The best way to lead an organization is by allowing it to do what it naturally wants to do. By John Sumser

1. The Shape Of Opportunity
Organizational Aikido
Principles and Questions
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2. “Aikido is performed by blending with the
motion of the attacker and redirecting the force
of the attack rather than opposing it head-on.
The goal was to create an art that practitioners
could use to defend themselves while also
protecting their attacker from injury.”
Two Color Hat - Bodega Bay, CA - 415.683.0775 - john@twocolorhat.com July 2009 2

3. P1. organizations always move towards the status quo
?1. where does our organization want to go?
frozen unfrozen frozen
Basic Transformation
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4. P2. people migrate towards opportunity
?2. where do people migrate in our company?
The Flow Principle
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5. P3. opportunity consolidates with tenure
?3. where is opportunity consolidated?
Organizational Gravity
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6. P4. experience yields incremental improvement;
inexperience yields innovation
?4. do we manage for improvement, innovation or both?
Innovator’s Dilemma
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7. P5. innovation requires permission to fail;
incremental improvement needs precision
?5 do we want sandboxes, classrooms or both?
Manager’s Dilemma
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8. P6. human groups age by getting older
?6 do we want natural lifecycle or control?
Organizational Lifecycle
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9. P7. human groups behave predictably:
- easier to get to top from bottom than middle
- influence supports the status quo
- moving the norm requires constant intervention
- continuous improvement can be institutional
- innovation can be institutionalized
- (continuous improvement is not innovation)
?7. which predictable behaviors do we reward?
Predictability of Groups
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10. fast growth end in sight layoff progression post cash-cow
stable growth natural consolidation revitalization regime change
Choosing Organizational Shape
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11. HR Optimization Process
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12. Take Aways
- organizations have shapes, principles
- change works when it’s aligned with principles (Aikido)
- change happens when measurement is constant
- status quo is a good thing
- transformation is paradoxical
- success = making a decision and measuring the results
- start from assumption that orgs do the right thing
Summary
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