All posts filed under: Organizational Change

Being Resilient

Published by Jane McConnell

This article is about being resilient. It is not about resilience. A resilient person or organization can get through a crisis. But making it through once is not enough. It is highly likely there will be more and greater disruption in the short- and long-term. We are already living this. Being resilient is a state of readiness, a way of acting, a way of thinking. It is proactive, not reactive. In today’s work environment, this is business critical, for individuals and for organizations. It may even be a question of survival. (more…)

Civil Disobedience Facing Strategic Blindness (1/2)

Published by Jane McConnell

CONTEXT: Focus here on Civil Disobedience.

The opposing forces of what I’m calling civil disobedience and strategic blindness underlie the gig mindset inside the organization. They are the fundamental forces that will make or break the gig-mindset way of working inside companies and are the subject of an early chapter in my upcoming book. This article about civil disobedience is part one of a short series. (more…)

Civil Disobedience Facing Strategic Blindness (2/2)

Published by Jane McConnell

CONTEXT: Focus here on Strategic Blindness.

The opposing forces of what I’m calling civil disobedience and strategic blindness underlie the gig mindset inside the organization. They are the fundamental forces that will make or break the gig-mindset way of working inside companies and are the subject of an early chapter in my upcoming book. This article about strategic blindness is part two of a short series. (more…)

People, work cultures and leadership are out of synch

Published by Jane McConnell

The point of this short article is to show data over past years that provide a context for understanding the emergence of the gig mindset: High people capabilities in stifling work cultures  with rigid management practices have led to new behaviors for people who are self-motivated to make a difference in their organization. (more…)

Navigating the Gig and Traditional Mindset Polarity

Published by Jane McConnell

My research has identified 8 behaviors that characterize traditional and gig mindsets.   If you scan the list of traditional behaviors, the left column on the chart, you’ll see that most organizations strongly enforce this way of doing things. Processes, roles and management practices are aligned to the traditional way of working. Gig mindset behaviors, the right column, are rarely encouraged, and sometimes even sanctioned. The challenge we are facing is that organizations need both mindsets. (more…)

How a Gig Mindset Inside Organizations Will Shape Our Future

Published by Jane McConnell

(Originally published for  the 10th Global Peter Drucker Forum, with the theme management. the human dimension in 2018.) The shape of organizations in the future will depend in large part on how we as individuals take control, steer our own lives and interact and communicate with others in the workplace. For the last few years I have seen many people, salaried and inside organizations, showing signs of attitudes and behavior similar to external freelancers. I use the term “gig mindset” to describe this phenomenon and decided to explore it further. (more…)