There is a statement from physics that sounds unremarkable and yet governs everything that decays around us: the Second Law of Thermodynamics says that disorder in an isolated system always increases. Coffee goes cold, iron beams rust, every tidy room turns back into chaos given enough time. The direction of time itself, it is said, is the direction of growing entropy.

And yet the world is full of order. Hurricanes spin for days in the same vast spiral. A flame holds its shape. A single living organism sustains a breathtakingly intricate structure for decades, while everything around it drifts toward decay. How does that fit together? How can order arise spontaneously, in a universe that supposedly tilts inexorably toward chaos?

The answer to this question is one of the most beautiful concepts in modern science — and, as it turns out, it has a surprising amount to say about why some organizations stay alive while others calcify.

The paradox dissolves at the word “isolated”

The trick hides in a single word that is easily skipped over: isolated. The Second Law applies strictly only to isolated systems — those that exchange neither energy nor matter with their surroundings. A perfectly sealed container. A hermetically closed room. In nature, such a thing essentially never exists.

The interesting things happen in open systems. An open system continuously exchanges energy and matter with its environment — it takes something in and gives something off. And precisely here a margin opens up that the Second Law by no means forbids: an open system can increase its internal order, as long as it generates more disorder elsewhere and exports it outward. The overall balance of the universe still holds. The local order is paid for — with the entropy the system exports.

That is the heart of it. Order does not arise in spite of the Second Law, but in its slipstream: as a local island of structure, carried by a flow that passes through it and sweeps the inevitable disorder out the other side.

Far from equilibrium

The decisive concept is the distance from thermodynamic equilibrium.

A system at equilibrium is, frankly, boring. Everything is evenly distributed, the temperature uniform throughout, the entropy maximal — and nothing happens anymore. It is the state of perfect inertia. Picture a room in which the heat has completely evened out: no current, no gradient, no structure. Dead, in the physical sense.

Pump energy continuously through an open system, by contrast, and you hold it far from equilibrium. You never let it come to rest. You maintain a gradient — a temperature gradient, a concentration gradient, a voltage gradient. And precisely there, in this persistent imbalance, the astonishing thing happens: the system organizes itself, entirely on its own, into ordered patterns.

Such formations are called dissipative structures. “Dissipative” — from the Latin dissipare, to scatter — because the structure continuously consumes energy and channels it outward. It is not a frozen crystal lattice that, once formed, persists forever. It is a process, a dynamic flow-equilibrium that, in every moment, converts energy in order to sustain itself. If the flow stops, the structure disappears. It pays for its internal order anew in every second — with the entropy it exports to its surroundings.

The Second Law remains entirely untouched by all this. The order is only local, and it is only borrowed.

Examples you can see

As abstract as this sounds — you can literally watch it happen.

The classic textbook example is Bénard cells. Heat a thin layer of fluid uniformly from below, and at first nothing visible occurs: the heat simply travels upward by conduction, molecule by molecule, without anything moving. But raise the heat input past a certain threshold, and the picture flips abruptly. The fluid begins to flow — not chaotically, but in a strikingly regular pattern: it arranges itself into hexagonal convection cells, with warm fluid rising in the center of each and cooler fluid sinking at the edges. From perfectly uniform heating, visible, geometric structure emerges. Millions of molecules that were moving in complete disorder suddenly find a common rhythm.

What is fascinating about this: no one told the molecules where to fall in line. There is no blueprint, no central controller, no hexagonal form imposed from outside. The order arises from the interplay itself.

There are more such examples, and each is spectacular in its own way:

• The Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction — a chemical solution that rhythmically and seemingly by magic changes color, in regular pulses, forming traveling spiral patterns as it goes. A chemical clock that sets itself.
• Hurricanes, which forge a coherent, long-lived rotational structure out of the temperature gradient between warm ocean and cool upper air.
• Flames, which sustain their characteristic shape solely through the steady stream of fuel and oxygen.
• And, as the highest and most complex stage, every living organism. In the physical sense, life is a dissipative structure par excellence: an open system that holds itself far from equilibrium by continuously taking in energy (food, light, heat) and giving off entropy. Death is, soberly viewed, nothing other than the return to equilibrium.

Prigogine and a new view of time

We owe this perspective above all to Ilya Prigogine, a Russian-born chemist who worked in Belgium and received the 1977 Nobel Prize for his work on thermodynamics far from equilibrium. His contribution was not merely a calculation, but a shift in the way we look.

Classical physics had long regarded the universe as a kind of enormous clock — deterministic, reversible, in principle fully calculable. Prigogine set against it a different picture: a world in which time has a genuine direction, in which the new can come into being, in which chance and necessity work together. His famous phrase was “order through fluctuations.” It is not calm, predictable equilibrium that produces the interesting things, but precisely the turbulent zone far from it, where small random fluctuations suddenly gain the power to shape form.

With this, a concept migrated into the exact natural sciences that had previously belonged more to biology and philosophy: self-organization. The insight that complex order does not necessarily require a designer, but can emerge from the system itself when the conditions are right.

The threshold: fluctuation becomes order

The truly exciting moment is the transition. What exactly happens at the threshold where structure suddenly emerges from nothing?

Raise the energy flow through a system slowly and steadily, and for a long time — qualitatively — nothing happens. The system changes gradually but stays within its old behavioral pattern. Until it reaches a critical point. At this point, the previous, uniform behavior becomes unstable. Physics calls this branching point a bifurcation: the system’s path splits, and several possible new states become available.

What now decides which of these states actually prevails? Here lies perhaps the most surprising part of the whole story: a tiny, random fluctuation. In the Bénard cells, for instance, a barely measurable local fluctuation decides which way a convection roll turns and exactly where the hexagonal pattern comes to lie. Right at the critical point, the system is so sensitive that this small fluctuation is not damped away but amplified — it propagates through the entire system and “tips” it into a new, ordered state.

Two deep insights follow from this. First: order here is not imposed from outside but born from within. It is an emergent property of the interplay, not an embedded design. Second: at the bifurcation, strict predictability collapses. Which of the possible states settles in depends on the smallest of chance events — and thus on the concrete history of this one system in this one moment. Determinism gives way to contingency. The system has, figuratively speaking, a biography.

This is self-organization in its purest physical form.

What this means for organizations

And now the leap that makes this concept so irresistible for us. Because an organization is, for all the caution one owes to analogies, at its core exactly this: a dissipative structure.

Its order — the coordination between people, the shared culture, the well-rehearsed processes, the common understanding of “how we work around here” — is not a fixed construction erected once and for all. It is a dynamic flow-equilibrium. It exists only as long as a flow feeds it: attention, communication, work, resources, meaning. If that flow stops, the order falls apart — just as the Bénard cells vanish the moment you switch off the heat. Anyone who has ever watched a well-rehearsed collaboration crumble after a reorganization or the departure of a key person has felt this physics firsthand.

Two things follow.

First: without flow, order decays. Structure in an organization is not something you set up once and then own. It must be “paid for” anew in every moment — through lived communication, through recurring interaction, through the continual investment of energy. A culture you do not tend does not vanish dramatically; it simply seeps away. A process no longer used and discussed becomes an empty shell. The assumption that an established order is stable and self-sustaining is perhaps the most expensive error in organizational design.

