Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #107
Benjamin P. Taylor
RedQuadrant | the Public Service Transformation Academy | systems | cybernetics | complexity / public | service | transformation business evolutionary | avid learner. Reframing for better outcomes. Connecting.
This week:
Upcoming events:
Two new commissioning academies: coming this winter!
Exciting News! Introducing two Commissioning Academies.
Both offer the same great content, accredited by the PSTA and Cabinet Office.
Join our flagship development program to transform outcomes for the communities we serve!
Here’s what’s in store for you at the National Commissioning Academy:
Expect a transformative experience with masterclass workshops, action learning, expert speakers, peer challenges, practical action planning, and membership in our nationwide alumni community.
Ready to make a difference? Apply now to secure your spot at the Academy! Contact David Mason [email protected]
Systems Thinking Apprenticeship (2023)
We are delighted to share the news that there is now a Level 7 Systems Thinking Practitioner Apprenticeship available in England.
Systems thinking practice was developed specifically to address highly complex, adaptive, and dynamic situations. It helps you to model each situation as a system incorporating many different parts, dependencies and relationships. Systems thinking practitioners are uniquely equipped for achieving large-scale transformational change.
If you live in England, you can benefit from the scheme. The Apprenticeship is a two-and-a-half year, day release, post-graduate qualification with government funding of up to ￡18,000 per person. It is fully supported by expert tutors, comprehensive learning materials, and ongoing action learning.
This is a practice-based, portfolio assessed programme which draws on core systems approaches and practice skills. You’ll be supported in your job to actually put the learning to work right away, and you will be evaluated on how you incorporate your continual learning into your practice.
It’s been designed by practitioners for practitioners?—?the people who have not just read the books, but have written them. More importantly, these are people who have been there, done it, know about all (or at least most) of the pitfalls, and can guide you away from them.
The professional body for systems practice, SCiO, is providing world-class systems practitioner-tutors, and is supporting the curriculum development and overall approach of the programme. They are acting in collaboration with Cherith Simmons Learning and Development, who provide the apprenticeship. Further details are available here.
If you’re not in England, you can still sign up to individual modules here.
And if you are interested in developing your transformation skills, take a look at the RedQuadrant tool shed. This is a small group action learning journey with Benjamin Taylor, founder of the consultancy RedQuadrant, supported by 24 online modules covering all aspects of organisational transformation. Get a 20% discount by mentioning Enlightened Enterprise Academy.
Link Collection:
My Weekly Blog?post:
I understand the critical importance of managing the four dynamics within every human organization: segment, blend, empower, and harmonize. Segmentation involves specialisation and expertise, I often find myself in this mode, focused on my professional identity. However, I also embrace the blend, acting as an ambassador between different groups. I recognize the need to empower unique skills and perspectives, occasionally seeing myself as the star of the show. Moreover, I understand the significance of harmonizing common goals, aligning with a greater purpose. Striking a balance between these dynamics is a constant challenge, as an excess of any can disrupt productivity and unity. It's vital to test and learn how to maintain this equilibrium, as I discussed in my presentation at the Compass tech conference.
System ConvenerLocation: Based at home and in the City of London communityPart time: 29.4 hours per week Up to ￡31,000 (pro rata) dependent on experienceApplications close at 9am on Monday the 20th of November 2023
A special issue of?Systems ?(ISSN 2079-8954). This special issue belongs to the section “Systems Theory and Methodology “.
Deadline for manuscript submissions:?15 February 2024?| Viewed by 1981
Special Issue “The Systems Thinking Approach to Strategic Management”Print Special Issue FlyerSpecial Issue EditorsSpecial Issue InformationKeywordsPublished PapersA special issue of Systems (ISSN 2079-8954). This special issue belongs to the section “Systems Theory and Methodology”.Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 February 2024 | Viewed by 1981
SCiO monthly events newsletter – November & December 2023
??SCiO UK
Mon 13 November 2023 18:30–21:00 GMT
Virtual Open Meeting: A series of presentations of general interest to Systems and Complexity in Organisation’s members and others.
