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Collaborative consultants develop and promote our clients' systemic perspective using a variety of means, depending on their particular goals. Our strengths lie in processes that allow groups of people to use systemic tools on a real issue, while providing residual knowledge of the tool itself. Several of our templates for group learning are:
Strategy Development Applied Systems Thinking Workshops Modeling for Learning & Management Flight Simulation Facilitator & Team Development
Strategy Development
Do issues among functional silos dominate your strategic discussions?
Do you have a chronic organizational problem that resists solution?
Does your organization have strategic questions about the future that cannot be answered adequately using a two by two matrix?
Are you swamped in an overwhelming amount of detailed data?
Does your organization focus exclusively on a few financial "lagging" indicators that do not provide timely information for management?
Do you know the balance of performance factors that will allow your organization to flourish well into the 21st century? Do your employees know?
Does your organization routinely ignore things that cannot be easily measured?
Classical strategy approaches alone cannot adequately illuminate the complexities present in most organizations and industries. A combination of classical strategy approaches, systems thinking, and organizational learning methodologies, provide a deeper understanding of the past, present, and potential futures for strategists. Because strategic learning is never really finished, the Collaborative can guide you at first, then coach you as you enable your organization to:
Employ strategic conversations that productively highlight the interdependencies in your organization or industry.
Understand the underlying forces driving your business or industry in its current state
Focus your organizational performance by helping your people to identify the vital few performance measures, key decisions, and uncertainty indicators that provide the most leverage.
Ask "What if?" to assess the long and short term effects of scenarios and strategies to form robust strategies for the future.
Develop understanding, than enduring solutions to complex, persistent problems.
Synthesizing a range of powerful approaches from Systems Thinking to Dialogue and Shared Vision, the Systems Thinking Collaborative offers support with both breadth and depth of approach. This work is best characterized by its "flexible strength". It usually takes the form of multiple two-day sessions with a cross-functional management team. After the baseline strategy is developed, the results are revisited on a periodic basis to update and revise as necessary. For more information and specific proposals, please contact a managing partner.
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Applied Systems Thinking Workshops
Applied Systems Thinking Workshops are designed to alternately teach and apply powerful systems thinking tools to real-time complex issues. These two or three day workshops typify a learn-by-doing approach to system thinking.
Although usually tailored to suit a client's particular goals, facilitators often lead a group through a transformation of their issues into a systems map. This map can then be used to guide the design of a computer simulation model, or simply stimulate thinking at the structural level. Alternatively, workshops may focus primarily on tool transfer - building a working knowledge of the approach and tools.
Workshop participants are usually from a spectrum of functions within the client organization, as well as external stakeholders if possible. The 8 to 25 people in these workshops gain a working knowledge about the philosophy and tools of systems thinking and related areas at the same time they improve their understanding of situations they are presently facing. Systems thinking workshop templates presently available include:
Applied Introduction to Systems Thinking
A Facilitated Approach to Systems Thinking
Systems Thinking and Scenario Planning
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Modeling for Learning
System dynamics models allow our clients to more rigorously assess the implications of the feedback forces in their industry or organization. Using personal computers and user-friendly system dynamics software, our associates assist clients in capturing the relevant structure driving the issues at hand.
These computer simulations have the effect of shrinking space and time, allowing one to see the short and long term effects of their policy choices. They allow repetitive, risk-free policy testing given a completely explicit set of assumptions. They are the only reliable way to discover and understand the non-linear and counter-intuitive behaviors in your system. Dynamic simulation models are vital learning tools.
There are several software applications presently used in the industry: Stella(tm) and ithink(tm) by High Performance Systems, PowerSim(tm) by PowerSim, and Vensim(tm) by Ventana. Consultants in the Systems Thinking Collaborative have expertise using each of them.
The process of building and testing a simulation model reaps tremendous benefit in terms of understanding the problem and system creating it. It is far more effective for us to build the model with our clients' involvement. We work with our clients over a period of time using the model to develop their thinking and answer their questions.
Learning Laboratories are workshops designed to develop individual and group understanding of a particular complex system. These workshops employ game-like dynamic simulations that allow the users to gain the equivalent of many years of experience in a few hours, making them a powerful way to deploy a strategy. These game-like simulators are called management flight simulators (MFS) or microworlds. Learning activities surrounding the 'playing' of the MFS make explicit the assumptions held before and after the experience. This reinforces the adjustments to the users' understanding, and allows the teams to learn from each other's experience.
Management flight simulators are comprised of two components: an underlying system dynamics model and a user-friendly graphical user interface. There are several microworlds available that teach enduring principles. Several Systems Thinking Collaborative consultants are skilled in working with clients to develop custom simulators and the supporting learning materials.
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Facilitator & Team Development
The Collaborative helps to develop facilitators in systems thinking and organizational learning practices by using:
Workshop immersion - depending on expertise that is desired, at least two workshops are recommended to build a strong working knowledge of the philospohy and tools
Assistance in engagements - facilitators may join with Collaborative facilitators to assist, observe, and reflect to deepen their learning process
On-site coaching - as new systems thinking facilitators try their hand with client groups, Collaborative facilitators join them as a resource, for assistance and reflection.
Remote coaching and reflection - Collaborative facilitiators are available to listen and reflect on experiences gained. They help to discern lessons to be learned.
Teams who regularly face complex issues should become conversant and competent in systems thinking and related organizational learning practices by using the tools in a few workshop settings, and then through remote coaching and reflection. If developing improving team performance is your goal, through our collaboration with Options for Change, we offer FasTeams®, a powerful tool set based on a systems theory applied to family therapy, first employed at the Kantor Institute. FasTeams® is a compelling package of web-based tools for use initially with team leaders, and then with team members. Its provide practical tools for understanding team cultures, breaking out of systemic team traps, and ensuring productive behaviors in teams.
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Systems Thinking Collaborative
Phone: (781) 275-4056 or (978) 897-5670 / Fax: (781) 275-1504
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