Thinkware Tuning · Continuous Organizational Adaptation
You know what needs to happen.
It still doesn’t.
A weekly working rhythm for the whole management team, CEO included: one four-hour session a week on the real problem that keeps coming back.
- Who
- The management team with the CEO (4–12)
- Rhythm
- One four-hour session a week
- Length
- Three months is a good start
- Where
- Your venue or off-site
Thirteen weeks on one problem
- Week 1
- Week 2
- Week 3
- Week 4
- Week 5
- Week 6
- Week 7
- Week 8
- Week 9
- Week 10
- Week 11
- Week 12
- Week 13
First, the diagnosis
Thomas talks to each member of the team alone, then to the group. This part can run online. It shows how each person observes the problem and which assumptions they bring into the room.
Then, every week
A four-hour session on the real problem, with the whole team and the CEO in the room every time. Without the CEO the work stays dry swimming, and nothing happens after the session ends.
Tuning starts from a real problem
- A bottleneck that keeps coming back, however often the team has tried to handle it.
- A chronic conflict between two people or two departments.
- A change the management team agreed on, which the people facing the work say does not work.
- A competent person who blocks the rest without meaning to.
- People who have quietly stopped expecting anything to improve.
One word, ten people, ten definitions
Ask a management team what “efficiency” means and you get a definition from each person. Different business ideas can collide in a meeting, and they should. Different definitions of the same word make sure nobody means the same thing when the team tries to execute.
- more output per person
- fewer meetings
- faster decisions
- lower cost
- less rework
- hitting the quarterly target
- shipping on the promised date
- doing the right things first
- nobody waiting on anybody
- what the board asked for
A motor, not a bag of screws
Some teams feel like a bag of screws the company has to drag along. Tuning adjusts how each person observes and thinks about the problem until the team starts to generate power. The outcome stays yours; Thomas aligns how you get to ideas and whether you mean the same thing when you act on them.
- Half structure, half improvisation
- Thomas prepares each session and then follows what the room brings up.
- An outsider who takes no side
- He has no stake in who wins an argument, so the team can say what it sees.
- The same people every week
- Everyone attends every session, so nobody falls behind on what the rest have learned.
- A room away from the desk
- You provide the venue, in the building or off-site.
Tuning or Horizon?
Thinkware Tuning
A tactical problem. You know what to do and it does not get done, because of something in the thinking, attitude or approach. Like adding a wing to a Formula 1 car: same race, better performance.
Thinkware Horizon
A strategic question. The way you have been winning stops working, and the team has to decide which race to enter.
A question to bring to the first conversation
“What keeps happening in your organization even though everyone agrees it shouldn’t?”
Frequently Asked Questions
Fit, format, fee and how to begin with Thinkware Tuning.
When is Thinkware Tuning appropriate for an organization?
When there is a real problem the team has not been able to solve: a bottleneck that keeps coming back, a chronic conflict, a change the management team agreed on that the people doing the work say does not work, or a competent person who blocks the rest. You know what needs to happen, and something in the thinking, attitude or approach keeps it from happening.
How does Thinkware Tuning differ from Thinkware Horizon?
Tuning works on a tactical problem: you know what to do and it does not get done, because of something in the team’s thinking, attitude or approach. Horizon works on a strategic one: the way you have been winning stops working, and the CEO and core team have to choose a new direction in 4–6 weeks.
Is three months a contractual minimum?
Three months is a good starting period: a diagnosis, then about thirteen weekly sessions on one problem. It is a suggestion, not a contractual minimum; commitment and notice terms are discussed before an engagement is agreed.
How does Thomas work with the leadership team during Tuning?
Thomas starts with a diagnosis: a conversation with each team member, then with the group, which can run online. After that the whole management team, CEO included, meets for one four-hour session a week on the real problem. Everyone attends every session. Each session is half prepared structure and half response to what the room brings up. You provide the venue, in the building or off-site.
What is the first step in initiating Thinkware Tuning?
Identify one pattern that has survived previous attempts to change it, guided by the question: “What keeps happening in your organization even though everyone agrees it shouldn’t?” Submit an enquiry to explore starting with a diagnostic tuning conversation.
Submit a Nonbinding Enquiry
Start a confidential conversation with Thomas Bothe about Thinkware Tuning. There is no automated booking and no financial obligation.