Second, and this is the genuinely new insight: real new order does not arise in the equilibrium zone. Self-organizing teams, emergent practices, truly new forms of collaboration — they do not form in the comfortable, low-disturbance zone where everything runs smoothly and nothing is in motion. They arise far from equilibrium, precisely when enough “energy” runs through the system: challenge, new information, unresolved tension, intense interaction, real friction.

Here a whole landscape opens up:

• Too little flow → stagnation. An organization optimized too heavily for calm, smoothing-over, and conflict avoidance drifts toward equilibrium — and thus, in physical terms, toward the boring, structureless end state. Maximum comfort, minimum vitality. Nothing new emerges anymore.
• Too much flow → chaos. Flood the system with too much energy — permanent crisis, perpetual reorganization, overload, sensory overstimulation — and no structure forms; it simply disintegrates into turbulence. That, too, is not order.
• The right flow → spontaneous new structure. Between the two lies a narrow, fertile band that complexity research likes to call the edge of chaos. Precisely there, far enough from equilibrium and yet not in chaos, self-organization gets its chance.

The practical consequence for leadership shifts fundamentally as a result. The task is not to design order from the top and impose it on the organization — that fundamentally does not work with dissipative structures; their order comes from within. The task is to shape the conditions under which the right order can emerge on its own: to dose the appropriate flow, to hold the productive imbalance, neither calming things to death nor driving them into chaos. Leadership thus becomes less a matter of architecture and more one of gardening.

The tipping point — and a look ahead

And then there is the bifurcation. It is the physical template for something every organization knows from its own experience: the tipping point.

There are moments when an organization stands at a critical point — in a crisis, before a fundamental shift in strategy, in the middle of a cultural transformation. In such moments the same logic applies as at the bifurcation of the Bénard cells: the old pattern has become unstable, several possible futures lie open, and small events can suddenly carry enormous leverage. A single courageous remark, a successful pilot project, a symbolic gesture from leadership — what in normal times would have fizzled out without consequence can, at the tipping point, swing the entire system into a new state. The very levers that move nothing in calm phases become, here, the switches that set the points.

Those who grasp this see transformation with different eyes: not as a linear plan to be worked through step by step, but as the patient guiding of a system toward a point at which a new state first becomes possible at all — and as the alert recognition of the moment when a small impulse makes the great difference.

That is the beautiful, almost consoling punchline of dissipative structures. The order we admire in living systems — in a flame, in an organism, in a well-functioning team — is not set in stone, nor is it decreed from outside. It is alive because it is borrowed. It exists only in the flow, and therein lies its very strength: what keeps bringing itself forth anew out of the flowing can also keep reinventing itself.

The post Borrowed Order first appeared on Nerd Republic.

We’ve put together the most important updates for you – and at the end, we share our honest take on which path we think makes the most sense.

Pillar 1: The familiar SAFe courses become “AI-Empowered”

Scaled Agile is updating its entire role-based course portfolio. The SAFe® Product Owner/Product Manager course is now the AI-Empowered POPM, the Scrum Master course has become the AI-Empowered SAFe Scrum Master (SSM), and since early 2026, Leading SAFe is available in its AI-Empowered version as well – with courses like the Advanced Scrum Master (SASM) and SAFe for Teams following the same pattern.

What’s actually inside? Each update weaves role-specific AI guidance into the existing content:

• AI foundations for your role – including tried-and-tested prompts and templates you can use immediately in your day-to-day work
• Practical AI tool usage for facilitation, retrospectives, backlog management, metrics analysis, and stakeholder communication
• Responsible AI – the ethical, accountable use of AI, with humans firmly in the loop
• SAFe CoPilot – Scaled Agile’s AI assistant that delivers real-time Lean-Agile guidance

The certification exams have also been updated and now include questions on AI-empowered SAFe, prompt crafting, and responsible AI.

Worth knowing: Scaled Agile is moving away from version numbers like “SAFe 6.0”. Course releases will simply be identified by their release date going forward – a signal that the framework will evolve continuously rather than in big version jumps.

Already holding a SAFe 6 certification? The upgrade is simpler than you think

Perhaps the best news for certified SAFe professionals: if you hold an active SAFe 6 certification, you can upgrade at no additional cost. All it takes is completing the relevant SAFe Skill – a self-paced e-learning of around 45 minutes (e.g. “AI Skills for Product Owners” or “Empowering Scrum Masters with AI”). Your certification is then automatically updated to the AI-Empowered version, including a new digital badge.

Expired certifications need to be renewed first – we’re happy to help you navigate that too.

Pillar 2: AI-Native – the new training line for the whole organisation

Alongside the SAFe evolution, Scaled Agile has launched AI-Native as a standalone training and certification programme. It targets not just SAFe practitioners, but all professionals across business, product, delivery, and operations – with no prior AI or coding knowledge required. We’re covering this line here for completeness, as it’s a central part of Scaled Agile’s strategy – our own view on it follows below.

The learning path currently comprises three courses:

AI-Native Foundations (2 days)

The entry-level course builds individual AI fluency: what are LLMs, RAG, and AI agents – explained in plain language? How do you prompt safely and effectively? And how do you redesign one of your own workflows with AI for immediate impact? At the heart of the course is the EDGE model (Exponential, Disruptive, Generative, Emergent), which frames the forces currently reshaping the world of work.

Passing the exam earns the annually renewed Certified AI-Native Foundations Professional credential. Course materials are also available in German.

AI-Native Change Agent (3 days)

The advanced course – requiring a passed Foundations certification as a prerequisite – is aimed at those tasked with actually driving AI initiatives inside their organisations: transformation leads, coaches, product owners, digital strategists. The focus is on taking AI initiatives from idea to production, aligning stakeholders, and getting projects out of the infamous “POC graveyard”. Participants leave with concrete templates and a 30-60-90-120 day roadmap for a real AI initiative of their own.

Leading an AI-Native Organization (1 day) – brand new

Unveiled at the SAFe Summit in Amsterdam in March 2026: a compact executive course connecting AI strategy and vision with critical enabling capabilities like data and ethics. Accompanying it is the guide “5 Value Patterns that Separate AI Natives from AI Tourists” – five proven patterns (from Knowledge & Decision Support to Expert Productivity) to anchor AI investments around real value. The backdrop is sobering: only a small fraction of companies are achieving AI value at scale. That’s exactly the gap this programme aims to close.

The Framework itself: AI-Empowered Agility on the Big Picture

The SAFe Framework has also seen visible changes. Since the 2026 Summit, AI-Empowered Agility is a dedicated surface area on the SAFe Big Picture – with direct access to integrated guidance, the new courses, skills, and workshops.

The accompanying framework article outlines four critical shifts that extend SAFe for the AI era:

1. Focus on Outcomes & Intent – understanding and steering the core purpose behind AI-driven systems
2. Iterative Learning & Rapid Experimentation – accelerating PDCA cycles through AI-driven insights
3. Development & Innovation at Scale – democratised, yet governed innovation across the enterprise
4. Cross-Functional, AI-Augmented Teams – AI not just as a tool, but as a full contributor within the team

All of this rests on a Human-Centric AI Culture: AI should augment people, not replace them – enabling more creative, empathetic, and strategic work, with human judgment as the governing layer.

