The Lateral Dialogues

Ever sat in a functional team meeting thinking, “Why do we keep talking like this?” What if those awkward conversations and recurring patterns weren’t just quirks—but clues? Clues to the strategic tensions, the complexity of business partnering, and the invisible forces shaping how team members show up. In this podcast, Petros Oratis and Warden Hoffman—seasoned insiders, researchers, and consultants to functional teams—bring humor and heart to a revealing exploration of functional team dynamics. They introduce six vivid "archetypes" that show up again and again in functional teams across industries: 🏆 Best Business Contest – Competitive energy disguised as collaboration 😢 Detox Retreat – Emotional processing without resolution ⚔️ Holy Warriors – Mission-driven clashes over values 📣 Grievance Union – Collective venting with no clear path forward 🐝 Show-Off Beehive – Buzzing brilliance with little cohesion 🍰 High-Tea Gathering – Polite avoidance of deeper tensions These aren’t dysfunctions to fix—they’re reflections of a team’s values and strengths that, in the moment, may be in conflict or struggling to surface. By recognizing these patterns, we can shift the team’s awareness and spark the right conversations that meet its true needs. What if in the moment we could shift the team's consciousness and hold the right dialogue that addresses the actual needs of the team? 💡 What dynamics have you seen in your own team? Tune in, reflect, and join the dialogue. The Lateral Space website: http://www.thelateralspace.com Petros Oratis bio: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petrosoratis/ Warden Hoffman bio: https://www.linkedin.com/in/warden-hoffman-72b5801/

"What just happened? Was this a coincidence or a sign from somewhere?" What happens to us, when experiencing something that prompt such questions in us? How do we process so-called mystical or uncanny experiences, which logic can't help navigating? And if organizations thrive on navigating challenges and dilemmas through logic and facts, could suspending fact-based thinking result into effective leadership? Dr Noel McQuaid fascinated by these aspects of life, researched how senior leaders navigate experiences that their logic couldn't explain. He found that suspending logical thinking and not dismissing too early such experiences could actually result into effective and courageous decision-making, which otherwise wouldn't be possible or at as accessible. He shares his fascinating insights and ideas on a topic that we may rarely think of or make space for. Dr Noel McQuaid bio: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-noel-mcquaid-180749112/ The Lateral Space: https://www.thelateralspace.com/

What does it take to collaborating in today's organizational complexity? There are two major shifts, which are the two sides of the same coin: 1. our interdependencies are heightened more than ever, and 2. we are expected to operate with autonomy, to be self-steering. This mean that to be an effective leader today you need to actively manage your ability to operate autonomously AND to thrive through the interdependencies with other leaders. Easier said than done! In this podcast episode Warden Hoffman and Petros Oratis explore the tension that most leaders and teams experience in this paradigm: The Lateral Dialgoues podcast: The Lateral Dialogues | a podcast by The Lateral Space The Lateral Space website: The Lateral Space Warden Hoffman bio: https://www.linkedin.com/in/warden-hoffman-72b5801/ Petros Oratis bio: https://www.linkedin.com/in/petrosoratis/

How does it feel to work in highly pressurized organizations, on the "always-on" mode? How do performance-driven organizations deal with uncertainty, lack of progress, and not-knowing? How do ambitious people deal with their performance in these organizations? What are the dynamics developed between individuals and leaders? In this episode we explore some of the implications of working in highly pressurized, performance-driven organizations, by learning from the dynamics of management consulting firms. Whilst a performance-focused culture is an imperative for the success and survival of an organization, if certain conditions aren't in place it can have adverse effects in results, organizational health, adaptability and individual wellbeing. To understand all these deeper, we hosted Dr Peter Shepherd, who researched management consulting firms through anthropology, and unraveled for us a fascinating description of all that happens within these cultures. In this dialogue we explored some reasons behind certain dynamics and what are some conditions that allow a performance culture to be sustainable and thriving, rather than detrimental for an organization and its individuals. Dr Peter Shepherd bio: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-peter-shepherd-fcipd-898955/ The Lateral Space website: https://www.thelateralspace.com/

Why are human dynamics of mergers and acquisitions so challenging? In this episode Warden Hoffman outlines his observations, findings and ways of working when it comes to organizations and teams that merge. Warden developed this curiosity early in his career and after being exposed to M&A in many of his roles he found himself consulting to numerous organizations and teams post-merger. We explore a series of questions: What are the human forces that slow down the creation of a new entity post-merger? Why former organizational identities matter so much? Why are mergers prone to create competitive dynamics, even when that's not needed and what are the competing for? What are some practical ways of addressing these very challenging dynamics, when planning a merger or leading merged teams? Warden Hoffman bio: https://www.linkedin.com/in/warden-hoffman-72b5801/ the lateral space website: http://www.thelateralspace.com the lateral dialogues podcast: https://thelateraldialogues.podbean.com/

