Productive Disruption as a critical enabler for organisational change

Abstract

Faced with challenges of being isolated through COVID-19, HELTASA leadership embarked on a process of productive disruption to restructure and reshape the organisation to be more agile and responsive. Embraced as a potential organisational catalyst for change, we used productive disruption as a catalyst for structural reorganisation and expansive capacity building; and methodological disruption through the unprecedented (un)conference experience that encouraged equitable and socially inclusive participation. We present a duo-ethnographic case study of productive disruption of organisational structure in a context of crisis. Data was generated through deliberations, reflections, provocations, and memory work by the leadership level. We reflect on and analyse the outcomes of the expansion and change to assess if HELTASA’s shapeshifting could be contextually responsive, resilient, and relevant. We conclude that productive disruption is a necessary intervention when ‘business as usual’ no longer offers the stretch and growth needed for professional organisations to survive and be sustained.