Further building blocks include:

• SAFe Skills “Empowering with AI”: six short, role-specific learning modules – focused and immediately applicable
• SAFe CoPilot in Assessments: the AI assistant is now integrated into the Comparative Agility platform. Complete a Team & Technical Agility assessment and you’ll now receive an AI-generated growth plan rather than just a score
• Micro-Credential “Achieving Responsible AI”: a compact format (one hour of self-paced e-learning plus a half-day facilitated session) that equips Agile professionals to kick off Responsible AI initiatives – from stakeholder mapping to writing an RAI Epic Hypothesis Statement

Our take: Evolution beats parallel world

AI is no longer a future prospect – it’s the present, and for many of you (and for us) it’s already part of daily working life. Scaled Agile responding to that is right and long overdue. What we find particularly compelling is the first pillar: the consistent evolution of the existing framework and role-based courses. This is where AI gets embedded where it belongs – in the concrete day-to-day work of Scrum Masters, Product Owners, and leaders, woven into practices that have proven their worth over years.

On the second pillar – the standalone AI-Native certification line – we’re more cautious. The pace of development in the AI space right now is breathtaking; what’s state-of-the-art today may be outdated in a matter of months. Standardised course curricula naturally struggle to keep up with that tempo. From our perspective, real AI competence comes less from another certification and more from continuous, hands-on engagement with the tools – every day, on real tasks.

What does that mean in practice?

• AI competence becomes part of the role. The AI-Empowered certifications reflect that AI belongs in the toolkit of Scrum Masters, POs, and Agilists – that’s the sustainable part of this shift.
• Upgrading is low-effort. Existing SAFe 6 certifications can be updated with minimal time investment – a sensible, quick win for any team.
• Fluency is built in practice. Courses can open the door; what makes the difference is consistently integrating AI into your actual work and staying with it.

What we stand for

As a Silver Partner of Scaled Agile, Inc., we deliberately focus on the evolution of the proven SAFe portfolio. Our work centres on the official AI-Empowered courses – where AI is integrated into the roles and ways of working you already know and live.

What sets us apart: we don’t just talk about AI, we work intensively with it every day. As a small, focused company, we continuously experiment with new tools and approaches and bring that hands-on experience directly into our training and consulting – unfiltered and current, not from last year’s playbook.

What you get with us:

• Official SAFe training in the current AI-Empowered versions – including the certification exam and SAFe Studio access
• Certification upgrade guidance for your existing SAFe professionals – often all it takes is a 45-minute e-learning
• Practical support integrating AI into your agile work – drawn from our own daily experience, not from a textbook

Want to know which upgrade or course is the right next step for your team – or how AI makes sense in your specific context? Reach out, we’re happy to talk it through with you.

The post SAFe Goes AI-Native first appeared on Nerd Republic.

The problem rarely lies with the employees, but rather in the way we lead. But what will the leadership skills of tomorrow look like?

Principles of New Leadership

New leadership stands for a new understanding of leadership, in which managers are no longer just decision-makers or controllers, but coaches, enablers and facilitators. They create conditions in which teams can take responsibility, contribute new ideas, learn, and grow together.

This is about more than just methods; it is about attitude, flat hierarchies, and a constructive culture of error. The principles of New Leadership are based on trust, open communication, shared responsibility, and a clear purpose that provides orientation.

Why We Need New Leadership

Our working world is more complex, digital and networked than ever before. Decisions have to be made faster, knowledge is distributed across teams, and flat hierarchies are replacing rigid structures. The success of agile methods has long been proven; what is needed now is to change the status quo of leadership culture. In times of New Work, traditional leadership approaches simply no longer work.

New leadership offers an answer here. It is not just another buzzword, but an evolutionary step towards modern leadership approaches based on new structures that focus on trust, self-organisation, and meaning.

Benefits of New Leadership

New leadership is not just a nice idea; the Gallup Report confirms that it works.

Employees place great value on leadership skills that focus on hope, trust, compassion, and stability. When managers meet these needs, it has a positive impact on their well-being and productivity and can lead to less suffering and staff turnover. Companies that focus on trust, participation and self-organisation show measurably better results. They gain adaptability, innovative strength, and attractiveness as employers more quickly, which has a positive effect on the company, customers, and employees. In concrete terms, this means:

• Better decision-making through collective intelligence and participatory processes
• Employee engagement because they experience responsibility and meaning
• Good cooperation through psychological safety and appreciative feedback
• Agile working and faster response to changes in an agile environment
• Higher customer satisfaction because teams act closer to the market and its needs

Long story short, new leadership makes organisations more vibrant, creative, and resilient.

From me to us – why new leadership is evolutionary

Our organisations develop like living systems. They learn, adapt and change with their environment. New leadership is also based on this principle. New leadership styles do not arise through revolution, but through new structures based on trust, transparency and shared responsibility.

In a complex world, no one can know everything, so we must distribute intelligence, give responsibility to each team member and relinquish sole control. The new meaning of leadership is to create frameworks, enable open communication and resonance, provide direction and not control everything. New Leadership is not a toolbox, but an invitation to rethink leadership: more human, more agile, more purpose-driven. Those who want to lead successfully in a new world need more courage to be open than to control. The good news is that we don’t have to be perfect at it. We just have to be willing to learn it together.

Those who want to explore these questions in greater depth will find a whole world of exciting approaches and ways of thinking in the concept of New Leadership. In our workshops, we repeatedly see how perspectives change when leadership is rethought, from classic control to genuine responsibility and trust. Perhaps now is the time to pause and rethink your own role as a leader.

The post New Leadership – Why modern managers must act differently now first appeared on Nerd Republic.

PI Planning is the heartbeat of agile scaling, often turning into an intense exception rather than a structured event. What happens beyond the official agenda touches on co-determination, labor law, and responsibility. It’s time companies brought this reality into focus and took action.

1. Despite the Official PI Planning Agenda, Reality Looks Different

One topic that’s rarely addressed is the actual working time involved in PI Planning outside the official schedule.

The SAFe PI Planning agenda is tightly structured: it starts at 8:00 a.m. and officially ends around 6:00 p.m. Two full days packed with collaboration, planning, dependency clarification, risk visualization, team breakouts, and a confidence vote. A precisely timed mega-event. But anyone in roles like Release Train Engineer (RTE), Scrum Master, or Product Owner knows: these days start much earlier and often end much later. The room opens at 7:00 a.m. Tech setups need to be ready, final slides adjusted, agenda items discussed with stakeholders, communication lines checked. After the official wrap-up, there’s still coordination, cleanup, follow-up and those last-minute syncs that stretch into 8:00 p.m.

This extra work is rarely visible, but it’s there. And it’s not just affecting individuals, it’s impacting entire role groups. What’s designed to be an agile event driven by structure and focus often becomes an exhausting exception that requires prep and wrap-up every cycle. So the real question is: how do we, as organizations, acknowledge and deal with this? And what legal responsibilities come into play?

2. Working Time Isn’t a “Private Problem” – It’s Subject to Co-Determination

What many forget: working time isn’t just an organizational detail but a matter of employee participation. This means the works council must be involved when it comes to defining start times, end times, and distribution of daily work hours, especially when these extend beyond the norm.

This isn’t a formality. According to German law (BetrVG § 87 Abs. 1 Nr. 2 & 3), the works council has a binding co-determination right as soon as hours change or overtime is incurred, even occasionally during PI Planning. Good intentions (“It’s for the greater good”) or voluntary efforts don’t bypass the law. What matters is actual usage.

