Diagnosis: From Theory to Practice

By Steve Zuieback & Tim Dalmau and Tim Dalmau

This book provides a step-by-step guide to the science of organizational diagnosis. Leaders at all levels of organizations are often perplexed and mistaken about what is actually happening underneath the surface in their teams and organizations. Like a medical practitioner, it is often critical to first understand the underlying dynamics before making a diagnosis and developing a treatment plan.The purpose of this book is to provide leaders, consultants, and facilitators in positions of having to design interventions, with practical and straightforward approaches to diagnosing their situations. The book is filled with practical strategies, tools and videos to guide leaders on their journey to success.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Hillcrest Media Group
• Release date: Jun 1, 2015
• ISBN: 9781634133845

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ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Steve Zuieback and Tim Dalmau work with publicly listed and private corporations, government organizations and non-profits. Their client group spans resources and mining, engineering, transport, and health care sectors, professional service firms, non-profit organizations, whole communities and educational organizations. Over the last 30 years they have worked in 41 countries.

They provide consulting, facilitation, executive coaching services and leadership development training programs. They are leadership guides and companions for organizations and their leaders on their journeys.

WHO MIGHT BENEFIT FROM THIS BOOK?

In our consulting work, in our leadership development training and other programs we engage with boards, executives, organizational development practitioners, consultants, facilitators, managers, senior managers and leaders, and whole leadership teams. This book is for these people - individuals who find themselves in a position of having to analyze, assess, diagnose and design interventions to move their systems, teams and communities from one way of operating to improved levels of results.

INTRODUCTION

WHAT WE ARE OFFERING YOU THROUGH THIS BOOK

In our consulting interventions, programs and training events we often share various models and strategies for diagnosing organizational dynamics and for designing powerful approaches to achieve improved results. Whereas some enjoy the complexities and a multitude of options, most of our clients - the audience for this book - are looking for a practical and straightforward approach. That is what we hope we have accomplished here.

THE STRUCTURE OF THIS BOOK

We assume if you have purchased this book then there are three simple questions you want answered:

What?

What is involved in the diagnosis process?

Where?

What type of problem terrain do I find myself in?

How?

How do I go about doing what is required?

These three questions more or less describe the structure of this book and are equivalent to:

Chapter 1

What are the main steps of the diagnostic process?

Chapter 2

What type of problem am I trying to understand?

Chapter 3

What things can I or should I look at?

Chapter 4

What processes should I use and how?

The body of the text in each chapter provides information about the conceptual maps and models that underlie our consulting approach, but the essence of the suggestions we have for what processes and tools to use and how to use them is to be found in Chapter 4: Undertaking the Process of Diagnosis.

In addition, we use inserts, sidebars and links to provide extra contextual information or specific processes and process tips. These are embedded into the text as grey boxes. They also include other ways of reviewing the material such as videos and extended articles. Video links are embedded directly into the content flow. Choices of processes and specific actions are the subject of the next e-book in the series.

CHAPTER 1: THE DIAGNOSIS PROCESS

THE DIAGNOSIS PROCESS

This chapter is designed to provide a high level overview of the diagnosis process. There are many maps that have been used to conceptualize the diagnosis process. It was Alfred Korzybski who first said, the map is not the territory, meaning that maps are approximations that attempt to describe reality, but they are not reality themselves. And so it is with this book, we hope to give you a map that you can use to guide yourself through the territory of undertaking a diagnosis.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines diagnosis as the identification of the nature of an illness or other problem by examination of the symptoms. In the world of organizational change it may not be an illness as such, but rather a sub-optimal state of some kind or even