The surface game in organisations is theatre of change, decision-making, reorganisation. Strategy. Most of the time, it’s pure pantomime; a show of effort is more important than real results.The alternative – dealing with the actual the people and real change needed – would mean reckoning with human needs, and the impact of trauma, shame, and … Continue reading Are you playing the real human game, or are you being seduced by the Dark Side of The Force? →

These are the ego traps that lie in wait as you enter into any powerful field of knowledge. - The naive enthusiast thinks that this new thing they've found will change the world! And is incredibly frustrated that they can't be allowed to run wild and just apply it to make *everything* better. They don't … Continue reading Are you a naive enthusiast, an oversimplifying populariser, a gooroo, or a curmudgeon? →

We had all the experts in the workshop - lead policy officer, police expert, survivors' charity, community reps. Our job: design a £200k/year clinic in the middle of the borough, helping the most serious of subjects - domestic abuse. The big breakthrough was when we realised, with all those experts in the room, we didn't … Continue reading I sabotaged the plan, and it was one of the best things I’ve done →

We're all subject to the drive to impose our models on the world, and the drive to divide the world into 'better' and 'worse'. When the world breaks down our models which allow us to act and understand what happens, the pathological response is to force the world to act in a way which matches … Continue reading Organisational Jedi Knights have to confront themselves with love →

1. Shape and manage demand: effect behavioural change, reduce failure demand 2. Create economies of flow: match capacity, capability, contact points to demand 3. Reduce waste: re-engineer processes or develop a lean whole system 4. Optimise the use of resources: buildings, IT, vehicles, other assets, people (scheduling, downtime, contracts and management), income generation 5. Effective … Continue reading There are ‘only’ seven ways to make savings and improvements in service organisations →

How can we change the world? Exactly — join us and we’ll see! ‘to understand is to know what to do’ Wittgenstein ‘I can only know what I should do if I can first answer the question: of what story, or stories, do I find myself a part?’ MacIntyre If you follow me, you might have heard this … Continue reading How can we change the world? Exactly – join us and we’ll see! →

Stuctural coupling is the natural, incremental process by which organisations become better and better fit to their environment - and their environment becomes more and more fit to them. Gregory Bateson makes the point that flat grasslands and large herds of hooved animals evolved together, not separately. So if you want a nice lawn, you … Continue reading Are you trapped in a tractor beam of The Force? →

There are two fundamental outlooks on life: ➊ To regard the Universe as a gigantic machine hurtling through time and space to its final destruction: individuals in it are but tiny organisms with private lives that lead to private deaths: personal power, success and fame are the absolute measures of values; the things to live … Continue reading There are two fundamental outlooks on life →