For organizations, this means: If PI Planning becomes more than a 9-to-5 event, the works council must be involved early. It’s not about blocking agility; it’s about making it fair, compliant, and sustainable. A well-informed, integrated works council can be a real asset. Those who seek early dialogue create transparency and avoid conflict. And they show that agility doesn’t stop at labor law but rather starts there.

3. EU and German Labor Laws: Clear Rules, Little Wiggle Room

Beyond internal policies lies another non-negotiable factor: legally defined working time, both at the EU and German levels. And PI Planning quickly crosses these boundaries. EU Directive 2003/88/EC mandates:

• Max. 48 hours per week (including overtime)
• 11 hours minimum rest between working days
• 24 hours of weekly rest (plus daily rest)
• Appropriate breaks during long workdays

Germany’s Arbeitszeitgesetz (ArbZG) adds:

• Max. 8 hours/day (10 hours allowed short term if balanced out)
• 11 hours of uninterrupted rest post-shift
• Breaks after 6 and 9 hours

In practice: If a Scrum Master starts prep at 7:00 a.m. and finishes at 7:30 p.m., that’s 12+ hours – plus commuting. With another 8:00 a.m. start the next day, legal rest time is breached. And that’s not a time management issue, it’s a legal violation. Remote or not doesn’t matter legally. What counts is the workload. These laws aren’t red tape but worker protections. Ignoring them risks legal consequences and undermines trust in agility as a people-first system.

4. Taking Responsibility: Possible Paths for Agile Companies

PI Planning is important – after all, it’s the heartbeat of an Agile Release Train. But that’s precisely why it must not become a legal or health gray area. Organizations bear responsibility here and also have the power to shape good solutions. Here are some concrete ways agile companies can deal professionally and responsibly with the issue of working hours during PI Planning:

1. Early Coordination with the Works Council

Don’t involve the works council only when complaints arise or timesheets go off the rails. Transparent, constructive discussions in advance about realistic PI Planning agendas, working hours, and compensation are often the best starting point for viable solutions in distributed teams. This way, working time models for planning weeks can be defined, including compensation options throughout the year.

2. Document and Compensate Overtime

If extra work is unavoidable, it should at least be made visible and compensated, for example, through time-off or time tracking systems with automatic recognition. This is how fairness arises and also the chance to identify patterns that can be improved and lead to better results.

3. Examine Role-Specific Shift Models

Central roles such as Release Train Engineers, Scrum Masters, or event organizers experience significantly higher time pressure. A shift model is conceivable here, for example, with an early and late shift, where certain roles are deliberately relieved. Tandems or rotating responsibilities throughout the day can also help.

4. Plan Breaks and Rest Periods

A PI Planning without breaks is like a sprint without a review: something essential is missing. Next time, plan longer, conscious breaks and ensure clear end times. That’s not just compliant but also more productive. Fresh minds make better decisions.

5. Distribute Responsibility

Instead of placing everything on a few shoulders, it pays to distribute event responsibility. Those who divide moderation, documentation, communication, and logistics among several people reduce individual stress – and strengthen team cohesion.

In short: Agility doesn’t end with the agenda, whether in small or large companies. It starts where we take responsibility for our collaboration, which also includes the framework conditions.

5. Awareness Instead of Sugarcoating: Why the Topic Deserves Attention

PI Planning is not just a planning event – it’s a marathon. Those who have experienced it know: it demands concentration, presence, empathy, overview and above all, energy. That’s precisely why it’s important to speak honestly about the strain involved.

Because what often happens is quite different:

“This just comes with the territory.”

“It’s just a bit tough sometimes.”

“Things will calm down again afterward.”

You’ve probably heard these phrases more than once. But when this kind of self-evidence repeats – every ten weeks, two days plus prep and follow-up – the exception quickly becomes a structural problem. A blind spot that is neither addressed nor consciously shaped.

This requires a culture of attentiveness. A culture where working hours are not glorified but reflected upon. Where Scrum Masters don’t silently push through but can also say: “I need to start later tomorrow.” Where RTEs are not idealized as tireless enablers but receive real support. And not least: a culture where leadership actively co-creates – with clear frameworks, realistic expectations, and an invitation to dialogue.

Awareness often starts small: with a retrospective on your own role in PI Planning. With a conversation in the team. With a mention in the Scrum of Scrums. Or even – with an article like this.

Conclusion: Agile Planning Means Fair Organization

PI Planning is a central element of agile scaling. But those who take agility seriously must not stop at boards, features, and dependencies but they must also consider the framework of collaboration. This includes working hours, breaks, recovery and the people who make the event possible. If we ignore this reality, we risk not only legal pitfalls but also undermining exactly what we aim to stand for: sustainable collaboration, respect, and responsibility.

The message is simple: Talk about the topic next time. Involve the works council early. Create transparent rules. Relieve key roles. And above all: Have the courage to address things that aren’t visible on the planning board – but that significantly contribute to success.

Because those who take PI Planning seriously should also take its shadow sides seriously. Only then does “Planning” truly become “Planning that works.”

I you want to dive deeper in to the universe of Scaled Agile Inc. make sure to check out our self-study academy. We have created multiple courses about SAFe that you can use to improve your agile working.

The post The Hidden Workload of SAFe PI Planning first appeared on Nerd Republic.

And as promised, we would like to conclude our sustainability series with a third blog on the subject of communication + reporting and offsetting + financing.

We would now like to give you a few points worth knowing to help you achieve your climate goals.

Hold on a second – this is the third of three parts in our sustainability series, so if you haven’t read the first two, we recommend you jump there first.

Click here for the first two parts: Part 1 and Part 2.

Challenge: Climate communication

Climate communication faces a number of significant challenges that need to be overcome.

One key aspect is the fact that climate protection is an abstract and often complex topic that many people in Germany and Europe easily suppress or ignore. This is also due to the fact that the immediate effects of climate change are not always tangible, making it difficult to convey urgency. To reach people effectively, you have to be aware of this barrier and adapt your communication strategies accordingly.

In order to gain people’s attention and motivate them to act, it is necessary to question and break down established thought patterns and routines. This is best achieved by addressing concrete and tangible aspects of climate change and climate protection that are directly relevant to people’s daily lives. It is crucial to address the emotional and personal level in order to achieve a lasting impact.

Another challenge is to learn from other approaches to climate communication without uncritically adopting established methods. Climate activists run the risk of becoming part of the problem themselves if they limit themselves to abstract facts and figures without putting them into an understandable and everyday context. It is therefore important to develop communication strategies that are both informative and motivating.

New CSRD reporting obligations

The Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), which came into force in January 2023, replaces the European Union’s previous Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD). The NFRD previously formed the basis for reporting on corporate social and environmental responsibility in the EU.

With the introduction of the CSRD, the EU is aiming to make sustainability reporting in Europe more comprehensive, more uniform and of a higher quality. As part of this, the German CSR Directive Implementation Act (CSR-RUG) from 2017, which transposed the NFRD into national law, is also being fundamentally revised. The aim is to anchor non-financial topics as an integral part of existing reporting practices and to raise sustainability reporting to the same level as financial reporting.

The reporting obligation under the CSRD is gradually being extended to more and more companies. While the NFRD affected around 11,700 companies, the CSRD will cover around 50,000 companies across the EU, including around 15,000 in Germany.

