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Narrow Band Comprehension (NBC) illustrates a significant cognitive and organisational challenge, limiting both individual and collective performance through selective understanding. By fostering a culture that promotes comprehensive engagement, integrating holistic performance metrics and enforcing governance-driven accountability, organisations can counteract the restrictive tendencies of NBC.

#CapabilityDevelopment #ManagementPsychology #OrganisationalBehaviour

https://robert.winter.ink/narrow-band-comprehension-understanding-myopia-in-performance-and-governance/

Everybody I speak with these days is building high-performing teams. I am too, at least that is what I am supposed to be doing. Of course, between what we all think we do and what we actually do often falls one hell of a shadow. This is particularly the case when it comes to team development.

#CapabilityDevelopment #Leadership #Management #TransformationJourney #PerformanceManagement #Innovation #CriticalThinking #DecisionMaking #StrategicThinking

https://robert.winter.ink/building-higher-performing-teams-a-leaders-guide-to-collaboration-and-success/

Adaptive leadership distinguishes technical problems from adaptive challenges, requiring innovative solutions and learning. It involves situational awareness, stakeholder engagement, and experimentation, balancing distributed leadership with purpose, avoiding reactive or static models.

#CapabilityDevelopment #Leadership #Management #TransformationJourney

https://robert.winter.ink/navigating-change-the-role-of-adaptive-leadership-in-business-evolution/

Popper's theory of falsification provides a powerful framework for modern leadership. By embracing the principles of falsification, leaders can foster innovation, agility, and resilience in their organisations. This also allows the evolution of our understanding by discarding theories that do not withstand scrutiny.

#Management #Leadership #CapabilityDevelopment

https://robert.winter.ink/poppers-theory-of-falsification-a-pillar-of-adaptive-leadership/

True strategy requires deep analysis, clear choices, alignment, and continuous learning. Leaders must avoid vague goals and instead create actionable, coherent plans that drive real value and competitive advantage in a complex business environment. A case study of IKEA shows how this approached was used to build a global brand.

#Strategy #Management #Leadership #OrganisationalBehaviour #TransformationJourney #CapabilityDevelopment #GrowthMindset

https://robert.winter.ink/moving-beyond-platitudes-a-strategic-imperative/

Not all "strategies" are true strategies. Real strategies are specific, actionable, and aligned with goals. Platitudes, on the other hand, are vague, superficial statements that offer no real guidance.

#Strategy #Management #Leadership #TransformationJourney #CapabilityDevelopment

https://robert.winter.ink/when-a-strategy-is-not-a-strategy-its-a-platitude/

In organisational planning, hope often overshadows critical thinking and good ideas, with the allure of the next project always seeming like the 'fix' we should have implemented in the first place. This phenomenon is evident in publishing, where 'bestsellers' frequently flop, yet optimism persists unabated, and is a result of what is referred to in advertising as the 'green awning effect'.

#Management #DecisionMaking #CriticalThinking #CapabilityDevelopment

https://robert.winter.ink/this-time-it-will-be-different-a-costly-delusion/

The ability to critically think through problems is invaluable yet challenging to master. Effective thinking saves time, reduces mistakes, and fosters innovation. It requires deliberative practice and effort. Ed Thorp emphasised this in noting that deep thinking yields original ideas, but is hindered if we stop at a superficial understanding or rely too much on technology for answers.

#DecisionMaking #CriticalThinking #CapabilityDevelopment #TransformationJourney

https://robert.winter.ink/how-to-think-better-a-shallow-dive-into-a-deep-topic/

While anyone can ask questions, effective questioning requires skill and strategic thinking, especially for senior leaders whose role it is to help other managers and employees to explore ideas they didn't realise needed exploring. To foster innovation and effective decision-making, leaders must cultivate an inquisitive mindset and prioritise strategic questions over merely operational ones.

