Editor’s additions

Change planning: Dreamer, realist, critic

Edited by Gabriele Bammer

editors-addition_change

How can change be planned for in an effective way that creatively develops new ideas, plans the practicalities of their implementation and assesses risks?

The process described here is also referred to as Walt Disney circle, Disney creative strategy, and Disney brainstorming method, and is adapted from Nauheimer (1997).

Planning change involves four phases. The first three phases, in turn, are to 1) create new ideas, 2) plan the practicalities of their implementation and 3) assess the risks. Phase 4 is an iterative phase that reviews further input needed in each of the first three phases.

The process is conceived as involving three roles: dreamer, realist and critic. The idea of separating the process into these three roles is to ensure that each is fully considered without interference from the others. For instance the aim is to allow the creative ideas to be fully developed, without being stymied by criticism. One person or a group could take all three roles in turn or different people could take different roles. What is important is that all three roles are fully brought into play.

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Five questions for considering political context

Edited by Gabriele Bammer

editors-addition_political-context

How can researchers rapidly assess the political and institutional environment in which they are trying to exert influence? Why does understanding context matter?

Developing a rich, detailed understanding of the political environment in which a problem needs to be addressed can be a never-ending research project, not only because of the depth of scholarship that can be brought to bear, but also because political environments are often unstable and rapidly-changing. Few research projects have the luxury of large budgets and long time horizons in which to fully comprehend the environments that they seek to influence. Instead, practical rapid assessment tools can be valuable and improve the effectiveness of research input and actions.

One such tool for rapidly assessing political context was published in 2014 as part of the Rapid Outcome Mapping Approach: A Guide to Policy Engagement and Influence by John Young and colleagues and a modified version is reproduced here.

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Competencies for systems thinking practitioners. Part 2: Skills and behaviours

Edited by Gabriele Bammer

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What skills and behaviours are required by those seeking to provide expert systemic analysis, advice and facilitation to support decision-makers in understanding and addressing complex problems?

This is the second of two blog posts presenting the systems thinking competencies provided by the UK Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (no date) and completes an overview of what decision makers should be able to expect from systems thinking practitioners, along with the knowledge, skills and behaviour competencies such systems thinking practitioners should have. The first blog post provided overall expectations of what systems thinking practitioners should be able to do and knowledge competencies.

Skills competencies

Skills in 11 areas are required for a systems thinking practitioner.

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Competencies for systems thinking practitioners. Part 1: Overall expectations and knowledge

Edited by Gabriele Bammer

editors-addition_systems

What knowledge, skills and behaviours are required by those seeking to provide expert systemic analysis, advice and facilitation to support decision-makers in understanding and addressing complex problems, ie., problems that have no single ‘owner’ or cause, and no simple solution? What should decision makers be able to expect from the systems thinking practitioners they engage with?

The UK Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (no date) provides competencies in knowledge, skills and behaviours and these are reproduced here (knowledge competencies), and in a companion blog post (skills and behaviour competencies). This list of competencies provides a very useful way of getting an overview of systems thinking and the skills required.

What should systems thinking practitioners be able to do?

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