Organization Development Consulting

TMS Americas Consulting Approach

We consult with organizations through the lens of Complex Responsive Processes (CRP). Developed by Dr. Ralph Stacey and colleagues at the University of Hertfordhsire in the UK, Complex Responsive Processes is an ideology that offers an alternative to current mainstream thinking about how organizations develop and perform. We consult with you to see your current organizational challenges through this lens and rethink and act on these challenges in fundamentally different ways.

How is Complex Responsive Processes Different?

Mainstream, dominant thinking about organizations is based on a number of assumptions that can be quite limiting. Some of these assumptions are:		Complex Responsive Processes is based on a different set of assumptions:
We act into a knowable and predictable future.		We act into an unknowable yet comprehendible future.
Behavior and development are primarily individually focused and individually driven. .		Behavior and development is a social, emergent process.
Management’s role is to design the systems of the organization so those in the organization act according to those systems.		Management’s role is to articulate interaction intentions for the organization and then enter into interactions where these intentions will be further informed and potentially realized.
Strategy and change in an organization is realized through the execution of plans typically created by senior management.		Strategy and change emerge through the patterns of interaction between people in the organization and are affected by the context which includes the local power dynamics within those interactions. Planning at a detailed level is ineffective beyond a time frame greater than 3 months.
Mainstream, dominant thinking These assumptions are the foundation of many initiatives in organizations. As a result, these initiatives are often ineffective and counterproductive.		Complex Responsive Processes These assumptions provide a realistic picture of what is actually occurring in an organization and therefore enable more effective and realistic decisions and activity.

What Might This Mean?

Below are listed some common organizational initiatives that can be more effective when considered through the lens of Complex Responsive Processes:

Strategic Planning

Mainstream strategic planning is often based on achieving a vision which is seen as a destination or direction that is better than the current reality. The gap between this vision and the current reality is called creative tension and the purpose of strategic planning is to close this gap by creating numerous action plans with accountabilities and time lines to be acted on.

Alternatively, strategic planning through the lens of Complex Responsive Processes recognizes a primarily unknowable future and incorporates the reality that strategy emerges through intentions informing interactions.

Through CRP articulated intentions become a lens through which every interaction can be seen, both now and into the future. These intentions replace the concept of vision.

Intentions, articulated at a local level through local experience tend to be much more effective at aligning an organization and are much more cost effective.

A more effective way to do strategic planning is to plan for interactions where intentions can be discussed and moved forward. Action planning will naturally occur within those interactions and will be more relevant to the local context.

Strategic change can only be planned at a very high level because its implications are dramatically different throughout the organization. Once that high level planning is done it is best to move it forward locally with extensive local interactions that are frank, honest and inclusive and do not shy away from the power realities that exist in the decisions to be made.

Performance Management

Typically, performance management systems are one of the least effective systems in an organization. No matter how sophisticated, the primary intent which is rarely discussed but known by all is to control behavior.

Alternatively, performance management through the lens of Complex Responsive Processes recognizes that performance is a social, emergent process that is directly tied to the day to day challenges in the organization.

Real performance conversations typically happen all the time through normal day to day conversations between people. An effective PM system can capture this reality.

It is always be the performer who drives the PM system from start to finish. If it is the performer’s manager the system simply will be ineffective.

The key competency that makes PM processes effective is ‘self-management’. The concept of self management recognizes that the individual is truly the only one who can be accountable for their performance.

Learning and Development

Most learning and development departments build content driven events as the means to knowledge creation and skill development. More sophisticated departments have less events but still focus heavily on content and the acquisition of skills, not their activation and not the context in which that activation occurs.

Alternatively, Complex Responsive Processes recognize that learning and development is a process that occurs over time through real experience, with those experiences being reframed by new thinking.

The more the concepts of self-management and accountability are built into the learning context the more effective the learning is.

Extended processes are most often far more effective yet much more difficult to measure and control. Effectiveness is the better goal and measurement of this can occur by qualitative methods.

Taking the experiences that occur in the organization itself seriously is a great source of learning. No less than 50% of the learning that occurs in the organization should stem from its own experience.

Our greatest experience in working with Complex Responsive Processes is our own organization. We see and operate our organization through this lens. The focus of our work is to help you see through this lens on a continual basis. You will see much more clearly what is happening in your organization. You will then choose to respond more effectively to your own unique experiences within your organization.

The consultants with TMS-Americas typically engage with clients on an intermittent basis for an extended period of time, usually 6 months or longer. This allows for real activity to happen within the organization which can be discussed, adapted and learned from through the lens of Complex Responsive Processes.

TMS-Americas also have learning designs in the area of group and individual coaching that are founded on this thinking.

Group Coaching	description	case study
We use a blend of TMS profiles, leading edge concepts and skill building that are delivered in workshop format and sustained by structured self directed team coaching meetings. We also adapt this design for use when coaching the direct team of an executive that is involved with one on one coaching.

InterAction Coaching	description
Short term one-on-one coaching that incorporates a team component, recognizing (and measuring) the impact of team on individual change.