Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #89
This week:
- Upcoming Events
- Operational excellence
- Understanding complex systems
- Cybernetics
- Systems Thinking
- Community Leadership
Upcoming Events:
Hamburg, Operational Excellence and Process Transformation. 14 June 2023–16 June 2023
Unlock your organisation’s full potential with the operational excellence and process transformation summit! Join industry leaders, experts, and peers for two days of insights, learning, and networking on the latest trends and strategies in process optimisation and business transformation. Learn how to streamline operations, enhance efficiency, and drive growth in today’s rapidly changing landscape. Don’t miss out on this exclusive opportunity to gain a competitive edge and stay ahead of the curve!
Find out more: https://key-notion.com/operational-excellence-process-transformation-summit-hamburg/
Public Sector Show
4 July 2023, in person, County Hall, London.
The 11-year strong Public Sector Show drives the UK’s public procurement marketplace forward through extensive 1–1 networking, collaboration and premium insight into the latest ways of working, best-practice case studies and policy updates.
On 4th July, it will be bringing together leading commercial figureheads, innovators and policy leaders from across the public sector, with the collective aim of improved service delivery, enhanced efficiency and value for money. RedQuadrant’s own Benjamin Taylor will be chairing.
Find out more:
Summer 2023 National Commissioning Academy by the Public Service Transformation Academy
Expected start: June, running 8 months
We are delighted to announce the launch of Spring 2023 National Commissioning Academy which is accredited by the PSTA and Cabinet Office.
Described by the former Civil Service Chief Executive John Manzoni as ‘one of our flagship development programmes for leaders’, the Commissioning Academy is designed to equip commissioners and change makers from across public services with the insight, know-how and tools to transform outcomes for the communities we serve.
Expect:
- A blended, interactive programme over the course of 8 months
- Masterclass workshops (interactive, with input of ideas and frameworks)
- action learning/coaching
- expert speakers/short videos to watch
- peer challenge
- practical action planning on a project or priority you are working on
- membership of a nation-wide alumni The Price is £2,300 + VAT. For more information, follow this link or contact Sarah.Johnston@publicservicetransformation.org.
Link Collection:
My Weekly Blog post:
FEEDBAIT, or fake feedback, is a manipulative tactic used by companies for various purposes. It fails to address the underlying issues and misleads both customers and employees. To improve, companies must measure the right aspects: effort, problem resolution, and customer suggestions for a truly effective feedback system. Click the link to read in more detail.
In this interview, I, an organizational consultant, delve into the future of work. My focus lies in leveraging systems, complexity, and cybernetics to enhance organizational experiences. With over 25 years in service transformation, I emphasize operational effectiveness and leadership. I express admiration for David Chapman’s thinking and foresee surprising impacts of AI on creative industries. The future of work entails a division between corporate suits, purpose-driven individuals, inter-independent indies, gig workers, and traditional job holders. I explore the influence of technology on society, particularly the poor, and envision limited changes in work offices. Co-working spaces and blurring planning boundaries hold potential for future development. Ultimately, the societal implications of technology affect us all. Click the link to read in more detail.
https://www.techfinitive.com/features/future-work-benjamin-taylor/
In this thought-provoking blog post, the author challenges the way we talk about emergence and suggests a shift in perspective. They argue that emergence should be viewed as a scientific explanation rather than a phenomenon in itself, emphasizing its role in understanding complex systems. The post also touches on the historical context and the need for precise language in scientific discourse. Click the link to read in more detail.
The article discusses the importance of selecting appropriate control variables in statistical analysis to obtain unbiased estimates of causal effects. It emphasizes the need for researchers to justify their selection based on a proposed causal structure. Inappropriate control variables can lead to biased estimates. The article provides practical recommendations and introduces the concept of directed acyclic graphs (DAGs) as a tool for causal inference. Click the link to read in more detail.
Statistical Control Requires Causal Justification — Wysocki et al (2022)
This post explores the concept of variety in Cybernetics, emphasizing that Cybernetics focuses on the possibilities and complexity of a phenomenon rather than its specific nature. The Law of Requisite Variety states that to manage a complex situation, the observer must match the variety of the situation with their own variety. Constraints are used to reduce or amplify variety, and interaction between parts leads to self-organization and emergence of hierarchical structures. Diversity of parts enables the generation of new ideas and exponential progress. Click the link to read in more detail.
Enacting Cybernetics is a new open-access journal published by the UK Cybernetics Society and hosted by Ubiquity Press. It aims to explore and advance the practice of cybernetics in various disciplines, encouraging contributions that delve into its possibilities and transdisciplinary nature. The journal’s first issue includes diverse articles and reviews. Membership support for the Cybernetics Society is encouraged. Click the link to read in more detail.
New journal from UK Cybernetics Society: Enacting Cybernetics
Nenad Rava explained the origins and significance of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in relation to systems change during a Systems Thinking Ontario session, building on a previous discussion on ecological limits. Click the link to read in more detail.
The Sustainable Development Goals: Origins, Context, and Perspectives | ST-ON | 2023–05–08
Constructivism in Cybernetics rejects the idea of a blank slate and emphasizes that knowledge is constructed through our experiences in the world. Our embodied minds are inseparable from our bodies, and we construct meaning in a social realm through repeated interactions. The world itself is our representation, and ontology and epistemology are intertwined. Click the link to read in more detail.
