Online event
Solving the wrong problem: Why good leaders misdiagnose change
Thursday 19 November at 11:00AM
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Are you fixing the problem, or solving the wrong one? Learn how to diagnose complex business challenges before taking action.
What you’ll learn
- Understand the difference between technical and wicked problems, and why a technical fix rarely resolves a wicked one
- Recognise the reductionism trap: treating a complex, relational issue as simpler than it is because the simple fix feels more decisive
- Understand why weak trust in a team undermines accurate diagnosis, and what is needed to surface honest information before acting
Description
Are you tackling the right problem, or simply applying the wrong solution?
In today's volatile and complex business environment, many leaders instinctively reach for technical fixes such as restructuring teams, hiring talent, or introducing new processes. But what happens when the challenge isn't technical at all?
This thought-provoking webinar will help CEOs and senior leaders of £5m+ businesses distinguish between problems that can be solved and those that require a different way of understanding. Using a practical diagnostic framework, you'll assess your own business challenges, learn to recognise the "reductionism trap" of forcing complex issues into simple solutions, and explore how trust affects a leader's ability to make sound decisions.
Join us to gain a fresh perspective on leadership, complexity, and decision-making, and ensure you're solving the right problem before taking action.
Speakers
Thomas Jepson-Lay
Organisational attunement advisor, Thomas Jepson-Lay
Thomas Jepson-Lay spent eighteen years in senior humanitarian leadership, latterly as Save the Children's Regional Humanitarian Director for East and Southern Africa. He now coaches and advises leaders and organisations working under sustained pressure and navigating uncertainty.
His leadership philosophy starts with values. He argues that identity lives in the values a person enacts and that the job is only the vehicle for them. He believes in power shared with others, the humility to recognise when leadership belongs closer to the context, and the honesty to accept and embrace things that are no-longer working. He is sceptical of the familiar being offered as certainty, which he calls managed decline, and holds that this time asks for urgent patience: acting with urgency while protecting the time to think.