Double-loop Learning in Complex Project Environments –? Gregory Cupal
All welcome, ?FREE; Online event; English;?Book now
Tue 12 December 2023 18:30–20:30 GMT
SCiO’s Development Event?offer an opportunity to draw upon the collective expertise of SCiO members in a friendly and supportive atmosphere. By taking Development Events online, using the Zoom meeting platform, we aim to make them accessible to more SCiO members Development Events are both for members who are just starting out on a journey to explore Systems Thinking approaches, and for those who have many years of exploration and practice.
Members only;?FREE; Online event; English;?Book now
[‘Rev’ is one of the most interesting voices on Twitter, and states something very clearly and precisely here]
Key parts of the tweet thread for the record:
The classical Daoists were known for turning their attention to nature. Xunzi specifically condemns Zhuangzi for this. But the word ‘nature’ is connotatively misleading, particularly for modern westerners. If we translate it instead as ‘reality’, we can see early Daoism as containing a particularly relentless focus on empiricism.
Requires you to join the meetup (also free)
[Umm, I dunno, what do you think? ‘Meta-Ockham 1’ seems sensible but (2) seems to move the focus of the ‘science’ potentially from explanation to description? And in “discovering and encoding regularities in irreducibly high dimensional phenomena”, the ‘encoding’ slips in there rather subtly in a way which I think deserves more conversation? Certainly interesting anyway]
Front. Complex Syst., 18 October 2023 Sec. Complex Systems Theory Volume 1 – 2023 |?https://doi.org/10.3389/fcpxs.2023.1235202
Complexity science and machine learning are two complementary approaches to discovering and encoding regularities in irreducibly high dimensional phenomena. Whereas complexity science represents a coarse-grained paradigm of understanding, machine learning is a fine-grained paradigm of prediction. Both approaches seek to solve the “Wigner-Reversal” or the unreasonable ineffectiveness of mathematics in the adaptive domain where broken symmetries and broken ergodicity dominate. In order to integrate these paradigms I introduce the idea of “Meta-Ockham” which 1) moves minimality from the description of a model for a phenomenon to a description of a process for generating a model and 2) describes low dimensional features–schema–in these models. Reinforcement learning and natural selection are both parsimonious in this revised sense of minimal processes that parameterize arbitrarily high-dimensional inductive models containing latent, low-dimensional, regularities. I describe these models as “super-Humean” and discuss the scientic value of analyzing their latent dimensions as encoding functional schema.
NERCCS 2024: The Seventh Northeast Regional Conference on Complex Systems will follow the success of the previous NERCCS conferences to promote the emerging venue of interdisciplinary scholarly exchange for complex systems researchers in the Northeast U.S. region (and beyond) to share their research outcomes through presentations and online publications, network with their peers, and promote interdisciplinary collaboration and the growth of the research community.
NERCCS will particularly focus on facilitating the professional growth of early career faculty, postdocs, and students in the region who will likely play a leading role in the field of complex systems science and engineering in the coming years.
The 2024 conference will be held as a hybrid at Clarkson University in Potsdam, NY on March 20-22.
领英推荐
More at: nerccs2024.github.io
A post from Rev on Twitter reminded me this hasn’t been here explicitly
[I make zero representation concerning which, if any of these, are any good and which, if any, are game-playing, badly transliterated, literature review based messes]
Li Keqiang and cybernetics, a short thread:1/ During the post-Mao era there was a renewed interest in cybernetics which, alongside von Bertalanffy’s systems theory and Shannon’s information theory, was known as the “(old) 3 theories” (老三论).
The application of systems thinking in health: why use systems thinking?David H Peters?Health Research Policy and Systems volume
Recording of the talk at Fluidity Forum
Rationality and Relevance Realization: Metarationality and Generative Rationality Recording of the talk at Fluidity ForumOCT 26, 2023
Ruffo Caselli’s “Cybernetic Existentialism” Art Collection Based on Artificial Intelligence and Technology is Now on Display at a Museum in Uraj, RussiaPRESS RELEASEPublished October 25, 2023GetNews
Bext link is probably their facebook page though they also have
LOTI outcomes-driven methodology - LOTI https://loti.london/resources/loti-outcomes-based-methodology/
LOTI LOTI outcomes-driven methodology - LOTI Overview of LOTI's Outcomes-based methodology for collaborative projects.
