Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #128
This week:
- Upcoming Events
- Systems and Complexity in Organisation
- Systems leadership
- Business agility
Upcoming Events:
SE Stakeholder Engagement — Productive Conversations (0.5d)
This training programme could equally be called ‘honest conversations’, ‘difficult conversations’, ‘constructive conversations’, or ‘challenging conversations’.
Fundamental to the success and flavour of organisational life — and systems practice interventions — are the quality of conversations we are able to have. If we can develop an honest and shared attempt to get at shared understanding — shared ‘truth’ if you like — or at least to fully appreciate each others’ understanding — then we can make true progress.
This interactive session will:
- Discuss different types of feedback / difficult conversation
- Understand how the brain rationalises and protect us
- Increase awareness of our own habits and perceptions
- Prepare and plan for a difficult conversation
- Have effective performance conversations
- Learn how to respond / look after yourself in the moment
And help you to have productive conversations even when it seems most unlikely. You will need to bring a record of an ‘unproductive’ conversation you have had, or fear having, and be prepared to work with others around it and other examples. You will end the session with the ability to surface more productive conversations even when it is difficult.
Trainer
These courses are delivered by Benjamin P Taylor, an expert in systems, cybernetics, and complexity in service transformation.
Pricing Info
£250 +VAT
To enquire please go on this link: https://www.systemspractice.org/courses/ise-stakeholder-engagement-productive-conversations-05d
ILG Large Group Interventions (1.0d)
In a classic 2005 article, ‘Techniques to Match our Values’, Weisbord set out the ‘learning curve’, with a movement from ‘experts solve problems’ to ‘’everybody’ solves problems’ to ‘experts improve whole systems’ to ‘’everybody’ improves whole systems’. Inherent in the development of systems practice from the start has been recognition of ‘the whole’, which comes in various forms from group dynamics to organisational viability.
This programme will give an overview of intervention approaches which ‘bring whole systems into the room’ rather than have a few experts work on individual issues. We will look at some of the history and the wide range of interventions that have been developed, and provide an overview of some of the most interesting.
We will compare and contrast these approaches and provide ‘ways in’ to consider when, and which, large group intervention might be an appropriate part of a systems practice intervention.
Trainer
These courses are delivered by Benjamin P Taylor, an expert in systems, cybernetics, and complexity in service transformation.
Pricing Info
£500 +VAT
To enquire please go on this link: https://www.systemspractice.org/courses/ilg-large-group-interventions-10d
ICS3 Workshop Design (0.5d)
This module provides learners with an understanding of the design of workshops and relevant considerations, taking into account the potentially very different contexts and definitions of what a ‘workshop’ is. It introduces a range of tools and approaches for workshop design, building on the facilitation module. It gives tools to consider evaluation and learning about workshop design, and compares various approaches, enabling learners to better select and apply appropriate workshop design approaches to their context.
A workshop can be distinguished from a meeting (though the boundaries may be blurry at times), by some of the following indicators:
- intensive discussion and activity, designed to progress thinking and planning
- intentionally designed activities (rather than simply an agenda), or flow
- an impact focus, usually above and beyond just a discussion or decision — some kind of output taking an intervention or initiative forward
An alternative use of the work, to workshop (something), refers to taking a product or idea into a period of intense focused experimentation and development, often bringing in fresh or different perspectives than the original developers of the product or idea. This is of course closely related, but implies some partly-developed ‘content’ as the workshop focus, as opposed to simply a product or idea. In either case, some input is expected to a workshop, whether process, content, or both.
The learning will cover:
- What a workshop is
- Where and when we might use a workshop
- A range of tools and approaches
- How to appropriately select an approach, and design a workshop to fit the requirements in context
- The importance of reflection and how to evaluate and build a learning loop
- Workshop design tools, core and conceptual
This is a very practical, hands-on course based on you creating an initial workshop design from your context, using sources offered, and sharing and discussing it in the session.
This course complements the course on Facilitation for systems practice interventions, though they can be done independently or in any order.
Trainer
These courses are delivered by Benjamin P Taylor, an expert in systems, cybernetics, and complexity in service transformation.
Pricing Info
£250 +VAT
To enquire please go on this link: https://www.systemspractice.org/courses/ics3-workshop-design-05d
ICS2 Facilitation Skills for Systems Practice Interventions (0.5d)
This course provides learners with an understanding of the facilitation relationship in the context of systems intervention itself, and of the challenges it brings. It introduces a range of tools and practices for facilitation and provides guidance on workshop planning. Finally, it compares various approaches to facilitation, enabling learners to develop a stronger sense of the kind of facilitator they want to be.
Topics covered include:
- The facilitraining rainbow — where do you stand?
