Today, 20 August 2023, marks 25 years since Chris Rodgers Consulting Ltd was created. During that time, we've had the privilege of working with a wide range of talented managers and other specialists, across a broad spectrum of organizations and in several countries across the world. This post captures a few aspects of the Company's positioning and practice that have emerged along the way.
In the formative days of the Consultancy, the aim was stated as.one of,
helping managers unlock the wealth of talent within their organizations and channel it for business benefit - enabling them to create high-performing organizations which inspire excellence and achieve sustainable competitive advantage.
Some of the 'marketing' documents from those early days are illustrated below.
Within the broad scope of organizational change and development, the areas of special focus were highlighted as: strategic performance management; leadership and organizational dynamics; managing change; organizational structures, roles and relationships; and, developing specialists in organizational change and development. Following completion of an Advanced Coach Training course in 2001-2, led by Peter Bluckert, executive coaching was added to the portfolio .The early flyer also identified a number of proprietary sense-making frameworks, which - along with others - we have used as part of our personal practice theory over the years.
Several potential consulting roles were also identified in the handout, to enable us to "match the client's unique requirments". In all cases, paying attention to the hidden, messy and informal dyamics of organization, as reflected in our informal coalitions view of organizational change and development, was an important thread running throughout the work. This reflects a complex social process view of organizational dynamics, which has been further underlined over the years.
Besides the "Unlock the Wealth of Talent" handout, the above diagram also shows an envelope described as"Your very own Survival Kit". This included the flyer illustrated above, and a business card - for clients to pass on to others, if they thought that they might benefit from consultancy support in any of the above areas.
Clients…
As shown below, clients have included a diverse range of organizations, whose areas of work extend well beyond our 'heritage' in power generation. Over the years, this has involved both large and small assignments, including speaking engagements, across broad areas of the public and, especially, private sectors. Assignments have been carried out in all four nations of the UK, as well as internationally.
Most of these assignments have been carried out independently; although some have resulted from our relationships with other consultancies - most notably, for a number of years, with Lane4 Management Group.
Other key links…
Chris is a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute and, from December 2008 to December 2020, he was an Honorary Senior Visiting Fellow in the Faculty of Management at Cass (now Bayes) Business School. He was also a founder member, in June 1999, of a London-based network of senior OD practitioners; running the network over the 17 years from January 2005 to January 2022.
Another significant influence on our thinking and practice over the years has been the work of Ralph Stacey. In particular, his complex responsive process view of organizational dynamics, as carried forward and developed further by Chris Mowles and his colleagues, past and present, at the University of Hertfordshire. Although having arrived at this point through very different routes, and whilst differing around the edges, we've definitely 'pitched our tents' in the same place.This link has been cemented by our annual attendance, since 2010, at the Complexity and Management Conference; provoking new insights and resulting in many new relationships..
Important contributions have also been made by the publishing teams at Palgrave Macmillan and Routledge, who produced our two books, Informal Coalitions and The Wiggly World of Organization.
The diagram below features the cover of a special issue of the e-journal, "Organisations and People". Entitled OD Matters, this was produced by the then Association for Management Education and Development (AMED), in celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the OD Innovation Network. The other illustration is a figure from Chris's editorial, which identifies the articles that were written by members of the network..
Taking complexity seriously…
Organizational complexity, and its widespread implications for management practice and organizational performance, has provided the core organizing theme of the consultancy’s work from its inception. In some instances, this is reflected in presentations and workshops that focus directly on the complex social process of organization, within which we are all participating. In most cases, though, our work with clients has been framed within an appropriate level of understanding of these dynamics, relevant to their specific issues.
From our perspective, organizations don't do things, people do. Together, people talk organization into existence. That is to say, they are perpetually creating the future together through their ongoing interactions. This firmly places people at the core of everything that is happening. This is not a design choice but a natural dynamic of organization. In a sense, this carries forward our initial "unlocking organizational talent" aim into the arena of organizational dynamics. The focus here is on 'unlocking' people's perspectives, practices and performance, in ways which enable them all - from CEO or equivalent.to the front line - to escape from the suffocating grip of management orthodoxy and to take seriously the complex social reality of organization within which they are all immersed.
The thinking that underpins this is set out in detail in our two books: Informal Coalitions - Mastering the hidden dynamics of organizational change (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007); and The Wiggly World of Organization - Muddling through with purpose, courage and skill (Routledge, 2021). Many more thoughts on this understanding of organization and management practice are included in this Informal Coalitions blog.
In 2014, an article was published in The Sunday Times, entitled "Management by Muddling Through". This was based, primarily, on an interview which reflected our "wiggly world" view of organization and the "muddling through" nature of real-world management practice. This is shown in the illustration below.
An endorsement…
Despite not seeking formal endorsement of our contribution over the years - other than as reflected in clients' requests for us to carry out more work for them(!) - we have been pleased to receive many unsolicited comments over the years. For brevity, only one of these is included here. It was written on LinkedIn in 2021, folowing the publication of The Wiggly World of Organization:
“Over my career I have been fortunate to attend some fantastic leadership and development courses. In all that, I can honestly say the most influential person to help me understand change and make sense of organisations (as well as muddling through my career) has been Chris Rodgers. So very excited to read his new book which arrived today!”
Nina Skorupska CBE FEI, Chief Executive at REA
Onwards to the next 25 …
... whether that’s days, months or (probably not!) years.
As was the case during my 30 years as an engineer and manager in the UK power generation industry, I have had the privilege of working with some fantastic people as a consultant, facilitator, speaker, and coach; all of whom have enriched my working life and added to my understanding of organization and management practice. I hope that this continues for some time yet.
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