In my last blog I talked about how alignment can help resolving the dilemma of the necessity and the fallibility of rules and procedures. Every conscientious leader wrestles with the problem of how to leave employees free to do what they deem good for the organisation, whilst 'running a tight ship' that is as efficient as possible, wasting minimal resources and time. For the latter objective, a clear set of rules and procedures is necessary, but they will regularly interfere

In my last blog I talked about people who break the rules now and then, because they believe the specific situation they're in could not be foreseen when the rules were made. As I discuss in my book The Fearless Monkey, one way to create space for 'deviant' actions is to work with alignment rather than agreement. ‘Agreements’ are often just rules by another name, laid down by management. It would be better to have rules (guidelines) that come from alignment. The Japanese phil

THE PARENT'S DILEMMA It is one of the dilemmas of being a parent: if your child is always well-behaved, does that make you proud or do you feel that there is more to life than behaving well? This is the mixed feeling you may experience when your child is sent home from school for committing some kind of mischief. We are told that the ones who follow the rules and do as they are told are rarely the ones who make a difference -- and you can seriously doubt whether they are livi

You are working for an organisation, but your boss doesn’t give you the space to do what you think is good for the business. E.g. you’re not to pursue other avenues that you think might lead to more business, or you are not encouraged to talk to colleagues in other departments in order to improve things together. 'Do as you are told and what you were hired to do.' How can you be a fearless monkey in such an environment? Imagine you are holding a pen in your fist. When you ope