- Divergence, emergence, convergence;
- Differentiation and integration method;
- Adaptive change;
- Facilitation for ‘robust systems’;
- Session planning and session flow;
- The perceptual positions;
- Ground rules for workshops and ways into partnership;
- Maintaining your authenticity;
- Peter Block’s ‘six conversations that matter’;
- Chris Corrigan’s ‘seven little helpers’;
- Hosting and guiding and/or customer services;
- Context cues;
- History and three futures;
- Power tools and making concrete — Naming The Thing.
Trainer
These courses are delivered by Benjamin P Taylor, an expert in systems, cybernetics, and complexity in service transformation.
Pricing Info
£250 +VAT
To enquire please go on this link: https://www.systemspractice.org/courses/ics2-facilitation-skills-systems-practice-interventions-05d
ICS1b Consulting for Systems Practice Interventions — (b) Core (0.5d)
This course provides learners with a deeper understanding of:
- Discovery and research into the client system;
- Power questions, layers of analysis, and objectifying ‘the system’;
- Research and action-based approaches;
- Third-party and whole systems approaches;
- Maintaining the balance of responsibility for deep engagement;
- Structuring analysis and feedback, developing commitment;
- Choosing dirty or clean consulting.
To maximise your chances of being effective in achieving positive change, you should combine a sound understanding of systems approaches with well-developed intervention skills.
This in turn requires a clear conception of the role of the systems practitioner as ‘consultant’, of their relationships with stakeholders, especially the ‘client’, and the nature of the practitioner’s influence on the organisations they seek to transform.
Drawing on Flawless Consulting, Barry Oshry’s Organic Systems Framework, and more, Consulting for Systems Practice Interventions emphasises a collaborative approach and equal responsibility between the intervention practitioner and the client, navigating a path between the twin traps of ‘consultant as boss’ and ‘consultant as servant’.
These courses are relevant to anyone — consultant or not! — who is engaging in organisational change.
Trainer
These courses are delivered by Benjamin P Taylor, an expert in systems, cybernetics, and complexity in service transformation.
Pricing Info
£250 +VAT
To enquire please go on this link: https://www.systemspractice.org/courses/ics1b-consulting-systems-practice-interventions-b-core-05d
ICS1a Consulting for Systems Practice Interventions — (a) Foundation (0.5d)
This course will provide learners with key principles and a structure for interventions. Topics covered include:
- The five phases of the consultative process;
- ‘Techniques are not enough’: relationships in consulting;
- Dealing with ‘the space of service’;
- Setting up a clear ‘contract’ for interventions — including triangular and rectangular contracting;
- Authenticity and setting your assumptions;
- The client behind the client and the problem behind the problem;
To maximise your chances of being effective in achieving positive change, you should combine a sound understanding of systems approaches with well-developed intervention skills.
This in turn requires a clear conception of the role of the systems practitioner as ‘consultant’, of their relationships with stakeholders, especially the ‘client’, and the nature of the practitioner’s influence on the organisations they seek to transform.
Drawing on Flawless Consulting, Barry Oshry’s Organic Systems Framework, and more, Consulting for Systems Practice Interventions emphasises a collaborative approach and equal responsibility between the intervention practitioner and the client, navigating a path between the twin traps of ‘consultant as boss’ and ‘consultant as servant’.
These courses are relevant to anyone — consultant or not! — who is engaging in organisational change.
Trainer
These courses are delivered by Benjamin P Taylor, an expert in systems, cybernetics, and complexity in service transformation.
Pricing Info
£250 +VAT
To enquire please go on this link: https://www.systemspractice.org/courses/ics1a-consulting-systems-practice-interventions-foundation-05d
Link Collection:
My Weekly Blog post:
Shaun O’Neil posed a thought-provoking ‘exam question’ when I sought insight recently. The term “systems change” lacks a single definition. It’s often used in discussions about climate change, advocating for a comprehensive overhaul of our societal structures, from capitalism to governance, down to our daily routines. Alternatively, it’s seen as a means to achieve social equity or reform large-scale institutions like healthcare. Unlike “systems thinking,” which views systems abstractly, systems change sees them as tangible entities. It involves a blend of social change strategies, self-management, and a belief in the influence of our change methods on the resulting system. Systems change is crucial when the status quo fails fundamentally, demanding deep understanding and challenging underlying frameworks. It entails restructuring systems to address entrenched problems, contrasting with mere tinkering. It’s a long-term endeavor, often catalysed by crises or collective realisations of unsustainability, requiring reflection, boundary reevaluation, and identity reconceptualisation across various sectors. This summary, albeit concise, opens the door for further inquiry. Feel free to inquire for more details!
The Physics of Sentience with Professor Karl Friston — Cybernetics Society
The Cybernetics Society was honored to host Professor Karl J. Friston, Scientific Director: Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging for this talk. Professor Friston addressed the topic of how we can understand ourselves as sentient creatures and the principles that underwrite sentient behaviour, using the free energy principle to furnish an account in terms of active inference. A Q&A session followed.
