Machiavelli: Change Management

Machiavelli, (The Prince), is often thought of as a ruthless and unscrupulous adviser, but look more closely and it's clear that he knew a thing or two about change management and the difficulty of innovation.

Defining Systems Thinking

Defining systems thinking is somewhat of an impossible task. There are arguably dozens of possible descriptions and definitions, often with wholly different intent and individual delicate nuance. However, they can be generalised into two schools

Dialogue- Isaacs

Often the typical meeting room is full of people holding a series of conversations that come preloaded with hidden paradigms of belief, expectation and personal ambition. What this means is that the communication taking place

Kantor – 4 Player Model

The Four Player Model developed by David Kantor is at the core of the theory of structural dynamics. Structural dynamics is rooted in systems dynamics, and is specifically concerned with how human communication does, or

Not my circus, not my monkeys…

A circus is a system of complex, beautiful chaos, but sometimes the chaos becomes messy. It’s easy as someone who cares deeply to want to control the monkeys and control the mess, seeking once

Bion’s Basic Assumption Groups

Bion suggested that all groups have a subconscious emotional drive that affects their every thought and action. It is determined by the group’s beliefs about ‘who or what will save us from this mess’. He

Arygris- Theories of Action

According to Chris Argyris everyone and everywhere (systems) have an internal 'mental map'. These mental maps influence behaviour, thought and understanding. He calls these mental maps Theories of Action. Theories of Action are made up of

Lewin- Force Field Analysis

By Emma Loftus No, it's not sci-fi. Force Field Analysis, sometimes called Field Theory, is a change tool developed by the systems theorist and psychologist Kurt Lewin, founded on the principles of Gestaltism and behaviourism.

Chris Arygris- Double Loop Learning

In learning about their shared tacit assumptions or governing variables, systems then become able to understand the reasons that problems occur. This learning enables them to identify the things they need to change to overcome

Ed Schein’s Principles of Helping

Process Consultation is a practice of intervention and change that is based on the simple principle that learning and change happens better in systems when rather than being told what to do, they are instead

Learning History

The purpose of The Learning History is to capture the learning and the experience of 'change' in systems in a way that is people based. It does this by collecting real time information and data,

The Game of Rice

There's  a common maths problem that comes in various guises. The problem illustrates the concept of geometric series, sometimes called deterministic chaos, or more commonly the  power of exponential growth. I prefer a term coined