A major shift in how we look at teams is to not only look at individuals and how they create a group but to see the group as one entity, the team as a whole. Do teams have a secret life of their own? This different perspective on teams as being one entity, creates a novel perspective on group dynamics and offers the opportunity to work with teams differently. In this episode, we explore the tension between our tendency to focus on the individual while being part of a team system. How does this affect the people part of the team, what are typical team behaviors we can distinguish and how does it impact the way a team learns and develops? Our guest is Dr Martin Lüdemann, who has worked as a psychologist and supervisor for 30 years, consulting, supporting, and guiding groups and individuals in organizations. Martin recently completed the Professional Doctorate at the Tavistock Clinic, where he researched group-as-a-whole phenomena. Dr Martin Lüdemann profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-martin-luedemann-05375277/ The Lateral Space: https://www.thelateralspace.com/

How can we connect with our creativity when we are challenged? Creativity is more than artistic expression. It starts from conceiving a new thought, allowing it to emerge, socializing it and converting it into action. Often times what emerges through creativity goes against the current stream, which is exactly what's needed to get us out of unknown challenging situations. So how do we enable this to happen? How can we allow creativity under pressure? This dialogue features Stephanie Davies an organizational development and change consultant who is specialized in creativity. Stephanie researched the lives of very creative people to understand how creativity functions and with that knowledge understand where we can locate creativity in organizations and our leadership. Dr Stephanie Davies profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-stephanie-davies-70ab48136/ The Lateral Space website: http://www.thelateralspace.com

How does it feel knowing that you might be the next leader in line? How does being destined to lead impact your identity? How do you build credibility and enable your authenticity? Will you always be compared to the previous generation? Can succession in family businesses be meritocratic? And is the right way for the next leader to emerge amongst siblings or peers? In this episode, we explore the fascinating dynamics of leadership succession in family businesses. We may find that these invaluable lessons are applicable to the abiding challenges of succession in any type of organization, and especially those struggling to replace their current strong and successful leaders. We are joined by Dr Mariana Moura, consultant to family businesses, board member of a family business, who completed her doctoral research on next-generation leadership in family businesses and author of the book "Supergovernance: A Broad Look at the Challenges of Family Businesses". Mariana Moura bio: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariana-moura-2318217a/ Research thesis: https://repository.tavistockandportman.ac.uk/2862/ The Lateral Space: https://www.thelateralspace.com/ Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/14652748

Throughout human history we have been developing and deploying technological solutions in the service of organizational and human needs. But after technology gets introduced, we may quickly find ourselves operating in the service of the needs of technology more than our own. Our tendency to idealize its possibilities and benefits, may quickly make us give up authority to technology to lead us, and lose our capacity to think as every situation requires us to. We adjust our lifestyles or work processes to serve the tech interface, sometimes forgetting that it should serve us. Why do we do that? And how could we approach technology, so that we benefit from it and effectively manage its consequences? We are joined by Dr Nick Waggett who has been extensively studying the dynamics of organizations through a systems-psychodynamics and socio-technical systems perspective and particularly researched technology use in public service organizations (UK healthcare). Nick helps us explore: why do we abdicate our authority to tech systems, and how does this impact our capacity to lead? What is the management focus when implementing technology and what might get lost? In our everyday psychology, how does a tech interface become our mental image and overall filter of the world? How are current social dynamics a result of the human interactions within tech interfaces? Finally, what can we learn from our hopes and fears associated with the current AI evolution? Dr Nick Waggett is the course leader of the Tavistock professional doctorate "Advanced practice and research: consultation and the organisation" https://tavistockandportman.ac.uk/courses/advanced-practice-and-research-consultation-and-the-organisation-d10d/ The Lateral Dialogues are hosted by Warden Hoffman and Petros Oratis, managing partners at The Lateral Space http://www.thelateralspace.com/

Change management has been very present in management practices with lots of well-known methodologies, primarily originating from project management environments. But do they always yield the desired benefits? What about the non-linear aspects of organizational change? Whether that’s an adjustment to a new environment, letting go of well-known and liked ways of working or facing loss and uncertainty. How clear is the desired end-state, when we lead change and when does the change work stop? In this episode, we discuss questions around, the position of change management in large organizations and the role of senior management. The usefulness and limitations of a process-focused change management approach. But mainly we explore the human side of change, how to deal with seemingly small experiences of human change that can have a major impact on the organization’s ability to handle change. Change as something that happens to and must be digested by people. We are joined by our guest, Minola Jac, who describes herself as a journalist by trade and a changed practitioner by choice. We discuss not only learnings based on her extensive experience as a change practitioner in a large corporate organization, but also insights from her book “Everyday Inspiration for Change: How Daily Experiences Can Be Your Mentor for Change in Life and Work.” With her book in mind, we discuss the power of storytelling in change. https://www.amazon.com/Everyday-Inspiration-Change-Experiences-Mentor/dp/B0CGL9VMY1 The Lateral Dialogues are hosted by Warden Hoffman and Petros Oratis, consultants and managing partners at The Lateral Space http://www.thelateralspace.com/