The Physics of Sentience with Professor Karl Friston — YouTube
[As I was told — IIRC by Aidan Ward (https://medium.com/@aidanward), the original Club of Rome modelling work included the water cycle (and more), but that was stripped out in terms of accessibility and a ‘simpler model’ and metric]
Five years ago, Rob Lewis stumbled on a part of the story of climate science that he had never heard about: the impact of “land change” and the role of ecosystems as active co-creators of climate, rather than passive victims of changes in the atmosphere. In this conversation, we trace the story of how this side of the story of a changing climate was eclipsed by a focus on CO2 and other industrial emissions — and we ask how this changes the binary of doom vs techno-optimism that mostly frames the public debate and the discussions within the environmental movement over climate change. Check out Rob’s work: — The Climate According to Life on Substack: https://theclimateaccordingtolife.sub… — Putting the Land Back in Climate at Resilience.org: https://www.resilience.org/stories/20… — The Silence of Vanishing Things — more of Rob’s poetry — https://www.thesilenceofvanishingthin… To watch the full recording, including Q&A, you’ll need a paid subscription to Writing Home (which is also your ticket to join us for fortnightly live sessions on Zoom): https://dougald.substack.com/subscribe Meanwhile, you can watch the first forty minutes here on YouTube.
When Trees No Longer Milk the Sky with Rob Lewis | Sunday Sessions no.3 — YouTube
h/t Will Carey in the Facebook Permaculture Climate Action! group https://www.facebook.com/groups/2046655862094973/permalink/7477152932378545
By Gabriele Bammer
von Uexküll
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jakob_Johann_von_Uexk%C3%BCll
Umwelt
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umwelt
- Tim Elmo Feiten
“Jakob von Uexküll’s Concept of Umwelt” by Tim Elmo Feiten (Keywords: Biology; Metaphysics; Animals)
https://www.thephilosopher1923.org/post/jakob-von-uexkull-umwelt
Collaborating with teams to experience and think sustainably through games and participation.
INTE.RES.T welcomes you to the GARDEN — the online platform where you can explore the power of systems thinking in games and alternate resources for your development, enlightenment, and nurturing.
Patrick Hoverstadt: Agility in business strategy — May 23, 2024 6:30PM BST
Details
This talk introduces “Patterns of Strategy” — a radically different approach to understanding and formulating business strategy which is built on a different paradigm to conventional strategic approaches.
We’ll take you through some of the theory, the practice and illustrate it with some examples. Patterns is “agile strategy” in two ways — first it is a dramatically faster way of developing strategy which means that you can speed up the cadence of formulation and execution. Second, it describes
a strategy as sets of manoeuvres and gives a totally different way to deal with the dynamics of strategic situations allowing the business to become more agile in its strategic environment.
The statistics on the failure of conventional strategy are shocking at 70%-98% failure rate,. We’ll look at why this is and at some of the ways in which conventional strategy is fundamentally flawed and show how Patterns provides a proven alternative.
About Patrick Hoverstadt
Patrick has worked as a consultant since 1995 with organisations of all sizes and internationally across 24 countries in the private, public and third sectors. He specialises in using systemic approaches, working mainly on strategy, organisational design and organisational change.
Patrick is the author of “Fractal Organisation”, a book on organisation design using the Viable System Model published by Wiley in 2008 which has been used used on seven masters programmes around the world. He is co-author of “Patterns of Strategy” a book on a systemic approach to strategy published by Gower in 2017, co-wrote 7 other books, and is the author of ‘The Grammar of Systems’ — a book on how to think like a systems thinker, published in 2022. He chairs SCiO the professional body for systems practitioners and is a Visiting Research Fellow at Cranfield School of Management.
Please note: This session will be recorded in speaker view.
Business Strategy Business Agility
Thursday, May 23, 2024 6:30 PM to 7:30 PM BST
Online event
https://www.meetup.com/systemicagility/events/299588054
Patrick Hoverstadt: Agility in business strategy, Thu, May 23, 2024, 6:30 PM | Meetup
Are you a 432 Mhz Truther?! Humans are incredible…
Hertz Patrol — YouTube
Happy doughnut day to those who celebrate — April 15 2020, a serious civil servant asked about post-COVID renewal:
https://twitter.com/jaCattell/status/1250357135428521984
Analysis of responses:
https://web.archive.org/web/20230201124013/http://govtransformation.org/uncategorized/34-doughnuts-what-the-world-well-twitter-wants-to-tell-the-uk-government-about-recovery/
Free, vote-winning ideas to the benefit of the UK — how have we done on them since?
The non-human living inside of you | Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Jane Costello, Duke University — Sharing the Wealth — The Academic Minute
IR35: HMRC restores Github access to deleted CEST source code, but confirms update data lost | Computer Weekly
