Change
This section includes articles on change, leadership, systems, emergence, and on creative thinking.
Serious Creativity
by Edward de Bono
on the de Bono Group site
In this article Edward De Bono writes about techniques to help in creative
thinking and in group processes, including about his "thinking hats" system.
Six Thinking Hats - looking at a problem or decision from all points of view
by Jane Warwick
part of a series of articles on the dare2dream site
This short text provides useful additional ideas about thinking hats
(see article listed above).
Toolbox for Change [pdf document]
by David Pitonyak
one of a set of articles on the Imagine site
"Reclaiming Purpose, Joy, and Commitment in the Helping Profession"
The toolkit includes the following sections:
"Its about relationships""Wake
up to the people right next to you" "Drive fear from the workplace" "Make
joy a goal"
"Develop
a vision"
"Get
organised
/ Stay organised" "Listen, learn, help, lead" "Tell stories"
Leading with an Open Heart.
by Ronald A. Heifetz and Marty Linsky
from the Leader to Leader Journal on the Leader to Leader Institute site
Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linsky have written excellent books on leadership and
change. This short article introduces some of the main ideas that are explored
in detail in their writing.
"To meet adaptive challenges, people have to go through a period of painful adjustment.
Leading people to make these changes is risky, because you are asking them to
absorb various forms of loss -- asking them to out and out give up something
in the interests of something to be maintained, to be conserved, or to be gained.
They may have to go through a period of refashioning loyalty to the people to
whom they feel beholden or of feeling disloyalty to their own roots. Or you may
be asking them to go through a period of experiencing some incompetence as they
fashion new competencies and sources of confidence."
Surviving Leadership [pdf file]
questions and answers by Ronald A. Heifetz and Marty Linsky
on the CCSSO site (Council of Chief State School Officers in the USA)
This is based on Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linsky's excellent book on the
dangers of leadership. It is a good summary if you haven't read the book.
Change Management - The Columbo Theory
by Gene Bellinger
One of a set of articles on www.systems-thinking.org
This article is a good place to start before reading other articles by Gene Bellinger
Adaptive Change: What's Essential and What's Expendable
(interview: Claus Otto Scharmer interviews Ronald Heifetz)
one of many interviews on Dialog on Leadership
Culture and Complexity - new insights on organisational change
by Richard Seel
part of a list of articles
on his New Paradigm Consulting site
Quote: "Conventional approaches to organisational culture and change have been
inadequate, partly because they have been based on outmoded models of organisational
dynamics. A complexity approach can offer a new perspective, or paradigm,
which leads to a radically different kind of practice for change agents."
This article discusses the important idea of 'emergence' in the context
of organisational change.
Life in the Colonies
by Mitchell Leslie
from the Stanford Magazine
This article discusses the work of Deborah Gordon in investitgating the behaviour
of ants. Useful for thinking about emergence in organisations.
Lifecycle of Emergence -
Using Emergence to Take Social Innovations to Scale
by Margaret Wheatley & Deborah Frieze
one of many articles on the Berkana Institute site
I found this article useful because I tend to think about the emergent properties of human systems in terms of how they oppose change. Margaret Wheatley and Deborah Frieze instead talk about how emergence can help to make change happen.
Emergence: Everyday Examples
from a page on emergence
on www.pbs.org
This is a short and simple introduction to the idea of emergence.
Emergence is not always 'good' [pdf file]
by Robert Weetman
in 'Emergence: Complexity & Organization' (vol 11 issue 2)
on the Institute for the Study of Coherence and Emergence website.
This article is written primarily for an audience more familiar with the concept
of 'emergence' than with issues around social care, but it might also offer an
introduction to emergence to those who will already relate to the examples used.
"The
concepts
of
emergence
and
collective
intelligence
are
fascinating,
and
from their study might come good things. But neither is 'good' by definition
and we
ought to be careful not to let our enthusiasm and interest lead to us into speaking
too casually about the benefits of 'encouraging emergence' or 'developing collective
intelligence'. We can find ourselves battling the emergent properties of a system,
and working against its collective intelligence. This article explores an example
to illustrate this from the field of social care. It also discusses some tentative
'laws' and some issues resulting from the positive nature of popular perspectives
on emergence."
Articles on ISJA
The links listed on the directory page displayed above take you to other websites. Articles on ISJA (this site) are listed separately on the 'on-site articles' page, grouped by author rather than subject. The links below should take you directly to relevant items on that page:
What is The System?
by Robert Weetman
Good places to look for more
The social theory page of this site.
The person centred planning page of this site.
The independent advocacy page of this site.
The Leader to Leader Institute site
The www.systems-thinking.org site
The Dialog on Leadership site