized team set-up, and how a clear organizational strategy as a company level is critical to succeed if the teams are given full autonomy.

And finally, Sofie shares her perspectives on how she hopes Marie's story will end.

Find Sofie on LinkedIn, where she often shares her inspiring thoughts and opinions on leadership topics. For example, you can check out this article (in Danish) about  rethinking traditional organizational structures for the future generations. Or listen to this podcast episode (in English) of Karriereklubben, where Sofie and two other panelists are debating work dilemmas.

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Marie and the engineers talk to an advisory board of parents and teachers to get feedback on ASLO, and share the concerning results with Natalie and the leadership team, who finally seem to listen. Natalie, who used to be a teacher herself, decides to take things into her own hands.
The engineers start setting shared objectives for each sprint based on a company value. Marie meets her HR contact Todd from competitor ConvoSystems, who shares a surprising truth about life with Richard as CTO. And finally, Shaine has a suggestion for what to do with the data centre, but is it enough to save Zebra Apps?

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In the final commentary episode of chapter 5, we are happy to welcome Katja Schipperheijn, internationally awarded author, learning influencer, futurist and keynote speaker on learning, innovation and being human in a digital world. With years of experience from the EdTech company, Katja is the perfect match to guide Zebra Apps at this chaotic point in the story.

Katja sums up this story episode as "a mess". Zebra Apps is struggling to survive as a company, and Marie is managing everyone in separate groups, not seeming to understand the power of bringing people together.

We discuss corporate rebels and how they are wonderful, but sometimes lack people skills. We talk about how an external moderator (and Marie does not count as one!) would be helpful to navigate the stakeholder landscape and facilitate the needed discussions. How shall the people of the Zebra Apps organization overcome imposter syndrome? And what does it mean - and what do you do -when your CFO *literally* takes a bite of your bun without asking?

We learn about Katja's "future readiness approach", which is facilitated in two parts:

1. Invite a diverse group of people from all across the organization to individually write down their biggest obstacle, then discuss
2. Forget the problems around us and make the top management reflect over the purpose and values of the company and where they want to go. Then, have the people of the company work together to align on opportunities.

Another practical trick from Katja is to implement three standard practices in Zebra Apps. The first one is to make "why" a standard question at the end of all meetings. Secondly, create an environment where people feel secure enough to say "I don't know". And finally, celebrate your fuck-ups!

Towards the end of the episode, we learn from Katja about the status and trends in the EdTech industry (and yes, one of them is AI, and no, not many know what this means).

If you want to learn much more about learning, innovation, and technology, check out Katja's website, where you can find a lot of great resources (like examples of keynotes, workshop formats and an inspirational blog). Katja recently launched another book - The Learning Mindset - which is about the people of organizations and how to combine human competencies with technologies to thrive.

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