The information to be reported includes, in particular, the business model and corporate strategy. This includes the company’s resilience to risks, its contribution to achieving the 1.5°C target of the Paris Agreement, the consideration of stakeholder interests with regard to sustainability aspects and the strategies for implementing these aspects.

Communicating sustainability sustainably

Effective climate communication should be firmly integrated into your communication strategy, aligned with your goals and values and reflected in your corporate strategy.

To ensure effective climate communication, it is crucial to regularly report on your progress towards climate neutrality and present it in an appealing way. By continuously communicating and showcasing your achievements, you demonstrate that climate action is an ongoing process for you, with room for continuous improvement and growing ambition.

Regular communication underlines the importance you attach to the topic and gives you the opportunity to clarify the various aspects of your motivation. In this way, you can make it clear that your commitment is not a short-term trend, but is deeply rooted in your convictions.

And how else to communicate?

In addition to the choice of language and images, who communicates climate protection and how this is done plays a major role. It is worth finding (new) ambassadors for your climate protection measures or products who tell convincing, personal stories instead of dry facts.

With “storytelling”, for example, you could focus on one of your products. Where does the product come from? How is it made? Who is involved? What emissions are generated during the process and how are they offset? By creating a link between your products and climate protection, the connection becomes more tangible for your target group. Alternatively, you can of course also develop such narratives for the services you offer or other main activities.

In order to appeal to different groups of people, short videos (for example with statements from your employees or interviews with production partners) are a good way to communicate your commitment in addition to text and images.

In principle, however, how you communicate climate protection influences how people think about it. The right framing, i.e. the appropriate embedding of the topic, is therefore crucial. Choose images and words carefully to guide your audience’s perception. Avoid negative depictions and complicated technical terms. Explain concepts clearly and understandably.

Honesty and transparency are key to building trust and credibility. Communicate your goals and progress openly to make your agenda credible and understandable.

Visual language for communicating climate protection

Visual language is crucial when communicating climate protection. Avoid images of lonely polar bears or disasters as these often create a distant or helpless feeling – this has often gone wrong in the past. Instead, use concrete, target group-oriented images that show climate protection activities and local people. This creates proximity and identification. Images from areas such as the circular economy, energy efficiency or innovative technologies help people to imagine a climate-friendly future.

We have found a cool website with a constantly expanding library of suitable image examples for climate communication here.

Now take a quick detour in the direction of compensation and financing and then you’re ready for the next internal steps.

What is a compensation strategy?

In your offsetting strategy, you set out exactly how and to what extent you are offsetting greenhouse gas emissions now and in the future. You can either integrate this strategy paper into your comprehensive climate protection or sustainability strategy or publish it as a stand-alone document.

By taking a strategic approach to offsetting greenhouse gases, you not only secure benefits for your company, but also provide external stakeholders with transparent information about your actions. It is important not to use offsetting as a blanket solution, but to use it specifically as a sensible means of climate protection.

In your strategy, you show which emissions are considered unavoidable after intensive examination despite comprehensive avoidance and reduction measures. Examine each source of emissions to determine whether offsetting is really necessary or whether there are alternative avoidance methods. If offsetting is unavoidable, describe the type of offset certificates you use and the project technologies you support. The location of these projects should also be mentioned. This information is not only of interest to you, but also to your customers and business partners and strengthens confidence in your climate and offsetting strategy.

Another important step is to be transparent about your company’s historical greenhouse gas emissions. These are the emissions that have occurred since your company was founded.

Finally, your offsetting strategy also includes the planning and provision of financial resources for offsetting or additional financing of climate protection projects. A popular way to do this is to introduce an internal carbon price.

Verification of the development impact of compensation projects

Climate protection is only successful in the long term if it is implemented in an integrated manner with other dimensions of sustainability. It is therefore also of the utmost importance for the effectiveness of projects in the voluntary carbon market that they pursue a holistic approach and have a positive impact on other goals of the 2030 Agenda (Sustainable Development Goals – SDGs).

The majority of projects in the voluntary carbon market are registered and certified through standard programs. This gives buyers a certain degree of certainty, e.g. about the methods and criteria used for project development, implementation and monitoring, as well as the registration and retirement of certificates. However, the quality of the standards differs considerably, particularly with regard to the application of environmental and social safeguards and the integration of the 2030 Agenda goals (SDGs).

Climate Contribution Claim

The contribution claim approach offers a model with which companies can support global climate protection through private financial contributions. For example, they set an internal CO2 price for their remaining, unavoidable greenhouse gas emissions. The financial resources generated from this are used to promote climate protection projects in the Global South.

(Notes on “How to set an internal carbon price”: Discussion paper of the UN Global Compacts)

Through this approach, companies contribute to global climate protection without recording the resulting emission reductions in their own carbon footprint or claiming to be “climate neutral”. This model makes it possible to support projects that do not directly lead to a measurable reduction or storage of CO2. However, in the medium to long term, such projects have a greater impact in the direction of climate-friendly change and the necessary transformation towards greater sustainability.

Now that you know that the contribution claim approach offers an innovative way for companies to participate in global climate protection without directly counting this in their own carbon footprint, let’s take a look at a crucial question: What types of offset projects are actually available? What are the differences, and how can companies and individuals make an effective contribution to climate protection through targeted support?

Differences between compensation projects

Offsetting projects differ in three main aspects: the project type, the location of the project and the offsetting standard.

Project type: Different technologies are used to reduce or avoid greenhouse gas emissions. For example, a newly planted forest binds CO2 from the atmosphere and improves local biodiversity, while a photovoltaic system replaces coal power and reduces air pollution at the same time.

Project country: Companies often opt for projects in countries that are part of their supply chain or in which they themselves operate. The choice of project country also influences the social and economic benefits of the project.

Offsetting standard: To ensure that carbon offset projects operate reliably and transparently, they are certified according to specific standards.

In addition, there are special features that further differentiate offset projects:

Project size: the amount of greenhouse gas emissions avoided annually indicates the size of the project. Smaller projects often benefit from simplified regulations.

Projects in LDCs: Projects in least developed countries (LDCs) often receive fee reductions in order to promote climate protection where it is most urgently needed.

Suppressed demand: This approach takes into account the future demand for fossil energy in regions that have not yet built up a climate-damaging infrastructure. Here, renewable technologies can be used from the outset, but this requires clear rules to avoid excessive emission levels.

Additionality as the cornerstone of compensation

How do companies ensure that their investments in these projects actually make a difference?

This is where additionality comes into play – an essential criterion to guarantee the real impact of an offset project.

Additionality means that an offset project would not have been realized without the financing through CO2 certificates. The project is therefore only made possible by the additional money from offset payments. This guarantee of additionality is essential to ensure a real climate protection effect – because a project that would have been carried out anyway does not contribute to additional CO2 reduction.

An example that illustrates the idea of a lack of additionality would be the installation of smoke detectors in residential buildings. In many countries, the installation of smoke detectors is required by law to ensure the safety of residents.

residents. If a residential construction company now claims to be particularly safety-conscious because it installs smoke alarms, it is merely complying with the legal requirements – it is not making any additional contribution to safety. The situation is similar with carbon offset projects: If a climate protection project is required by law anyway, it is not an “additional” measure that needs to be supported by offset payments.

Several steps must be taken to prove additionality: There must be no cheaper alternatives or legal obligations, economic hurdles must be demonstrated, and the project must not already be common practice in the region. Only then can a genuine additional climate impact be guaranteed.

