Fit Forum Event: David Coleman returns for more conversation on collaboration

By Steve Hearsum | Published: August 6, 2010

We found our recent conversation with David Coleman so fruitful and relevant to the wider field of human relations in an organisational context that we have invited him back. David has agreed to join us next Wednesday, 11th August, at 8am Pacific Time/4pm UK time. He is the founder and Managing Director of Collaborative Strategies. He specializes in, amongst other things, online community and social network marketing & development, community management and various related fields. He is the author of 42 Rules for Successful Collaboration.

How can I join in?

The interview and Q&A will start at 4pm UK time (GMT +1hr).

The dial in number is + 1 712-432-3100 and the code is 152585. We’ll also be recording the call.

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David Coleman on collaboration, with added seagulls: recording now available

By Steve Hearsum | Published: July 22, 2010

The audio for our recent interview with David Coleman is now available, and this was one of the most interesting ones we have done.

Themes to emerge during the interview include:

  • The importance of taking a holistic view on collaboration , without which the chances of success are minimal.
  • TCOP Model (numbers in brackets are weighting): Technology (1), Culture – OB (2), Economics (3), Politics – managements’ behaviour (4), and the addition of a fifth dimension: Space.
  • Organisations typically see issues of collaboration as being all about technology.
  • The benefits of collaboration – can it be measured/quantified?
  • How important is trust for effective collaboration?
  • The extent to which emotional and relational intelligence is necessary for effective collaboration.
  • Why most organisations need a ‘Collaborative Shift’: a change in mental models to be successful, to looking at things holistically.
  • The role of fit and chemistry in collaboration; and the relationship between local concept and the notion of ‘liking’.

David is the founder and Managing Director of Collaborative Strategies. He specializes in, amongst other things, online community and social network marketing & development, community management and various related fields. He is the author of 42 Rules for Successful Collaboration.

The recording can be accessed here.

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Fit Forum Event: thought leader David Coleman joins us for a conversation…

By Steve Hearsum | Published: July 15, 2010

The recent Football World Cup in South Africa provided a number of remarkable examples of what happens when collaboration and interpersonal fit works, and when it is truly dysfunctional. If the teams from France and England offered fine examples of dysfunctional collaborative relationships, then Germany’s team was the polar opposite, as was that from the USA. And the coalition government in the UK is, arguably, an on-going collaborative inquiry….

Following on from the interview with Collaboration Specialist Kjetil Kristensen, we are delighted to have another thought leader in this field with us shortly. David Coleman is the founder and Managing Director of Collaborative Strategies. He specializes in, amongst other things, online community and social network marketing & development, community management and various related fields. He is the author of 42 Rules for Successful Collaboration.

We hope to be able to drill deeper into the relational nature of collaboration, and the significance or otherwise of ‘fit’ in this context. We may even talk football…

How can I join in?

The interview and Q&A will start at 5pm UK time (GMT +1hr).

The dial in number is + 1 712-432-3100 and the code is 152585. We’ll also be recording the call.

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Latest FitForum interview available for listening…

By Steve Hearsum | Published: May 24, 2010

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The audio for our recent interview with Collaboration Specialist Kjetil Kristensen is now available. In this interview we explored the territory of fit in relation to collaborative frameworks, through the lens of Kjetil’s work as a practitioner/researcher.

Themes to emerge include:

  • Collaboration from a research perspective: what is it, and how does Kjetil see this area evolving?
  • Collaboration vs mutualism: similarities and differences
  • The relational nature of the collaborative framework
  • The role of emotional intelligence in healthy and successful collaborative relationships
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Collaboration: how does it relate to fit/non-fit? Event on May 5th

By Steve Hearsum | Published: April 29, 2010

We are delighted to announce that on Wednesday May 5th, at 1pm UK time, we will be joined by Kjetil Kristensen, who is a Collaboration Specialist based in Oslo, Norway.

Fit and collaboration

We intend to explore fit through the lens of Kjetil’s specialism, and will explore areas such as collaborative strategies, collaborative innovation, collaboration management and leadership. Kjetil’s company is:

A research-based consultancy that provides guidance on collaborative strategies and effective, reliable collaborative infrastructures and work practices that improve the productivity of teams involved in innovation, collaborative problem solving and other knowledge intensive tasks.

Our curiosity was piqued by the relationship, if any, by the construct we term ‘fit’, and how that manifests itself in the context of collaboration as an explicit strategy for organisational change. It also led on neatly from our last event, with Professor Vlatka Hlupic of Westminster Business School, which was focused on emergent leadership and mutualism.

How can I join in?

The dial in number is + 1 712-432-3100 and the code is 152585. We’ll also be recording the call.

