Customizable Courses

Each of us works in the midst of organizational patterns that shape and are shaped by individual choices. Some patterns are characteristic of complex environments, and people can be more effective when they recognize and respond to these patterns appropriately.

The field of Human Systems Dynamics is showing us a new path for leaders who are looking for effective ways to deal with the challenges of today's work life.

Outcome evaluation is all the rage in social service organizations these days. The problem is that outcomes are unknowable in systems that are changing to respond to emerging needs. How can an individual or group investigate the effectiveness of its work if long-term outcomes are unpredictable?

Traditional views of organizational change are based on machine models where a single cause has a single and predictable effect. Today's organizations seldom fit these traditional assumptions. Change in a complex environment depends on self-organizing processes that are neither predictable nor controllable. This session provides insights into a new, self-organizing model for change.

Each of us works in the midst of organizational patterns that shape and are shaped by individual choices. Some patterns are characteristic of complex environments, and people can be more effective when they recognize and respond to these patterns appropriately.

Rapid change and diverse constituencies bring an element of unpredictability to institutional life. Innovative theories from chaos and complexity provide new ways to think about organizations and the people who make them successful. This session provides an overview of the principles and patterns that shape emergent phenomena in complex adaptive environments.

How can we address conflict in complex systems? Human systems dynamics will give you new ways to think about this question and new options for action to make a difference in your family, community, company, nation, and world.

At one time, leadership was an art of prediction and control. In the complex environments of today, leaders cannot know what the future will hold, so their roles are changing. This session presents three modes of leadership and explains how all are required to respond to the challenges of today.

Increasing workloads, performance expectations, technological developments, and customer expectations place new burdens on service delivery personnel. Individuals develop their own techniques for responding to these increased levels of stress, but these efforts are more effective when they incorporate shared understandings and strategies for a working group.

Today's work environments demand that individuals and groups coordinate to produce outcomes that they share. Working together requires more than frequent and unending meetings or policies and procedures for team work. This session presents a model for building relationships in which the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.