Decision-making for Complex Situations

top Overview

Why do 70% of mergers, 65% of change programmes and 50% of attempts at internationalising fail?

Is it because people did not plan?

Is it because they did not implement?

Or is it because they assumed these issues were solvable based on past experience….. but they were not.

This is the area of complexity - where too many variables are interacting and the outcome is not a forgone conclusion. For example when the leadership decides to change the way the organisation grows; when local kiwi companies try to succeed overseas; when entrepreneurs become managers; when companies network with strategic partners; when organisations go through substantial change; when an organisation tries to manage risk; where an organisation tries to change a long standing culture, or fosters product stewardship and innovation; or simply when a company really wants to get to know their customers.

In addition, there are the problems that past solutions have not solved and issues that seem to be ‘intractable’ and ‘unruly’. Many leaders of organisations agree these are the issues that are on the rise. Yet these are issues that the traditional approaches and methodologies most managers have in their ‘tool-bag’are unable to deal with.

To successfully master complex organisational challenges managers and leaders need to learn about new methodologies that are designed to address complex issues. They are called complex adaptive methodologies.

top Topics Covered

The content covered during the two days is the latest “state of the art” knowledge on organisational complexity theory and successful adaptive strategies.

It is based on the toolset of the Future of People and Organisation Group (FPO) that supports individuals, communities, and organisations to successfully manage complex issues.

The specific flow of the Short Course will look like this
Exploring organisational complexity
• What is complexity?
• Why should we care?
• How can we address complex issues?
• Range of proven successful techniques

Starting a project that addresses complex issues
• Project principles and scoping
• Establishing the core team and gaining management support

Complexity Project Key Phases:
• Discovery
  o The role of Narrative
  o Narrative Election Techniques
  o Appreciative Inquiry
  o Social Network Analysis
• Sense Making
  o Narrative representation
  o Open Space Methodologies
  o Metaphor
  o Complex facilitation
• Intervention Design
  o What are the characteristics of an intervention in a complex environment
  o  Effective Intervention techniques
 
• Monitoring impact
  o Seeing new patterns
  o Monitoring strategy
  o Detecting weak signals

top Who should attend

People from all disciplines and backgrounds who are keen and eager to learn how to really address complex issues in their organisations. In particular leaders or programme/project managers who are engaged in:

  • M&A, JV, strategic partnerships
  • Organisational Change
  • Cultural Change
  • Risk Management
  • Trust and Value
  • Ethics
  • Product Stewardship
  • Rapid business growth
  • Talent management
  • Networking
  • Knowledge Management
  • Leadership Development

top Outcomes

At the end of this two-day seminar, participants will be able to identify and explore complex organisational issues. They will be capable of differentiating between problems that are solvable (knowable problems) and those that require complex adaptive methodologies to generate new patterns “to see the same landscape with different eyes”.

Participants will understand the theory underpinning projects for addressing complex issues. They will learn how to initiate and run a project that addresses a complex problem.
In addition they will have practised some of the most critical tools utilised within a complex arena. This will enable them to start applying these within their organisations.