Done 3/3

You now have a solid understanding of how you can strategically approach and successfully implement climate protection measures in your company. From measuring and recording emissions, to reduction and avoidance, to communication and offsetting – each step brings you closer to your climate goals.

We have discussed the most important aspects of climate communication, reporting and the role of offsetting strategies. It becomes clear that transparent and honest communication is essential to gain the trust of your customers and partners. In addition, a well thought-out offsetting strategy and targeted financing of climate protection projects play a central role in your contribution to global climate protection.

Now it’s up to you to put what you’ve learned into practice. Use the approaches described and make climate protection an integral part of your corporate strategy. Through continuous commitment and well thought-out measures, you can not only achieve your own goals, but also make a significant contribution to global sustainability.

Want more?

Would you like to find out more about the topic and would you like to put your heads together? Then we recommend our workshop on sustainability. Incidentally, we go far beyond the topic of greenhouse gases. Have a look. We would be delighted to welcome you!

The post CO2 offsetting, reporting and financing first appeared on Nerd Republic.

Go to part one

Now that you have learned to understand and measure everything about GHG emissions in the first part and could recite the scopes in your sleep, Blog 2/3 answers questions you may have had after the first part, such as:

“What do I do with the knowledge now?”, ”How can I properly apply my knowledge to my business and really make a difference?”

The GHG accounting is complete and you have an overview of your scopes. Now it’s about setting a target based on the assessment and the transparency it provides in order to make continuous progress and improve in terms of emissions. 

Digression – Avoidance vs. reduction vs. compensation

Avoiding greenhouse gas emissions means preventing emissions from occurring in the first place. This can be achieved by avoiding activities or technologies that would release greenhouse gases. Examples of this include avoiding unnecessary business trips or using video-based meetings instead of physical meetings. Avoiding emissions aims to eliminate the source of emissions.

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions, on the other hand, refers to reducing the amount of emissions already being produced. This can be achieved by increasing efficiency, improving technology or changing behavior. One example would be to use the train to the next external appointment instead of an airplane or car, or to offer regional and seasonal products in catering or in the canteen. Reduction means that emissions continue to be produced, but in smaller quantities than before.

Offsetting greenhouse gas emissions refers to compensating for the emissions that have already been produced by taking measures that reduce or bind emissions elsewhere. This can be done by purchasing emission certificates, supporting reforestation projects or investing in renewable energy projects. Offsetting means that the emissions take place but are to be neutralized through compensation measures.

Looking to make a difference? – You need a goal achievement!  

Consistently monitor the implementation of the targets to ensure that they are met. It is crucial to record emissions and all external reductions consistently, completely and transparently – also keyword credibility.

KPIs, for example, can be used to track progress – an effective tool for achieving targets, especially with a clear organizational structure and corresponding incentives.

What is a reduction goal?

A reduction goal describes how much a company wants to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, over what period of time and in which areas. For effective and comprehensible reduction targets, it is necessary to have measured and calculated the current emissions – a reference to our first blog in the series.

A particularly popular form is to specify a percentage reduction in the target year compared to a base year.

Example: In 2030, you want to emit 50 percent fewer greenhouse gases than in 2024. 2030 is therefore the target year here, 2024 the base year and 50 percent the targeted reduction.

Your climate protection strategy is created

The GHG reduction targets in combination with derived measures form your climate protection strategy. The foundation is the greenhouse gas balance sheet that has already been drawn up. As with the balance sheet, you can initially derive your own measures that will be incorporated into the climate protection strategy, but in the long term there are also providers who can help and advise you.

It also helps to identify the source of emissions that has the greatest avoidance potential. Of course, this is highly dependent on your company and the industry in which you operate. However, there are a few areas where there is often great potential for savings:

• Your electricity supply: Regardless of whether you are heating large production halls or simply supplying your work laptop with electricity – you need energy in any case. Switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources is simple, quick and extremely effective in making your energy consumption sustainable.
• Your transportation: Transportation plays a key role in the greenhouse gas balance, and not just for freight forwarders and logistics companies. Service companies also generate relevant transport emissions through business trips and their employees’ commutes. In addition to switching to electromobility in the vehicle fleet, the promotion of climate-friendly means of transportation can also make an important contribution. For example, business trips can be made more sustainable by specifying in travel guidelines when trains should be used instead of planes. Subsidies for public transport or company bicycles motivate people to leave their cars at home more often, especially in cities. In addition, transport companies and bicycle leasing providers often offer attractive conditions.
• Your waste management: The core principles for sustainable waste management are: 1) Avoid, 2) Reuse, 3) Recycle, 4) Dispose. Consistent application of these principles conserves resources and promotes the circular economy.

Climate protection strategies can take various approaches.

A climate neutrality strategy aims to achieve climate neutrality by avoiding, reducing and offsetting remaining emissions.

Net-zero strategies are based on science-based targets that are in line with the 1.5° target of the Paris Agreement, whereby you focus on avoiding and reducing your own emissions.

A climate finance strategy is based on an internal carbon price for emissions, which generates financial resources for investments in climate protection measures and projects.

These steps together form your climate protection strategy, which you should publish to show your customers, business partners and potential employees that you take climate protection seriously and ensure transparency and traceability of your measures.

Now that you know the different approaches to avoiding, reducing and offsetting greenhouse gas emissions, it’s time to take concrete action. Your climate protection strategy should include clear goals, a plan for implementation, a strategy for measuring success and regular reporting. Make sure that all employees are involved and that you continuously adapt your strategy to stay up to date.

In the third part of our series, we will focus on the latter – how can you communicate and report effectively? We will also briefly touch on the topic of offsetting and financing and show you how you can use these instruments in a targeted manner to achieve your climate goals.

Stay tuned and make the difference – every step counts on the road to a more sustainable future.

If you haven’t read the last part of our series yet, click here. 

Want more?

Would you like to find out more about the topic and would you like to put your heads together? Then we recommend our workshop on sustainability. Incidentally, we go far beyond the topic of greenhouse gases. Have a look. We would be delighted to welcome you!

The post Avoid and reduce CO2 emissions first appeared on Nerd Republic.

In the Paris Agreement, the international community set itself the goal of limiting global warming due to climate change to below 2°C, or even 1.5°C if possible. In order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, it is first necessary to take stock of our own emissions. To do this, the main sources must be identified and the level of emissions calculated.

Because you can’t control what you don’t measure.

Just like individuals, companies emit greenhouse gases (GHG) – and not just too little. However, not all emissions are immediately visible, as many are generated along the supply chain.

There are three scopes in which companies or organizations emit greenhouse gases (GHG). These scopes are referred to as “scopes” and the company-related GHG emissions are divided into them for calculation purposes.

When reporting in accordance with the GHG Protocol (Greenhouse Gas Protocol) – the GHG Protocol is one of the most widely used international standards for calculating company-related greenhouse gas emissions – Scope 1 and 2 emissions must be recorded. The recording of Scope 3 emissions is voluntary.

What’s behind the GHG scopes?

Scope 1: 
#Direct emissions – This is the view of emissions that come directly from the scope of the company

Example:
Think of the clouds of smoke over factories, the exhaust fumes from vehicle fleets or the exhaust fumes from offices. It’s about what we release directly into the environment.

