Jacob Kaplan-Moss

Tag: organizations

Are You Stuck On Vision, Strategy, or Tactics? April 16th, 2021

When organizations are performing well, the whole is more than the sum of its parts. That’s the whole point of building teams: together we can accomplish more than if we work solo. But many organizations get stuck: suddenly, the whole becomes less than the sum of its parts! When this happens, it can be difficult to understand what’s going on: everyone can be working hard, and yet as a whole, the team just seems to be treading water. When this happens, I’ve found a useful model for understanding what’s going on. I like to ask: is the organization stuck on vision, strategy, or tactics?

The Three Kinds of Organizational Power March 15th, 2021

Within an organization, there are three kinds of power structures: role power, relationships, and expertise. Understanding these kinds of power — how they’re built; how they’re wielded; ethically and otherwise; what they can and can’t accomplish — is key to understanding organizations at a systemic level and maximizing your effectiveness at work.

Effective Organizations Value Autonomy February 26th, 2021

I believe that autonomy is one of the most important values of effective organizations. But I also think it’s a value that’s misunderstood and misapplied. In this post, I’ll (1) define what I mean by “autonomy”, (2) explain what autonomy isn’t, and (3) try to articulate why autonomy, as an organizational value, leads to higher effectiveness.