#DecisionMaking #Leadership #CapabilityDevelopment

https://robert.winter.ink/better-questions-make-for-better-decisions/

This is the first article in a series looking at the importance of learning from history and the value this can have for decision-making in organisations. However, there is also a warning from history.

#DecisionMaking #History #Leadership #ForPurpose #Strategy #OrganisationalBehaviour #CapabilityDevelopment #TransformationJourney

https://robert.winter.ink/look-there-is-a-tiger-in-that-grass/

This week I look at how AI is improving the quality of writing in business reports, but also the way in which it poses a challenge for evaluating a report's content and logic.

Ultimately, decision makers should be more informed, critical, and aware of the potential limitations and biases of AI.

#DecisionMaking #Management #OrganisationalBehaviour #CapabilityDevelopment #TransformationJourney

https://robert.winter.ink/could-ai-have-written-this/

While a fixed mindset can lead to toxic workplace behaviours and stagnation, a growth mindset tends to foster empowerment, collaboration, and innovation. Misconceptions regarding growth mindset abound and require we balance growth with the fixed mindset which competes in us all.

#Management #OrganisationalBehaviour #CapabilityDevelopment

https://robert.winter.ink/fixed-and-growth-twin-aspects-of-our-mindset/

The process of incremental improvements over time, inspired by the Japanese concept of *Kaizen*, has the capability to unlock enormous latent potential. It does this by emphasising the need to shift from seeking quick wins to focusing on small, continuous changes. This approach, rooted in the 1% principle, leads to significant long-term progress in personal and professional endeavours.

#OrganisationalBehaviour #CapabilityDevelopment #GrowthMindset #TransformationJourney

https://robert.winter.ink/day-by-day-nothing-seems-to-change/

Overconfidence in decision-making, especially in management, can prompt flawed strategies. But, embracing rationality over prediction, valuing anecdotal evidence over 'official data', and balancing confidence with pragmatism, is a recipe for success.

#DecisionMaking #PsychologicalSafety #Management #CapabilityDevelopment

https://robert.winter.ink/the-perils-of-overconfidence-and-benefits-of-rational-thinking/

A friend of mine often remarks, "I'm not always right, but I'm never wrong." This sums up the problem with the prevailing view about what 'being right' means. It preferences outcomes over inputs.

Something which explains why morally bad, and arguably criminal negligent, behaviour in politicians and business leaders is consistently rewarded. At least until their *success* comes to an abrupt halt.

#DecisionMaking #OrganisationalBehaviour #CapabilityDevelopment

https://robert.winter.ink/being-right-a-lot-an-inputs-approach/

While it is nearly impossible for us to predict one specific future, we can confidently position for multiple probable futures.

#DecisionMaking #Management #CapabilityDevelopment #GrowthMindset #Value #OrganisationalChange #TransformationJourney

https://robert.winter.ink/why-positioning-eats-predicting-for-breakfast/

The Southern Command organised a one day seminar on National Security and Building Bharat @2047 . I spoke in the seminar on Capability Development & Strategy to Attain Self Sufficiency. I made some important points in this talk of mine which has been taken note of. The need is for a follow up on a long term basis.

https://youtu.be/goUxBsetDDs

https://gunnersshot.com/2024/03/17/capability-development-in-technology-strategy-to-attain-self-sufficiency/

#CapabilityDevelopment #Technology #Miltech

Once we **stop** seeing an organisation as an *entity* separate from stakeholders and **start** seeing an organisation as a *complex social system* comprised of stakeholders, the role of governance in shaping and maintaining a healthy culture emerges.

#Governance #OrganisationalBehaviour #CapabilityDevelopment

https://robert.winter.ink/governance-achieving-a-healthy-organisational-culture/

Of late, I have been in a lot of conversations about governance. Conversations which, like the title of a Clint Eastwood western, could be described as the good, the bad, and the ugly.

#Governance #Management #CapabilityDevelopment

https://robert.winter.ink/governance-the-foundation-for-strategy-and-planning/

The capability trap: Nobody ever gets credit for fixing problems that never happened

Here is a summary of the key points about the capability trap, from the article “Nobody ever gets credit for fixing problems that never happened: creating and sustaining process improvement”.

