Ways we can work together

"Managers don't solve simple, isolated problems; they manage messes" - Russell Ackoff.

For most of us, the challenges that really stump us are Complex Messes. The cause of these problems is usually not obvious, and outcomes are hard to predict. These problems don’t have a technical solution, and there is probably little agreement about the best way to respond to them. They often involve some kind of tension that pulls us in different directions.

I work with individuals, organisations and communities who are working on complex problems that are unresolvable and won't go away. I facilitate processes that invite people to consider different ways of approaching their complex problems and that assist them to entertain new possibilities they have not yet considered. 

Rather than "solving" your problem for you, I work alongside you over time as you engage with the problem. I equip people to engage effectively with challenge, complexity, tension and change in ways that are renewable and sustainable for the long haul through creating the conditions for developing the ‘work practice’ of individuals and groups (ie the way they go about engaging with the complex problem). 

This is applied to individuals, groups and organisations as they engage in day-to-day tasks or with practice agendas that play out over time.

I can work with you to develop the skills you need to work on solving (and re-solving) complex problems. I can help you to gain a deeper understanding of the problem you are facing and to create the conditions for your desired future to emerge. Together, we can identify small steps you can take to move forward.

How I help:

• Asking questions to deepen understanding and open up possibilities.
• Observing how you and your group functions and feeding back observations of what I see, hear and feel.
• Attending to my own experience (feelings, sensations and thoughts).
• Paying attention to the energy of the group and issues that are emerging.
• Modelling effective behaviours.
• Designing experiments to identify new ways of doing things.
• Translating these things into effective and sustainable action.
• Sharing complexity practices for engaging with the problem.
• Designing practical ways to evaluate whether what you are doing is effective.

"Futures are full of potentials and possibilities" - Ziauddin Sardar.

With academic training in Strategic Foresight, I specialise in engaging with the Complex Mess that is "the Future(s)". As Sardar's first law of futures studies explains:

"All futures problems are complex, interconnected, contradictory, located in an uncertain environment and embedded in landscapes that are rapidly changing. Efforts to solve one or a collective of problems often create a plethora of new problems".

Strategic Foresight, a subset of futures studies focussed on organisational futures, can help you make sense of the Complex Mess that is organisational futures. It is a conversational process that utilises evidence-based methodologies for approaching futures thinking in a systematic but open-ended way. It considers long-term futures and alternative futures alongside and informing traditional organisational planning processes. It identifies the wise actions needed today to take you towards your preferred futures - the future is created by what we do in the present. 

I can help your organisation adapt to change, uncertainty and turbulence through building your capacity to incorporate futures thinking and methodologies into your strategy design processes:

• Identifying the key strategic questions regarding future uncertainty.
• Understanding the current context and relevant history. 
• Identifying multiple possible and preferred futures and creating a collective vision.
• Thinking about the future in strategically useful ways, using evidence-based methods. 
• Developing a plan that is flexible and responsive to the future as it emerges.
• Scanning the environment for early signs of change and disruption.
• Creating "futures ready" organisational cultures.
• Developing "futures" mindsets - creative, adaptive and comfortable with not knowing.
• Building hope and agency.

"The search for a new and original response to a new situation is facilitated by the conversational process" - Kees van der Heijden.

There is an art to initiating and facilitating conversations that go beyond "just talking"; conversations that change us and actually take us somewhere, that help us develop a shared understanding and meaning, that help us find new responses to problems; that promote community and togetherness. It is a key work practice.

I can work with you to design and facilitate the conversations you need to have to create a future you want. These conversations:

• Build the capacity of participants.
• Make highly competent groups of people. 
• Allow us to sense-make together.
• Create a collective vision for the future.
• Help people to see and do things differently.
• Create the conditions for positive relationships.
• Support people to find new ways of working together.

"Professional leadership involves using your own energies to intentionally influence the energies that other people are prepared to commit to organised effort" - Nita Cherry.

Engaging with Complex Messes is fundamental leadership work in today's world. It is also difficult and tricky work. Leading in complexity and uncertainty requires both head and heart leadership. It requires us to be deliberate and intentional in each moment, to take responsibility for acting in line with our values and what we hold dear to us. It requires that we notice our habits and ensure that we are not disrupted by our inner experiences of fear, anxiety, overwhelm or exhaustion. It requires us to keep showing up, in every moment, even when things get darker and harder.

I can help you do the inner work required to develop your head and heart leadership skills. I can help you recognise what you default to when you're under stress and pressure, and how to interrupt these routines before they become unhelpful and replace them with something more helpful. I can help you to find the energy to do the work, to keep going, even when you would rather just give up.