Entries by Daniel Mezick

Invite Not Impose

What we are calling INVITING LEADERSHIP may be the most important leadership skill of the 21st century. Especially when the executive leaders are endeavoring to bring change and real improvement to the organization. Employee engagement is essential to success in achieving a lasting business agility transformation. Imposing practices enterprise-wide does not actually work long-term, and […]

Engagement Models Explained

Employee engagement is essential to rapid and lasting change. It’s impossible to get a lasting “transformation” of anything at all if the people affected are not actively and willingly participating. This is all explained here: The term Engagement Model, defined: (link) Mike Burrows (of Agendashift fame) offers these additional defining characteristics and properties of an […]

Success with Agile: What They Don’t Tell You

  There is now a very long list of “Agile scaling frameworks.” None of them work particularly well if they are “rolled out” to a dis-engaged, dis-empowered workforce. But nobody tells you that. Instead we are led to believe that “if we do the framework right,” success will surely follow. Except that it won’t. Why? […]

Is Pushing Practices on Teams Agile?

This question comes up more and more: Is pushing practices on teams aligned with Agile values and principles? The answer may surprise you…let’s take a look. Specifically: How does the OpenSpace Agility approach differ from the typical style of forcing practices on teams? It comes down to “open space,” where conversation and connection is valued, […]

Are OpenSpace Agility People Pushing The Idea of Pull?

Some folks say that OSA practitioners are using “push” to encourage “pull.” They say that OSA people are doing the very same thing they are trying to eliminate, namely the forcing of something on people without their consent. They say OSA people are “pushing pull.” But wait: is that really true? “Push” is defined here […]

The 2016 Berlin OpenSpace Agility Workshop (Oct 11-12)

We are pleased to be offering the OpenSpace Agility Workshop in Berlin Germany !! This 2-day learning event is designed for those who want to achieve rapid and lasting Agile adoptions.   REGISTER HERE   Who Benefits Most From Attendance: Agile Coaching professionals & Scrum Masters Executives & Managers who are considering an Agile adoption Executives […]

OpenSpace Agility at AGILE DC!!

We are happy to announce that we are a Platinum sponsor for the AGILE DC event coming up October 24, 2016!! Large organizations are ramping up for big, enterprise-wide Agile adoptions. Did you know that large-scale Agile-adoption efforts can cost ONE MILLION DOLLARS or more? We show you how to do it better. We show you […]

Scaling Engagement

Human engagement is what actually scales, and INVITATION is how you get it. INVITATION is what actually scales. Not frameworks, not buzzwords. Not the usual BS. Every good game has opt-in participation. Organizational change is a game. Play it well. Learn to invite. Playing the Game Here is a way to play the OSA game […]

Agile Medication Revisited

I recently was asked by a friend to provide a book recommendation for executives that want to learn about Agile fundamentals. Here is what I offered as guidance. This has everything to do with OpenSpace Agility, which is a method of introducing Agile change that focuses on principles and stops well short of prescribing practices. Here […]

Invitation as a Leadership Art

Any framework is OK, as long as those affected are invited, and are actually choosing to experiment with it. As long as there is genuine (and informed) consent from those affected. The framework used is not the problem, but rather the mandate of it… by authority.   Any experience with an approach to change is best […]

The Shu-Ha-Ri Argument

“These developers have no idea at all about Agile practices. They need to slavishly follow what we tell them- at least for a while. We must show them the exact A-B-C steps. And they must do them. It does not matter if they want to or not. They are in the “Shu” stage of Shu-Ha-Ri. […]

Definitions Are Agreements

Self-management is a game. Like any game, self-management requires very clear agreements. To play any game, we must all first agree on the goals, the rules, and the progress-tracking aspects. Since the good game has opt-in participation, the opportunity to play is presented as invitation.   Communication Communication using human languages is, itself, a kind of […]

Invitation Based Change

During the OSA Workshop held June 09-10 (2016) in Leuven, Belgium, a participant named Jef Cumps began using the term “invitation based change.” He used it several times (I think) before I actually began noticing. At one point, I noticed this and I asked him to stop, and repeat what he just said. “Invitation based […]

Discovering What is Possible

We live in a world where a mechanistic, “machine” view of organizations has served for some time. The end of this era is upon us, and the transition to a living-systems view is well underway. Organizations are more like living things than they are like machines. Without getting into all the details of “why,” this […]

Q&A on OSA: online live video event on 12/14/2015

Next Q&A on OSA, 12/14, 4PM EST (GMT-5) These Q&A calls are an ongoing series of sessions designed to enable practitioners and Sponsors. These sessions are designed to handle your questions after absorbing the OSA basics. We plan to have a guest speaker during the last 30 minutes, for example a sponsoring exec who has […]

OSA at AgileCoachCamp DC

We are both sponsoring and attending AGILE COACH CAMP USA EAST in DC July 31-Aug2. In addition, we are offering a 1/2 OSA Experiential Briefing on Sunday Aug 2 immediately following the conference event, and RIGHT BEFORE the Agile2015 event. You can learn more about AGILE COACH CAMP, and register, here: AGILE COACH CAMP USA […]

OSA at the PMI

OSA and OSA concepts are featured in a workshop, June 19 at the MASSBAY-PMI Professional Development Day in Norwood Mass. Here is the link: http://www.myeventguru.com/events/PDDAY2015/   Here is the session description: The Rapid & Lasting Agile Adoption: Push…or Pull? Deep Dive Session A mandate of specific Agile practices is a “push”, while an invitation to […]

OSA at Agile2015

OpenSpace Agility (OSA) is featured in the Agile Conference held in Washington DC in August 2015. We believe that most experienced Agile practitioners understand the futility of “forced process change” and simply need a way to gently introduce Agile to their organization. OSA is one approach that actually works.     Here is the link […]

Is Mandating Agile Practices and Good Bet?

Hundreds of millions of dollars are spent annually on Agile training, Agile coaching, and Agile-related software to manage the process. Hundreds of millions. Annually. It is not uncommon for a large organization to spend over 1 million dollars per year on Agile-related products and services. Is this money being well-spent? Are the organizations that are […]

Simplicity Is What Scales

Participant engagement is absolutely essential to enterprise-wide process change. I do not believe I am oversimplifying when I say that engaging people- at every level of authorization– actually creates ALL of the “right underlying conditions for agility” that are necessary to succeed.I do not believe I am oversimplifying when I say that engaged people can […]