Help our research: an “Organisational DNA test”
I spoke a few months ago with Olivier Bertrand and a couple of his colleagues who were looking into using phylogenetic techniques to analyse the results of organisational assessments. It seemed that Agendashift’s assessments were ideal for the purpose, and when we met for a second time, the team’s analysis of data captured via the classic Agendashift Delivery Assessment looked very, very promising (I exaggerate not – it was very exciting).
The timing could not be better. I’m now working hard on book 5, Wholehearted: Engaging with Complexity in the Deliberately Adaptive Organisation, and Olivier has been accepted as a PhD researcher at Université Paris-Saclay to conduct study in the field of Organisational Phylogenetics (PhylOrg). Together, we would like to focus on the new book’s assessment tool (also the assessment tool of the Adaptive Organisation workshop and the Leading in a Transforming Organisation Training). And we need your input!
As explained in Olivier’s two blog posts (here and here), we propose to analyse the population of organisations the way a biologist would analyse organisms, using phylogenetic analysis. Just as biologists look at the evolutionary history of species, we aim to map the evolutionary journey of organisations, uncovering the key traits that determine their success or failure, and the order in which they appear. Our hope is that we can map an evolutionary tree of organisations, identifying both ancestral traits and more derived innovative adaptations that drive organisational resilience and agility. To do this, we need a lot of data – input ideally on a few hundred organisations.
By filling in our survey, you will be contributing to a deeper understanding of organisational dynamics and helping us uncover patterns and trends that shape the evolutionary trajectory of organisations. Of course, once the results are in, and digested by Olivier’s algorithms, we will share the results with the community.
In accordance with our longstanding privacy policies, the research team will receive no identifying information. A new metadata page does however ask for basic information on country, industry, etc, and gives you the option (on an entirely opt-in basis) to be kept in contact with this work.
To join, follow the link below. Feel free to share this post – not so much with close colleagues, but with those you know in other organisations. Thank you! This could make a difference!
(This post was first shared on the Agendashift blog. You can help us also by giving it some love on LinkedIn. Thank you!)