Dynamic Systems Theory and Sports Training

Performance and training science has traditionally been deeply influenced by the mechanical conception of human beings. It conceives the organism as a machine divided into parts and performance as the sum of different qualities. But

Complexity

Complex problems may not have solutions. You can maybe make them better or worse, but they remain unresolved and stubbornly recalcitrant. So we add another expert solution and before we know it we are entangled

Emergence

Simply changing the principles doesn’t tell you what new pattern of behaviour emerges. You know a new pattern will emerge as the living system makes sense of the new principle, but how it makes sense

Cognition

To ask how we become aware of what is happening in a living system is to enquire into the consciousness of that system. The system’s capacity to take intentional action is linked to its level

Networks

The knowledge and know-how about how to make the change work are retained in the network that created them, not in the technical solution that arises. You cannot roll-out a network. It is like picking

Self Organising

Our identity is inevitably shaped by our history. The changes we have been through to arrive where we are now determine our form in the world. They also determine how we make sense of our

Rules That Limit Us (Emergence)

In our normal lives these rules may be quite evident or quite deeply hidden, even unconscious. What are the rules that allow us to weave our way along a crowded rush-hour pavement without repeated collisions

Wind: A Film On Systems Thinking

Introduced by John Atkinson. We often speak about the symbiotic nature of living systems, how a living thing is defined by its environment and in turn also defines that environment. This is illustrated beautifully in

Donella Meadows: Dancing With Systems

(By Donella Meadows. Available from donellameadows.org ) 1. Get the beat.2. Listen to the wisdom of the system.3. Expose your mental models to the open air.4. Stay humble. Stay a learner.5. Honor and protect information.6. Locate responsibility

Video- Scharmer: The Three Enemies

This video from Otto Scharmer and The Presencing Institute introduces the concept of 'the three enemies'. (Global Classroom Lecture 3: Connecting to Source).

Complex or Complicated?

(By John Atkinson) I'm not usually a stickler for language. I like to find a way of getting things across that connects with people depending on their view of the world not mine. When you become