The intensity of polarization in everyday life or in organizations can make us feel toxic, even though we want to take a stand for our values, interests and beliefs. In this episode, our guest Martin Ringer, helps us understand and explore this topic: How does polarization form? Why do we need to belong to opinion blocks and when does it turn toxic? How do we experience it in everyday life and society? How can we coach polarized teams in collaboration breakdown? Why seeking common ground too early can prove very ineffective? How can consultants establish neutrality and what happens when we fail to do so? If you like this episode, you might be interested in the ISPSO Annual Meeting in Sofia on July 1-7 2024, which offers similar paper presentations and professional development workshops: https://ispso.org/AM2024 The Lateral Dialogues are hosted by Warden Hoffman and Petros Oratis, managing partners at The Lateral Space http://www.thelateralspace.com/

Some consider the climate crisis, the most urgent issue for the earth’s future and ourselves on it. Yet, why is it so hard to engage with it, systemically and as individuals? Why is it so hard to inspire action for those working on the climate crisis? What does it take to work in sustainability within large corporations? And how do each of us, Earth’s inhabitants, get emotionally impacted by the climate crisis? Why does this topic evoke polarization in society and politically, between activists and deniers? In this Lateral Dialogue, we are exploring all these questions, through the so-called climate psychology, a relatively new discipline concerned with understanding the dynamics and emotional experiences, related to the climate crisis. For those actively working on this, as well as for all individuals exposed to its consequences in everyday life. To explore these questions we are joined by Dr Rebecca Nestor, who has researched the experience of working in the climate crisis and has consulted to people who work in organizations that deal with this matter, climate scientists, and campaign groups. Rebecca regularly runs climate cafes, which are opportunities for people to come together in small groups and share their emotional responses to the climate crisis and create meaning together. Next to this, she's also a board member of the Climate Psychology Alliance. As her tagline says, she provides support for those who are facing the climate crisis. The Lateral Dialogues are hosted by Warden Hoffman and Petros Oratis, managing partners at The Lateral Space http://www.thelateralspace.com/

How can we engage in social dialogue on geopolitical or social conflict, such as the war in Gaza or Ukraine? How can we have a meaningful dialogue beyond polarization or political correctness? Why are we psychologically mobilized to fight, even when we are not directly linked to these conflicts and why are we impacted in our ability to think, talk, and act? We are joined by Bijan Khajehpour & Regine Scholz from the International Dialogue Initiative. They explain Vamik Volkan's theory of large group identity and collective trauma to understand how we are mobilized psychologically during a crisis or war. We explore how the dynamics of polarization and political correctness work and what we can practically do, to engage in meaningful dialogue. We finally discuss what organizations and management can do when their workforce is directly or indirectly affected by geopolitical conflict. The Lateral Dialogues are hosted by Warden Hoffman and Petros Oratis, managing partners at The Lateral Space http://www.thelateralspace.com/

Dr Veronica Azua got motivated to research self-doubt, after noticing a very common paradox in senior leaders: despite having led successful lives and careers, they would still experience heightened self-doubt and self-criticism. In this Lateral Dialogue, Veronica shares some of the key moments, when we are prone to experience such feelings. How being surrounded by high-achievers or part of "elite" organizations intensifies feelings of self-doubt which may not reflect realistic expectations of our role or results. We explore how organizations or particular contexts eliminate the space to feel doubtful or to tolerate not-knowing, and therefore as individuals, we stay with these feelings privately, often resulting in a systemic vicious circle of Doubt -> Unrealistic expectations -> Hard work -> Despair. Veronica finally shares a few practical strategies for individuals and teams to turn this around. Maybe self-doubt and self-criticism is a secret best kept. The Lateral Dialogues are hosted by Warden Hoffman and Petros Oratis, managing partners at The Lateral Space http://www.thelateralspace.com/

Why do we create hierarchies in groups, even when we intend to be flat? Why are we so preoccupied with ranking, and yet we operate with absolute equality? This episode explores how we are unconsciously impacted by hierarchy, how to recognize the dynamics of hidden hierarchy, and what its unintended effects on teams and leadership are. The Lateral Dialogues are hosted by Warden Hoffman and Petros Oratis, managing partners at The Lateral Space http://www.thelateralspace.com/

1. Illuminating the hidden aspects of organizational culture: How can we uncover its unconscious aspects? What happens when we expose uncomfortable truths of how we function? Why often culture doesn’t shift even when we explicitly cascade how we should behave differently? Dr. Karen Gray joins Warden Hoffman and Petros Oratis in this Lateral Dialogue to explore these questions.