Scope 2:  
#Indirect emissions from the use of energy purchased by the company – This is about the hidden emissions caused by a company’s energy consumption. Caution: If the company generates the electrical energy it uses itself, this electricity is not recorded under Scope 2. Instead, the fuel used is accounted for as Scope 1 (direct) emissions.

Example:
Think of the electricity we use, the heat we generate or other energy sources that may not end up directly in our products, but still drive our business activities.

Scope 3:  
Other #Indirect emissions – This scope goes beyond direct and indirect emissions and considers a company’s other impacts on the environment. In other words, emissions resulting from activities that are not directly attributable to the company.

Example:
This can include energy consumption along the entire value chain, transportation emissions, external waste disposal or business travel.

Would you like to see examples of emission sources within the scopes for different economic sectors or get to know the standards of the scopes in more depth? You can find the complete standard here (GHG Protocol Corporate Standard).

What happens after the scopes have been identified?

And now? You roughly know how to separate scope 1, 2 and 3, but what do you do with this knowledge?

Well, first of all: check, step 1 is done. You have created awareness and are facing up to the issue. Now to step 2: measuring and calculating your emissions. Before you can move on to step 3, avoidance and reduction. Then come steps 4 and 5: communicating and reporting as well as offsetting and financing. But everything step by step – here’s a reminder: keep an eye on our blog! Steps 3, 4 and 5 will be starting soon and will be covered in detail here soon!

We remember the sentence from the beginning: You can’t control what you don’t measure!

Types of accounting for GHG emissions

The corporate carbon footprint (CCF) is important for companies. It includes all emissions caused by or in connection with the company’s activities.

The Product Carbon Footprint (PCF), on the other hand, focuses on the emissions of a product during its manufacture, use and disposal. Companies often use the PCF results of their products, for example as input for the CCF in the category “Use of products sold” in the area of supply chain emissions. These results also serve as a source of information for a climate or broader sustainability strategy.

Emissions calculators can be used to calculate the GHG emissions of the entire organization as well as the products. We would like to take this opportunity to introduce you to a few B Corps friends who can help you with this project:
https://clevel.co.uk/
https://gatewayprocurement.co.uk/software/
https://northstarcarbon.com

As already mentioned, it is strongly recommended that Scope 1 and 2 emissions are accounted for in a greenhouse gas balance sheet. Scope 3 emissions are usually optional in accordance with the GHG Protocol, but should be accounted for in order to effectively protect the climate.

Pay attention to the following principles in greenhouse gas accounting

Relevance: Record and ensure that all relevant greenhouse gas emissions of your company are realistically reflected. Assess the emission sources in the value chain in terms of their significance in order to decide which should be included in the accounting.

Completeness: Consider all sources and activities according to the chosen calculation method and the defined system boundaries. Justify and document each exception transparently.

Consistency: Use consistent methods to keep your results comparable over the years. Transparently document any changes to your data or deviations from the methods.

Transparency: Disclose all assumptions made and document the calculation methods and data sources used accurately and comprehensibly.

Accuracy: Make sure that the calculated emission values are not systematically over- or underestimated.

Want more?

Would you like to find out more about the topic and would you like to put your heads together? Then we recommend our workshop on sustainability. Incidentally, we go far beyond the topic of greenhouse gases. Have a look. We would be delighted to welcome you!

The post Balance CO2 emissions and understand scopes first appeared on Nerd Republic.

Understanding agility

Being agile describes the ability to act flexibly and adaptably. At company level, this means that organizations gain the ability to react quickly to unforeseeable events and new requirements. In agile teams, rigid approaches are abandoned in favor of iterative work, whereby processes and workflows are constantly improved and adapted. The basic agile concept was formulated in 2001 by a group of 17 renowned software developers and set out in the Agile Manifesto. It describes the rules of conduct and values of agile teams under the four guidelines:

1. Individuals and interactions over processes and tools

2. Functioning software via comprehensive documentation

3. Collaboration with the customer via contract negotiation

4. Responding to change more than following a plan

You can view the complete Agile Manifesto here. Don’t forget the addition under the manifesto: “This means that although we consider the values on the right-hand side to be important,
we value the values on the left more highly.”

Implementing agility in your organization

Of course, an agile transformation does not happen overnight. Making an entire organization changeable can take several years, depending on its size, and yet it is never complete. After all, agility is characterized by continuously developing processes over time and avoiding standstills. It is therefore important to start with small steps and continuously scale agile practices within the company. A culture of experimentation should be created in which it is not a shame to make mistakes, but rather to see them as an opportunity to learn.

Agile practices and framework conditions

There are different agile practices and frameworks, the most common being Scrum and Kanban. Each defines its own rules and guidelines, which is why it makes sense as an organization to find the best individual solution and choose the right approach for you. Both are characterized by short work cycles, also known as sprints, in which constant attention is paid to planning and implementing tasks at regular intervals and evaluating them at the end. This means that months or years are not invested in a project only to find out at launch that the requirements have changed over the course of the project and the product no longer meets the customer’s needs. Agile projects are characterized by close collaboration with other teams and feedback loops. In this way, the product is constantly iteratively tested and continuously developed.

Management of agile teams  

Building and managing agile teams can be challenging at first, but it is essential for the success of an agile transformation. The core element of agile teams is their self-organized way of working, i.e. away from the top-down approach in which the management level dictates who has to do which tasks and towards the free organization of work within a firmly defined framework.

Although the framework is “predetermined”, the teams themselves decide how to organize themselves within it. After all, the responsible experts in the team know best which tasks they need to complete in order to achieve their goal and what characterizes good work in their area. Self-organizing teams not only have the advantage of eliminating bottlenecks caused by endless coordination processes, they also take responsibility for their work results (e.g. a product or service) and act on the basis of their own expertise.

Ideally, over time, all teams within the company will develop according to agile approaches, so that nothing stands in the way of cross-functional work between teams. This means that colleagues with different specialist skills can quickly come together to work on a product. Especially for new projects in as yet unknown areas, it can make sense to restructure individual teams so that the members are put together in such a way that all skills are bundled in order to achieve the desired goal.

The path to agility: challenging but commendable

An agile transformation is a comprehensive, complex and sometimes bumpy process. Teaching teams or even entire companies to work agilely is like fixing an airplane in flight – it requires precision, experience and sometimes courage. But one thing is certain: the path to agility is time-consuming, but the results are worth it. We are happy to support you in introducing agile techniques in your company, regardless of whether you have 10, 100 or 1000 employees. As an experienced consultancy, we support companies in mastering the transition to agility.

If you are curious and want to learn more about agility right away, we have a very special treat for you! At our Nerd Academy, we offer you the “Fundamentals of Agility” course (in German) completely free of charge. Simply create an account and start your learning journey on agility right away.

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Beer’s extensive experience in management consulting and his studies of cybernetics were incorporated into the development of this model, which aims to understand and design organizations as viable, self-regulating systems. The VSM offers a structured method for managing complexity in organizations and ensuring their long-term viability.

Admittedly, at first glance the whole thing looks like a circuit from a 1994 physics course, but once you have read up on it and started to understand it, the model is a key to the structural design of your organization, far removed from organizational charts.

Origin and basic principles of the Viable System Model

Beer recognized that traditional management approaches were often unable to address the dynamic and complex nature of modern organizations. Inspired by biological systems and cybernetics, he developed the VSM as a model that enables the necessary balance between stability and flexibility in organizations.

