Creative ideas, new insights, and sustained action thrive in a community. As the world adapts to new ways of organizing and distributing our work, it’s worth considering what kind of spaces support this. I work with organizations seeking to innovate and rarely does the topic of space come up at the start of the conversation.
Systems, Places and Spaces for Innovation Read More »
The confusion between whether something is used to teach or to guide underlies much of the dissatisfaction with the use of models to inform the way we work, learn, and behave. Let’s talk about systems and models — but stick with me, this is a practical and not just academic matter. I’ll start with a
Are You Using Teaching Models or Action Models? Read More »
Seth Godin’s recently published book, The Song of Significance, looks at how we organize our work and the message is profound if we’re ready to hear the song. I’ve written about Seth Godin many times in this space. Seth has written about the issues of work and education and making a difference in thousands of
Significance and Making a Difference Read More »
While much is made of purposeful innovation labs and high tech solutions, much innovation happens by cobbling things together on the go and seeing what works. When we’re looking to respond to a changing situation, innovation, and create something new to serve the examples often shared are dissatisfying. That’s how I feel about most case
The Bricolage of Innovation And A Kit of Parts Read More »
“Set it and forget it” might be a phrase that works with late-night infomercial products, but it’s not fitting for modern design. Next is now and that requires a new way to seeing, thinking, and making. Let me start by saying that this article ends with practical options for action and suggestions, but I need
Strategic Design For What’s Now, Next and Beyond Read More »
No matter what tools, methods, or approaches you take to create a change, time, care, and attention ultimately affect the outcome as much as anything else. When people ask about what is the one thing that most influence change efforts I offer not one, but three: time, care, and attention. Many things affect intentional change,
The Three Variables Underlying Every Significant Change Project Read More »
Knowing what you have influence over, what you don’t, and what’s in between can be the difference in creating possibility and hope or despair and confusion. The term sphere of influence was coined to refer to nation’s geopolitical power and used as a guide to frame a given country’s social, economic, political and military strategy.
Designing for Your Spheres of Influence Read More »
We can think of organizations as part of systems or ecologies, but what does it mean to make them fit for humans? Today, we look at the psychology and design of organizations for humans. An organization is much more than a group of people working together; it’s a system. The whole — the organization —
Humans and their Organizations: A Psychological Design Perspective Read More »
Climate change will continue to pose ever-greater challenges to how we live, work, and organize ourselves. A recent conference has helped inspire some ways to think about how we might do this better. Natural systems are all around us, even if they are hidden. In urban centres, much of what we call ‘nature’ is reduced
Ecological Systems and Human Organizing Read More »
A new term has been circulating in policy circles that reflects a changing way of viewing conflict, crisis, and complexity: polycrisis. Let’s look at what it might mean for people looking to plan, evaluate, and act in a world filled with turmoil. Polycrisis is not a term that inspires much hope. I’m not one for
What’s in a Polycrisis? Read More »