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Recording of Vlatka Hlupic interview available

By Steve Hearsum | Published: March 24, 2010

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Our most recent event was an interview with Professor Vlatka Hlupic of Westminster Business School. The principal themes to emerge during the interview were:

  • Emergent Leadership – what is it?
  • How does Emergent Leadership relate to ‘fit’?
  • The extent to which organisations of today are equipped or indeed open to Emergent Leaders.
  • Mutualism in an organisational context.
  • The need for practitioners and researchers to begin to evidence the benefits to business in financial or performance terms.
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An interview with Professor Vlatka Hlupic of Westminster Business School

By Bruce Lewin | Published: February 14, 2010

We’re delighted to announce that on March 11th at 3:30 (UK time), we will be joined by Professor Vlatka Hlupic of Westminster Business School for an interview and q&a session.

Fit and Emergent Leadership

Vlatka has recently had an article published in the Havard Business Review called “To Be a Better Leader, Give up Authority“. One of the interesting themes to emerge from this work is the idea of ‘mutualism’.

Mutualism involves measuring workers not against revenue or other numerical goals, which we have observed to be ineffective as motivational tools, but against qualitative values such as trust, responsibility, and innovation.

And it implies that leaders don’t dictate vision or strategy; instead, they enable employees to create a common vision through, for example, off-sites for discussion of strategic issues and regular feedback and education. Hitting numerical goals has been the natural outcome.

Exploring mutualism, alongside human fit should make for a very interesting discussion.

How can I join in?

The dial in number is + 1 712-432-3100 and the code is 152585. We’ll also be recording the call.

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Relationships account for 30-40% of differences in performance – Part 2 of ‘Where next for the Fit Forum?’

By Steve Hearsum | Published: February 11, 2010

“Researchers have often applied a one-size-fits-all model to relational work design, overlooking situational and individual differences in the functions of workplace relationship.“ (Grant & Parker, 2009: 36)

The underplaying of social relationships and social cohesion as significant facets of work and organisation is not new. In part this may be attributable to the difficulty researchers encounter when it comes to understanding, codifying and quantifying what happens in human relationships. Yet the ‘R’ word (‘relationship’) is one of those that clients often seem to get nervous about, so maybe I should not be so surprised.

Why bother with researching this area? If we consider for a moment a fundamental question: lovely as it may be to understand how relationships work, is there any impact on performance, ROI or shareholder value? Yes, actually…

“MIT research shows that 40% of creative teams productivity is directly explained by the amount of communication they have with others to discover, gather, and internalise information. In other MIT studies, research shows that employees with the most extensive digital networks are 7% more productive than their colleagues. Furthermore, those with the most cohesive face-to-face networks are 30% more productive.” (Hodgson, 2009 – my italics)

Read More »

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Where next for the Fit Forum? Part 1 of 2

By Steve Hearsum | Published: February 10, 2010

Since the Fit Forum was founded in June 2009, we have held several tele-conference events, covering a variety of themes ranging from the role of the unconscious in fit creation, Human Systems Dynamics and complex adaptive systems, and whether at a fundamental level there could be said to be something called ‘human fit’. The conversations we have had have stimulated debate amongst us as a group of practitioners, and brought into sharper focus the phenomena of ‘fit’ in the context of interpersonal human relationships. And we will shortly be announcing details of our next event, so watch this space for news of that.

Parallel to us, the 2009 Fit Conference, hosted on-line by the Open University, identified a number of trends in the area of academic research that form part of the backdrop to our work, namely:

  • Understanding what underlies perceptions of fit;
  • Distinguishing misfit from fit;
  • Looking at organisational fit within its social, economic, and religious environments;
  • Exploring organisational fit in different forms of work; International perspectives on fit;
  • Assessing the impact of organisational fit on organisations and teams;
  • Assessing fit for organisational use;
  • Longitudinal studies of fit.

Read More »

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Fit/Non-Fit through the lens of Human Systems Dynamics (HSD)

By Bruce Lewin | Published: December 18, 2009

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The 4th Fit Forum event on the theme of fit/non-fit through the lens of Human Systems Dynamics (HSD), took place on the 9th December. Our guest was Glenda Eoyang of the HSD Institute, and many thanks once again to Glenda for her time.

The event consisted of an initial interview with Glenda, during which we explored what HSD might be able to tell us about fit/non-fit, and a Q&A.

Some of the key themes to emerge included:

  • The similarities between HSD’s interest in similarities and differences and the notion of fit/non-fit.
  • The role of fit/non-fit in complex adaptive systems.
  • The suggestion that notions of fit/non-fit are embedded within human consciousness yet operate in many instances at an unconscious level, and the extent to which this can generate discomfort and un-ease.
  • The wider significance if fit in a socio-psychological context.

The subject of the next conversation is yet to be decided. Please let us know if you have any requests/suggestions.

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