I deeply believe that academia should not sit in a ivory tower, separated from the organizations and society it claim to understand. Collaborating with some of the best minds in the world, I draw upon theoretical knowledge and practical experience and help organizations to understand the underlying principles of team dynamics, leadership, routines, time and how people make sense of what is going on. Each of the themes below draws upon the theoretical and practical insights from extreme contexts such as mountaineering, the police and emergency departments, and more traditional industries such as construction and information systems:
The risk and management of boredom in organizations
Every organization have workers that from time to time suffer from boredom. The spreading of boredom can have serious consequences in terms of financial losses, high employee turnover, and bad team dynamics. Boredom can also be a powerful tool to utilize in order to foster a innovative environment, and something that brings the team together. This theme elaborates on these consequences and what can be done about it. Lately I have spoken about some of it on TedX, and the magazine Chef.
The importance of the mundane in organizations
On one hand, neglected in both theory and practice, mundane activities account for a majority of the time in any organization. On the other hand, the mundane is extremely important to get things done, avoid uncertainty, foster team coherence, goal accomplishment and job satisfaction. This theme draws upon insights from a multitude of setting in order to deliver powerful insights that could be implemented in any organized setting.
How and why project organizations contribute to short-term goals to the detriment of long-term accomplishments
Project organizations operate by a logic of short-term goals. Organizational survival however require long-term accomplishments. An inability to recognize this can have serious consequences in financial losses and personal health to name but two effects. This theme provides powerful insights about the consequences of deadlines for any modern organization, and what can be done to avoid the downsides.
The integration of team dynamics and goal focus
Modern organizations is built on teams. The reason is that teams are a powerful way of accomplishing a task in most organizations. This theme focuses draws upon insights from extreme contexts such as mountaineering in order to discuss the efficiency of team processes and mechanisms, and how come there might be an “I” in teams after all.
These are only examples of what I keynote on, if you have specific interests I am willing to discuss the focus. If you are interested to know more, please reach out. You find my contacts on the contact page.