Possible applications in organizational development

The VSM offers a comprehensive methodology for the analysis and design of organizations. It helps managers to understand and manage the complexity of their organization by defining clear structures and responsibilities. The model promotes the autonomy of operational units while ensuring that all parts of the organization work together coherently and purposefully.

There are numerous possible applications for the system. The strongest are certainly the following four:

– Crisis management: Faster and more effective responses to unforeseen challenges and crises.

– Diagnosis of organizations: Identifying strengths and weaknesses in the current organizational structure.

– Restructuring and design: Developing resilient and adaptable organizational models.

– Change management: Supporting change processes to ensure that all parts of the organization are synchronized and aligned towards common goals.

The subsystems of the Viable System Model

The VSM consists of five subsystems that work together to ensure the viability of the organization:

System 1: Operational units

These consist of the basic operational units that carry out the main activities of the organization. Each unit has a certain degree of autonomy to work effectively and efficiently.

System 2: Coordination

This system ensures the harmonization of activities between the operational units. It minimizes conflicts and promotes cooperation through standardization and common protocols.

System 3: Control

The control system monitors the operational units and ensures that they work in line with the organization’s strategic objectives. It collects information, evaluates performance and makes necessary adjustments. Section 3* is helpful. This functions as an audit element and ensures the continuous maintenance of quality.

System 4: Development

This system is outward looking and deals with the environment and future developments. It ensures that the organization reacts to changes in the environment and adapts accordingly.

System 5: Policy

The highest system defines the basic guidelines and identity of the organization. It ensures that all other systems work in accordance with the overarching vision and values of the organization.

Conclusion

Stafford Beer’s Viable System Model is a powerful tool for organizational development in complex environments. It provides a clear framework for finding the balance between autonomy and control, stability and flexibility to ensure the long-term viability of the organization.

By systematically applying the VSM, organizations can better respond to the challenges of the modern business world and achieve sustainable success.

If you want to understand the whole thing better and put it into practice, we recommend our introductory course on complexity. There we will discuss the VSM in depth, apply it to a practical example and discuss how you can apply it in your organization or for your coaching.

The post The Viable System Model (VSM) first appeared on Nerd Republic.

This helps to gain a fairly complete overview and is also easy to remember (5 C’s). Each of these five topics with the underlying factors is basically a relevant adjusting screw to promote the performance of your team or group. And here comes the clue or the particular difficulty: depending on whether you are dealing with a group or a team, individual factors are relevant in different ways.

So what’s behind the 4Cs?

Hang on, that’s only four!

You saw that correctly. The last C should be considered separately, as it describes a competence to influence the other 4Cs in a positive way. Or as it is called in Management 3.0:

“Simply put, Collaborative Leadership is creating and maintaining a system that includes all people involved in a project, organization, or team”

From the Management 3.0 course

Team performance factors: Context

First, let’s take a closer look at the context, which basically describes the overarching framework conditions, i.e. the organizational environment in which a team works. Of course, there are many organizational factors, but we will only describe a small selection of them here. Perhaps you can think of other factors under context that are particularly relevant for your company or your specific team.

Culture

Corporate culture refers to the shared values, beliefs, behaviors, practices and symbols that make up a company. It is the way in which the people in the company work together and how the company presents itself.

Vision & Mission

The clear definition of vision and mission creates an important common basis for action and decision-making within the team. If all team members share and understand the vision and mission of the company, they can better align their individual tasks and goals.

Roles

The concept of “roles” refers to the specific tasks, responsibilities and authorities that individual employees have within an organization. Each role has specific requirements associated with it and requires certain skills, abilities and behaviors to be performed successfully.

Team performance factors: Composition

Composition relates to the specific composition of the team or group. You need to have the “right people on board” to drive things forward and achieve top performance. Like context, composition is the foundation for building a truly successful and consistently high-performing team.

In order to manage the composition of the team effectively, you (or the person in a leadership role) and the team should take a closer look at the following factors, among others, and reflect on them critically:

Team size

Unfortunately, a magic formula for the perfect team size has not yet been found. Study results here are also rather controversial. Some studies have shown, for example, that smaller groups tend to perform better as they find it easier to communicate effectively and make decisions.

However, there are also other studies that show that larger groups are better able to generate a greater diversity of ideas and perspectives and solve more complex problems. This is where the keyword “cognitive diversity” comes into play.

Skills & abilities

Generally speaking and without taking other factors into account, the more skills and abilities the individual members have, the more successful a team is likely to be. A team of highly talented and trained software developers is more likely to become a real high performance team than a team whose members are more moderately blessed.

Motivation

There are numerous research findings that prove that motivation has a significant influence on the performance of a team. Motivated employees tend to perform better, show more commitment and stay with the company longer.

Team performance factors: Competencies

Successful teams have certain competencies, some of which exist independently of the individual team members and are embedded in the team’s formal and informal processes – in other words, the team’s own, very specific way of working. Let’s take a closer look at some of the underlying factors:

Trust & Psychological Safety

Although these two factors are not conceptually one and the same and we will treat them separately throughout the course, they have very similar effects on team performance and are often treated as one and the same construct in practice. Both Trust and Psychological Safety are an important factor in team collaboration and coordination and, when high, lead to higher satisfaction, motivation and effectiveness, among other things.

Communication, decision-making & conflict management

Some studies have shown that effective communication that offers clear and open opportunities for exchange and solves problems quickly contributes to higher satisfaction and motivation and therefore also to higher performance. Other studies have shown that unclear or faulty communication can lead to conflict and confusion and therefore affect team performance.

Team performance factors: Change

Change describes the team’s ability to adapt and/or change.

High-performance teams must constantly change with the context and its conditions in order to be successful in the long term. A winning formula that works today may not work tomorrow. After all, even last year’s NBA champion is not automatically guaranteed to win the title this year!

Factors related to context, composition, and competencies may need to change to enable the team to achieve new goals successfully over and over again. A team that is capable of continuously reviewing its performance and understanding its strengths and weaknesses can gain insights essential for developing an action plan for continuous improvement.

This “change management” is, in this sense, a kind of meta-competence that draws from the factors of the other areas—context, composition, and competencies—but significantly goes beyond them. You can imagine this in relation to yourself: anyone who has ever seriously tried to make a significant change knows that it is a tremendous effort requiring access to a wide range of internal and external resources.

Factors of Team Performance: Collaborative Leadership

Yay, the final section of this chapter! Let’s keep it short and sweet—final sprint. The concept of Collaborative Leadership is based on the belief that together we can be smarter, more creative, and more competent than any one of us alone, especially when tackling the novel, complex, and multifaceted problems businesses face today.

Collaborative Leadership teams are often seen as far more creative, adaptable, and capable compared to those operating under other leadership styles.

Let’s recall the four C’s we discussed earlier. A leader who succeeds in managing the system rather than the employees prepares their team to tackle the complex, modern challenges of today.

And now?

We’ve taken a closer look at the various factors that influence team performance and how they can be broadly categorized.

The content of this blog is an excerpt from our self-paced course on High-Performance Teams. If you want to learn more about the 4 or 5 C’s, you can find the course here (in German).

But we’ve got a special treat for you: our brand-new Team Dojo! The Team Dojo is a tailored concept designed to improve your team. This concept is based on the 4C model described here. Step by step, we guide you and your team toward continuous improvement.

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