The writer is calling all systems thinking practitioners to participate in a special event at the 2023 Annual Conference of the Operational Research Society. The event aims to facilitate learning and collaboration across different systems research communities through dialogues on defining systems thinking and exploring its future. Participants can present papers or run workshops. Click the link to read in more detail.
They share their excitement about a recent conversation with Fritjof Capra, who influenced their decision to pursue a different path. The conversation covers various topics such as regeneration, health, resilience, complexity theory, emergence, and the shift from quantitative to qualitative growth. They mention influential figures like Ilya Prigogine, Brian Goodwin, CG Jung, and explore the intersection of science and wisdom traditions. Click the link to read in more detail.
In a 90-minute webinar, John Kania and Laura Calderon de la Barca from the Collective Change Lab will delve into the concept of collective trauma and its impact on systems change. They will share their research on resolving and healing collective trauma at a systemic level, offering a framework for identifying systemic-level trauma. The webinar aims to explore strategies for convening collective healing and achieving transformational change within systems. Click the link to read in more detail.
This workshop focuses on exploring how citizens’ assemblies can address systemic issues in response to environmental and social crises. The discussion will be based on a draft guideline authored by Claire Mellier and Stuart Capstick, providing practical insights and examples from previous climate assemblies. The workshop is intended for policymakers, practitioners, researchers, and civil society actors interested in transformative responses to the polycrisis. Click the link to read in more detail.
Workshop on Systems Change from KNOCA — 23 May 2023, 15:30 CET
Restart: Working across systems to prevent domestic abuse — Drive Project: https://mastodon.social/@antlerboy/110437080857317722
No Commercial Real Estate Bailouts | RealClearPolitics: https://mastodon.social/@antlerboy/110436546064430885
If You’re So Successful, Why Are You Still Working 70 Hours a Week? https://hbr.org/2018/02/if-youre-so-successful-why-are-you-still-working-70-hours-a-week
Why we should feel sorry for High Achievers
Are you an ‘insecure overachiever’? https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20180
Why Commissioning needs Radical Procurement — Connected Places Catapult: https://mastodon.social/@antlerboy/110435720262123717
Meet the ‘gummy squirrel’ and thousands of other newly discovered deep-sea species — in pictures: https://mastodon.social/@antlerboy/110435193401510473
Excellent new newsletter from Tom Lawrence — sign up if you’re in #localgov or beyond!
TRL Insight newsletter May 2023 TRL Insight: https://mastodon.social/@antlerboy/110430474827790230
Fragmented funding — the complex local authority funding landscape: https://mastodon.social/@antlerboy/110430057985070443
Fiscal Devolution: why we need it and how to make it work — New Local: https://mastodon.social/@antlerboy/110429531070149370
The Preventative State: Rebuilding our local, social and civic foundations: https://mastodon.social/@antlerboy/110429023808953544
Director of Adults and Integrated Commissioning | Jobs and careers with Kent County Council: https://mastodon.social/@antlerboy/110428828309955523
“Brexit” Caused a Third of UK Food Price Inflation, LSE Paper Says https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-05-24/brexit-caused-a-third-of-uk-food-price-inflation-lse-paper-says
FT: Is the UK once again the ‘sick man’ of Europe?
https://www.ft.com/content/508dee91-f42f-4662-892c-bb7219f02401
“Brexit” has inflated energy bills by over £1 billion https://eastangliabylines.co.uk/brexit-has-inflated-energy-bills-by-over-1-billion/
Jaguar Land Rover-owner to pick UK over Spain for giant car battery plant https://www.bbc.com/news/business-65698529
How No 10’s alleged parties took place as UK Covid death toll rose — interactive: https://mastodon.social/@antlerboy/110425221431399559
Gavin Callaghan: How to lead a hung council | Local Government Chronicle (LGC): https://mastodon.social/@antlerboy/110424395714511095
Deborah Jones: Community Leadership Takes a Community | 10,000 Swamp Leaders: https://mastodon.social/@antlerboy/110423868757164880
Social Care Insights — Care Management Matters: https://mastodon.social/@antlerboy/110423361503269406
What’s one thing you do to work well with different perspectives? https://mastodon.social/@antlerboy/110422525070937348
Expert banned from UK government event for tweets that criticised Tories: https://mastodon.social/@antlerboy/110422390273388038
Exploring the science of power from the body to body politic — What Works Wellbeing: https://mastodon.social/@antlerboy/110419150227009126
Sounds like the perfect conspiracy piece — reads like sober reporting to me.
Mainstream Media Doesn’t Care That the CIA May Have Helped Cause 9/11: https://mastodon.social/@antlerboy/110416727953170625
The Friendship of American Jesse Owens and German Carl “Luz” Long: And the 1936 Berlin XI Olympic Games — World War 2 History Short Stories: https://mastodon.social/@antlerboy/110413896841723710
Ten Years Later — what’s changed? https://digitalbydefault.com/2023/05/06/ten-years-later-whats-changed/
Marks out of ten — how are we doing after a decade of public digital transformation? https://blog.mattedgar.com/2023/05/21/
Words that make me go hmmm: Needs: https://mastodon.social/@antlerboy/110406374599325254
Remembering the Wandervogel: https://mastodon.social/@antlerboy/110405403336238171
Korean natural farming — Wikipedia: https://mastodon.social/@antlerboy/110403106947404496
GRAUZONE — EISBAER (remastered) — official video