A bold claim: The solution to the challenge of evaluating place-based systems change - Renaisi https://renaisi.com/2023/11/01/solution-place-based-systems-change-evaluation/
Renaisi · 2d The solution to the challenge of evaluating place-based systems change - Renaisi Place-based systems change is vital to addressing complex issues like deprivation, homelessne
Lives less ordinary: why government should embrace human complexity https://www.ucl.ac.uk/policy-lab/news/2023/oct/lives-less-ordinary-why-government-should-embrace-human-complexity
UCL Policy Lab · Oct 22 Lives less ordinary: why government should embrace human complexity Reflecting on his experience in Whitehall, Paul Kissack writes about how policymakers can’t ‘public service reform’ our way to better lives: instead we need to focus much more on the structural economic and social conditions in which people live.
Fungal evolution discovered: Mycena can now invade living hosts https://phys.org/news/2023-10-fungal-evolution-mycena-invade-hosts.html
LIVING IN THE METACRISIS with Jonathan Rowson
Manchester and West Midlands devolution deals are just the beginning https://www.newstatesman.com/spotlight/economic-growth/regional-development/2023/10/manchester-and-west-midlands-devolution-deals-are-just-the-beginning
New Statesman · 3d Manchester and West Midlands devolution deals are just the beginning By Jack Shaw
www.vectorfield.coop VectorField Homepage Homepage of the VectorField Co-Operative digital content production platform
The Strategic Choice Approach in shaping public policies https://i2insights.org/2023/10/31/strategic-choice-approach/
Integration and Implementation Insights · 3d The Strategic Choice Approach in shaping public policies By Catherine Hobbs How can we be inspired, rather than overwhelmed, by differing perspectives in the inter-organisat
There's a core tension in human organisation. It's critical for management, innovation, and strategy - not to mention human resources - that we manage this. https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/antlerboy_organisation-management-innovation-activity-7125032478561484802-mIrE Can you think of a time you've seen these four essential dynamics out of balance?
www.dhirubhai.net Benjamin P. Taylor on LinkedIn: #organisation #management #innovation #strategy #humanresources There's a core tension in human #organisation. It's critical for #management, #innovation, and #strategy - not to men
Civil servants ‘deeply frustrated’ with Whitehall’s flaws and eager for change, research finds https://www.civilserviceworld.com/news/article/civil-servants-deeply-frustrated-with-whitehalls-flaws-and-eager-for-change-research-finds
Civil Service World · 6d Civil servants ‘deeply frustrated’ with Whitehall’s flaws and eager for change, research finds Interviews with policy professionals uncover reduced faith in senior leadership and shift in relationship with ministers
A belief in meritocracy is not only false: it’s bad for you | Aeon Ideas https://aeon.co/ideas/a-belief-in-meritocracy-is-not-only-false-its-bad-for-you
Aeon A belief in meritocracy is not only false: it’s bad for you | Aeon Ideas The belief that hard work and talent make for success is not only false, it encourages selfishness and discrimination too
The case of the disappearing teaspoons: longitudinal cohort study of the displacement of teaspoons in an Australian research institute
The BMJ · Dec 22, 2005 The case of the disappearing teaspoons: longitudinal cohort study of the displacement of teaspoons in an Australian research institute
Transforming Cities Learning Journey | Pushing the Boundaries PSI Community of Practice https://www.transformingcities.ca/pushing-the-boundaries-of-psi
Transforming Cities Transforming Cities Learning Journey | Pushing the Boundaries PSI Community of Practice Let’s explore the transformative boundaries and edges of practice together.
‘Professional’ language – Rewriting social care https://rewritingsocialcare.blog/2023/10/28/professional-language/
Rewriting social care · 6d ‘Professional’ language “Practitioners use language as a way of creating distance. Occasionally this may arise from lack of confidence and institutional expectations. These causes of “othering” merit attention…
The Last Time I Saw Yaakov - Boston Review, 1995 https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/last-time-i-saw-yaakov/
Thriving in the realms of Systems Thinking and complexity requires a dance with the unknown. Remember what Albert Einstein once said, "The only source of knowledge is experience." ?? May your exploration of Organisational Cybernetics framework unlock new doors of understanding and innovation. Keep pushing boundaries! ?? #InnovationThrivesHere