Great explanation of the leadership implications of emergent strategy Jose :) I'd maybe add something about distributed decision-making / authority to experiment too. I was facilitating a strategy training yesterday and a really interesting convo came up about this - emergent ways of working need to be intentional; sometimes what looks like emergence is actually a knee jerk response to unanticipated change, really got me thinking!
Thank you so much, Ellen, I'm really glad it resonated! And you're absolutely right about distributed decision-making. Giving people real authority to experiment is probably the piece that turns emergent strategy from a nice idea into something that actually happens. Without it, leaders end up "facilitating" in name while still holding every decision.
Your point about intentionality really stuck with me. That line between true emergence and a knee-jerk reaction to unexpected change is a subtle one, and I think many organisations mistake the second for the first. Emergence needs some scaffolding: clear intent, shared sensemaking, and space to reflect on what we're learning, not just react to it.
I'd love to hear more about how that conversation unfolded in your training. Did the group land on any ways to tell the two apart? Might be worth a follow-up piece!
Great explanation of the leadership implications of emergent strategy Jose :) I'd maybe add something about distributed decision-making / authority to experiment too. I was facilitating a strategy training yesterday and a really interesting convo came up about this - emergent ways of working need to be intentional; sometimes what looks like emergence is actually a knee jerk response to unanticipated change, really got me thinking!
Thank you so much, Ellen, I'm really glad it resonated! And you're absolutely right about distributed decision-making. Giving people real authority to experiment is probably the piece that turns emergent strategy from a nice idea into something that actually happens. Without it, leaders end up "facilitating" in name while still holding every decision.
Your point about intentionality really stuck with me. That line between true emergence and a knee-jerk reaction to unexpected change is a subtle one, and I think many organisations mistake the second for the first. Emergence needs some scaffolding: clear intent, shared sensemaking, and space to reflect on what we're learning, not just react to it.
I'd love to hear more about how that conversation unfolded in your training. Did the group land on any ways to tell the two apart? Might be worth a follow-up piece!
Love this read, and love the quote ‘trust the process of learning and adaptation.’