What if the best way to change your system isn’t to wrestle it into shape… but to see it more clearly? https://www.linkedin.com/posts/antlerboy_june-2025-national-commissioning-academy-activity-7322893924610600960-kqV- If you could change one thing about the system you work in, what would you choose? And what stops you from starting? Contact me if you want to join the National Commissioning Academy. … Continue reading What if the best way to change your system isn’t to wrestle it into shape… but to see it more clearly? →

Hot in from the Department of the Department of Self-Reference (what do you get when you cross a joke with a rhetorical question?), last year's top ten: An invitation to the RedQuadrant tool shed - which shows my referral links are working, I just wish people would sign up 🙂 - was probably number 1 last … Continue reading My top ten most read posts in 2024 →

Geoff Wild has shared an update to the PwC report for the County Councils Network on economies of scale in English local government - the original was a major source quoted in the 'Devolution' White Paper in December. Join this discussion on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/antlerboy_no-access-county-councils-network-activity-7303714990790721536-rVUR Let's look at the method: The methodology here is to allocate … Continue reading A note on how potential savings from local government reorganisation are being calculated →

Don Van Vliet: Heinz, you ever hear a tree laugh? I was out in the desert, and this big old Joshua tree was just cracking up, shaking its needles like it knew a joke I didn’t. The world’s like that tree. It laughs at you the second you try to nail it down. Heinz von … Continue reading Bird on fire, tide at rest: paint spilled in the desert →

Lots of comments and discussions on this on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/posts/antlerboy_innovation-leadership-socialcare-activity-7274712857965998082-dG1t The Devolution White Paper It's a rational, forward-looking document that cites innovation and leadership, that seems to be the culmination of Treasury's century-long campaign to 'make local government make sense' (to it), and is laser-focused on removing planning obstructions as 'barriers to growth'. There are … Continue reading So, in 2024, we’re discussing serious local government reform. There’s a new White Paper out. →

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Join the discussion on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/antlerboy_innovation-publicservices-systemsthinking-activity-7249318522399469568-_9FV ‘We’re running balls out’ — why the existing order is hard to change. In 1788, James Watt, on a suggestion from Matthew Boulton, adapted a centrifugal governor — invented by Huygens to control millstones in 17th-century windmills — to control his steam engine. The engine spins a shaft. As speed increases, centrifugal force pushes the … Continue reading ‘We’re running balls out’ — why the existing order is hard to change →

What happens when #systemsthinking clashes with traditional organisations? #SystemsInnovation2024 I facilitated a brilliant trio to unpack the challenges and opportunities that emerge when introducing systems approaches into complex environments. The discussion was eye-opening. We heard from James Stauch of APCO Space Lab on the power of systems mapping to drive deeper understanding, Dr Victoria Herrington … Continue reading How can we disperse systems | complexity | cybernetics thinking into the ambience of organisations? →