Approach
Transcend Paradigms, Together
Ways of working
As we engage with complex and controversial problems, with which we are all personally entangled, we operate from the principle that no single entity or person holds the 'right answer'.
The observable patterns in our work include:
We approach issues from multiple vantage points, perspectives and lenses. We enable large groups of people with divergent or conflicting perspectives and opinions to work together and in parallel to find alignment. We usually won’t start from the beginning and often backwards from desired end states
We switch between different modes of convergent and divergent thinking, creation and interaction to rapidly prototype and model our ideas, correcting for error throughout by challenging our views & our solutions. Our work intends to interrupt and challenge participants routines and mental models to enable them to think differently. We extract individual insights and combine them with design knowledge to enable creative and complete solutions. We believe healthy conflict and criticism is beneficial to end solution
We collect, synthesize, spatially manage and visually communicate large quantities of information, data and knowledge tools for collective use. This means that all stakeholders are speaking ‘on the same page’ with a common set out outputs and a singular understanding. We direct attention and break habits through non-conventional use of space, art, music and facilitation to create experiential processes and communications to engage multiple interaction styles and ‘get the most’ out of your stakeholders.
Our approach always begins with identifying “the right problem to solve”.
We begin every engagement with a collective visualization exercise. We think of the problem as the gap between the current reality and our collective vision for a new reality. The problem is neither current conditions (which we must understand), nor our collective vision (which we must create or identify), but rather the discrepancy between them.
Real change requires stakeholders working together
The challenges we face today require the kind of cross-sector collaboration for which there is still no real precedent. Wicked problems including social & ecological imbalances and widening social divides can no longer be treated as just economic externalities to be dealt with by governments, themselves constrained by jurisdictions & election cycles.
We our approach delivers:
Complex problems require systems-thinking & effective collaboration. Developing shared conceptual frameworks create clarity without denying complexity.
It’s fast & easy to deal with complex concepts in small groups of ‘experts’, but this bypasses collective intelligence embedded in diverse organizations & individuals resulting in output for which there is neither deep understanding nor commitment. In contrast, when frameworks are co-created, the process builds community, shared ownership & alignment.
Strategies for action created without stakeholder buy-in are doomed for failure. Many believe the most they can hope for is consensus, & as long as there are no strong objections, that it’s the best that can be hoped for in a large & diverse system. However, this means settling for the lowest common denominator that everyone can agree with rather than striving for big or innovative ideas that challenge status quo. Consensus is a low bar for any plan, & leads to compliance at best. Instead, alignment requires engaging with complexity to surface conflict & encourage healthy dissent. To generate real commitment, leaders must strive to generate alignment.