What is the capability trap?

Many companies invest heavily in process improvement programs, yet few efforts actually produce significant results. This is called the “improvement paradox”.
The problem lies not with the specific tools, but rather how the introduction of new programs interacts with existing organizational structures and dynamics.
Using system dynamics modeling, the authors studied implementation challenges in depth through over a dozen case studies. Their models reveal insights into why improvement programs often fail.

Core causal loops

The “Work Harder” loop – managers pressure people to spend more time working to immediately boost throughput and close performance gaps. But this is only temporary.
The “Work Smarter” loop – managers encourage improvement activities which enhance process capability over time for more enduring gains, but there is a delay before benefits are seen.
The “Reinvestment” reinforcing loop – successfully improving capability frees up more time for further improvement. But the reverse vicious cycle often dominates instead.
The “Shortcuts” loop – facing pressure, people cut corners on improvement activities which temporarily frees up more time for work. But this gradually erodes capability.

The capability trap

Short-term “Work Harder” and “Shortcuts” decisions eventually hurt capability and require heroic work efforts to maintain performance, creating a downward spiral.
However, because capability erodes slowly, managers fail to connect problems to past decisions and blame poor worker motivation instead, leading to a self-confirming cycle.
Even improvement programs just increase pressure and drive more shortcuts, making stereotypes and conflicts worse. This “capability trap” causes programs to fail.

The “capability trap” refers to the downward spiral organizations can get caught in, where attempting to boost performance by pressuring people to “work harder” actually erodes process capability over time. This trap works through a few key mechanisms:

Facing pressure, people cut corners and reduce time spent on improvement activities in order to free up more time for immediate work. This temporarily boosts throughput.
However, this comes at a cost of gradually declining process capability, as less time is invested in maintenance, training, and problem solving.
Capability erosion then reduces performance, widening the gap versus desired performance levels.
Managers falsely attribute this to poor motivation or effort from the workforce. They lack awareness of the capability trap dynamics, and the delays between pressing people to “work harder” and the capability declines that eventually ensue.
Management increases pressure further, demanding heroic work efforts, which causes workers to cut even more corners. This spirals capability downward while confirming management’s incorrect attribution even more.

Key takeaway for learning leaders

Learning leaders must understand the systemic traps identified in the article that underly failed improvement initiatives and facilitate mental model shifts. This help build sustainable, effective learning programs to be realized through productive capability-enhancing cycles.

Key takeaway for immunization leaders

It is reasonable to hypothesize that poor health worker performance is a symptom rather than the cause of poor immunization programme performance. Short-term decisions, often responding to top-down targets and donor requirements, hurt capability and require, as the authors say, “heroic work efforts to maintain performance, creating a downward spiral.” Managers then incorrectly diagnose this as a performance problem due to motivation.

How to escape the capability trap

The key to avoiding or escaping this trap is therefore shifting the mental models that reinforce the incorrect attributions about motivation. Some ways to do this include:

Educating managers on the systemic structures causing the capability trap through methods like system dynamics modeling
Allowing time for capability-enhancing improvements to take effect before judging performance
Incentivizing quality and sustainability of throughput rather than just short-term volume alone
Seeking input from workers on the barriers to improvement they face

With awareness of the structural causes and delays, managers can avoid erroneously attributing blame. Patience and a systems perspective are critical for companies to invest their way out of the capability trap.

Shift mental models to recognize system structures leading to the capability trap, rather than blaming people. Then improvement tools can work.
A useful example could be system dynamics workshops that achieved this shift and enabled successful programs, dramatically enhancing performance.

Reference

Repenning, N.P., Sterman, J.D., 2001. Nobody ever gets credit for fixing problems that never happened: creating and sustaining process improvement. California management review 43, 64–88. https://doi.org/10.2307/41166101

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