In a recent conversation, the topic of the Abilene Paradox came up. It was quickly dismissed as ‘just another name for group think’. No, not really. Let’s look at why. Both groupthink and the Abilene Paradox  show us how teams make decisions, not because they lack intelligence, but because they suppress honest conversations. The difference lies in the why . In groupthink, people genuinely believe the group is right. Pressure to conform (social norms), maintain harmony, or av

Let’s talk about gossip Not the stuff we see on the news or instagram about royals and celebrities. I’m talking about the gossip that...

‘𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘧 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘥’....

Are you about to set up an Enterprise Change Management Office (ECMO) in your organisation? Or perhaps you have been tasked with...

A conundrum for some. You have been asked to set up or reinvigorate a fledgling Change Management Office. This could be the opportunity...

Context Almost a decade ago I was made redundant. When this happened, one of my dear friends asked me to write a blog on my experience with redundancy. Now, 10 years later I have revisited that post and added a post-script with my recent insights... The post (that was written in 2016) For a few years, as part of my role as a change consultant, I had been running numerous sessions on the ‘neuroscience of change’, using David Rock’s SCARF model, to help teams and leaders unders

There's a common challenge that early career change practitioners face when joining a project – and that is ‘where to start?’  The...

As one of the key functions of the Change Management Office (CMO) is to build change capability in their practice and across the...