Leading what no one controls
Complex adaptive systems and systems leaders.
- Level
- Bitesize
- Learning time
- 1 hour 15 minutes
- Where
- Systems Leadership
- Price
- £39
When you step up to a higher level, what you paid in the last 12 months for lower-level courses inside the bigger course comes off its price, in proportion to how much of each is inside it, whichever topic it's from. Courses at the same or a lower level don't give credit against each other. A Focus course or above always costs at least £15. Read the full terms
Certificate of Completion
Overview and Outcomes.
Overview
No one controls an organisation, yet leaders shape the conditions from which outcomes emerge. This module contrasts the machine model with the weather model, sets out the properties of complex adaptive systems, and offers practical tools: simple rules, enabling constraints in the spirit of Dave Snowden's Cynefin work, and a notice, amplify, dampen cycle. It reads Buurtzorg's self-managing nursing teams as a complex adaptive system designed on purpose. If nobody is in charge of the whole, what does leadership actually look like? This module sets out leadership as a practice rather than a position, drawing on Senge, Hamilton and Kania's three capabilities, Ghate, Lewis and Welbourn's six dimensions, Senge's five disciplines and Wheatley and Frieze's move from hero to host. It reads Greater Manchester devolution as systems leadership and weighs honestly what the evidence can and cannot show.
What you'll develop
In this Bitesize, you will develop the ability to:
- Explain the properties of an organisation as a complex adaptive system and compare the machine and weather models of leadership.
- Use simple rules, enabling constraints and the notice, amplify, dampen cycle to shape conditions rather than dictate outcomes.
- Assess what a case such as Buurtzorg does and does not show, including the limits of copying a structure without its conditions.
- Describe the core capabilities, dimensions and disciplines of systems leadership set out by Senge, Hamilton and Kania, Ghate, Lewis and Welbourn, and Senge.
- Assess where you sit on the spectrum from hero to host and judge where a given situation calls you to stand.
The Modules.
1 hour 15 minutes of learning.
- 06Organisations as Complex Adaptive SystemsNo one controls an organisation, yet leaders shape the conditions from which outcomes emerge. This module contrasts the machine model with the weather model, sets out the properties of complex adaptive systems, and offers practical tools: simple rules, enabling constraints in the spirit of Dave Snowden's Cynefin work, and a notice, amplify, dampen cycle. It reads Buurtzorg's self-managing nursing teams as a complex adaptive system designed on purpose.37 min
- 07What Systems Leaders DoIf nobody is in charge of the whole, what does leadership actually look like? This module sets out leadership as a practice rather than a position, drawing on Senge, Hamilton and Kania's three capabilities, Ghate, Lewis and Welbourn's six dimensions, Senge's five disciplines and Wheatley and Frieze's move from hero to host. It reads Greater Manchester devolution as systems leadership and weighs honestly what the evidence can and cannot show.39 min
Keep going.
Part of the Systems Leadership topic, also sold whole as Leading the whole system.
Go deeper, and pay only the difference
- You are hereBitesize, 1 hour 15 minutes, £39
- Next stepFocus, Leading in the connections, 4 hours, £69. Already own the Bitesize? You pay £30.
- Explore, Seeing and shifting systems, 5 hours 30 minutes, £129. Already own the Bitesize? You pay £90.
- The whole topicImmerse, Leading the whole system, 11 hours, £249. Already own the Bitesize? You pay £210.
When you step up to a higher level, what you paid in the last 12 months for lower-level courses inside the bigger course comes off its price, in proportion to how much of each is inside it, whichever topic it's from. Courses at the same or a lower level don't give credit against each other. A Focus course or above always costs at least £15. Prices per person. Read the full terms
Also part of: Beyond our own walls, Leading the whole, Health, care and home
Other Bitesize in the Systems Leadership topic
- Seeing the wholeSystems thinking and system mapping2 hours£39
- Where a small push goes farSystem archetypes and leverage points1 hour 15 minutes£39
- Sensing what wants to emergeAdaptive leadership and Theory U1 hour 15 minutes£39
- Trust as the real currencyRelational leadership and Collective Impact1 hour 15 minutes£39
- Where law and place meetWelsh law, integrated care and devolution1 hour 15 minutes£39
- Learning as the way we leadHuman Learning Systems and system measurement1 hour 15 minutes£39
