Author: antlerboy - Benjamin P Taylor

www.antlerboy.com * curator at www.syscoi.com * The Public Service Transformation Academy - Chief Executive - www.publicservicetransformation.org * RedQuadrant - public service network consultancy - www.redquadrant.com * SCiO - non-exec director - www.systemspractice.org * Quadrant Resourcing - excellent interim change people - www.quadrantresourcing.com I tweet at www.twitter.com/antlerboy Please connect to me at www.linkedin.com/in/antlerboy benjamin.taylor@redquadrant.com +44 (0)7931317230

Transduction – leading transformation – Issue #35

Things seem to be getting busy in my work (in all dimensions). And the work we’re doing at both the Public Service Transformation Academy and RedQuadrant is really interesting, worthwhile stuff - evaluations of critical programmes around domestic abuse, mentoring for heads of library services, feasibility studies for community hubs, inclusive commissioning, continual improvement capability … Continue reading Transduction – leading transformation – Issue #35 →

Thriving in the space of service – for consultants, coaches, facilitators, business partners…

Thriving in the space of service — for consultants, coaches, facilitators, business partners… Have you ever been asked to help, and ended up feeling abused and misused? Why did it go that way? Whether you’re part of a bunch of #consultants dealing with a #management issue, a coach, mentor, a friend, an HR or Finance Business Partner, or … Continue reading Thriving in the space of service – for consultants, coaches, facilitators, business partners… →

What do you want to read from me?

The below is posted on LinkedIn, which has been the driver for my blogging - I put all my pieces, usually twice-weekly, on http://www.chosen-path.org for the open web and https://antlerboy.medium.com/ (and then weekly I do a newsletter summary of the pieces and a few others links I've shared on Twitter and through https://stream.syscoi.com/, and share … Continue reading What do you want to read from me? →

Transduction – leading transformation – Issue #34

See this properly formatted, and subscribe, at https://www.getrevue.co/profile/antlerboy This week Rethinking agency Second-order thinking Understanding understanding The WELL: the state of the world Love Becomes A Savage / Always Never Locking our perspective to what we can see The beginning of heaven and Earth has no name Learning from experience: toward consciousness How our perspective … Continue reading Transduction – leading transformation – Issue #34 →

Looking where we see

What’s your example of an organisation spending time and energy like the drunk in the story, ‘looking for the keys under the lamp-post’? We miss the opportunities for innovation and creativity all the time we look where we know the answers. A police officer sees someone drunkenly searching under a streetlight. ‘What have you lost?’ … Continue reading Looking where we see →

improvement, legibility, ecosystems and change

antlerboy - Benjamin P Taylor's avatarSystems Community of Inquiry

In my talks about ‘commissioning’, ‘leadership’, ‘transformation’, and ‘systems thinking’, I often show people a picture of a bridge and a river – to start a conversation about how we are dealing with living systems rather than mechanistic ones. And to get people to think about the dangers of creating ‘improvements’ that depend on intentional, ‘rational’ control in a system where complexity and the ecosystemic nature has been destroyed by the demand for legibility. (And, since people come up with their own ideas, it often illustrates a lot more).

This example from David Chapman is a brilliant illustration of what this is actually about – a likely ‘water improvement scheme’, destroying a sustainable, beautiful (I presume) beaver dam has created an unsustainable system – but one shaped

It’s yet another example of how we systemically prefer the illusion of control to the possibility of allowing:
https://twitter.com/Meaningness/status/991098498282999809

(cf the normalbaum /…

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When have you seen someone change their position — and suddenly change their perspective?

The arrogant superstar suddenly brought low? The ardent Trade Unionist promoted to manager? The contract manager for the contact centre was at breaking point. ‘Those bastards! We told them about this change three weeks ago. They haven’t trained, they haven’t resourced, they’re blaming the service, and I know they’re going to use this as an excuse … Continue reading When have you seen someone change their position — and suddenly change their perspective? →

Transduction – leading transformation – Issue #33

Sign up at https://www.getrevue.co/profile/antlerboyA lazy newsletter this week - trying without categories, so my usual mix is marbled throughout…Top phive / public | service | transformation / systems | complexity | cybernetics / organisational development / transformation / procurement AND commissioning / ethics in public service / environmental and social justice / more brain food … Continue reading Transduction – leading transformation – Issue #33 →

It’s just noise! 

Transaction costs do not predict systems costs If you wanted to predict how many customer contacts a council would have, and how much they cost, what factor do you think would best predict? Population? Number of people in poverty? Geographic size? Housing stock? Spoiler: NOTHING reliably predicts total numbers of contacts and cost. THE PHONE CALL IS COMING FROM INSIDE … Continue reading It’s just noise!  →

What’s your Facilitrainer Inheritance?

The things that have been handed down to you — source obscure — and just become part of your understanding, your practice in your work? Every profession has them, things that just form the background of your work, which feel like yours, or just ‘in the air’ — but which have their own history. For facilitators and trainers, this is usually … Continue reading What’s your Facilitrainer Inheritance? →