Organization development professionals are taking a courageous stand. In place of their annual conference this year, they will gather to address three critical issues of our time. Climate change is, of course, on the agenda. They have invited Human Systems Dynamics Institute to design and facilitate this three-day Adaptive Action Lab to: focus on using HSD for climate action in our own community. We will: learn and practice models and methods of HSD to:
- Explore patterns of threat and resilience in local communities
- Consider options for generative action
- Give and receive peer coaching for local Adaptive Action
- Create individual and collective plans what comes next
The Summit includes two other strands that address global existential issues. We will engage across issues to share learnings and build collaborative action.
Faculty & Coaches
Glenda Eoyang helps public and private organizations thrive in the face of overwhelming complexity and uncertainty. She is a pioneer in the applications of complexity science to human systems, and she founded the field of human systems dynamics (HSD) in 2001. As founding executive director of the Human Systems Dynamics Institute she leads a global network of scholar-practitioners who use her models and methods to see patterns in the chaos that surrounds them, understand the patterns in simple and powerful ways, and take practical steps to shift chaos toward coherence. Her recent clients include the Finnish Research Institute (VTT), US Environmental Protection Agency and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, British Columbia Ministry of Health, Oxfam International, The International Baccalaureate Organization, The Sustainability Consortium, the Association for Medical Education in Europe, UK National Health Service, and Roffey Park Institute.
Glenda received her doctorate in Human Systems Dynamics from the Union Institute and University in 2001, studying under Drs. Donald Klein and Kevin Dooley. There she discovered three fundamental factors that influence the dynamics of self-organizing change in human systems. This research forms the foundation for the body of work that helps individuals, institutions, and communities respond to complex change. With colleagues around the world, Glenda delivers a hybrid of education and consulting in the form of Adaptive Action Laboratories. Individuals and teams bring their most wicked problems, learn and practice human systems dynamics approaches, and leave with plans for next wise action. Groups from Vancouver to Sao Paulo and Boston to Delhi have used this method to break through apparently intractable issues.
Her published works include scholarly articles in a variety of fields and Radical Rules for Schools: Adaptive Action for Complex Change (HSD Institute, March 2013), and Coping with Chaos: Seven Simple Tools (Lagumo Press, 1996). Glenda’s latest book, with co-author Royce Holladay, is Adaptive Action: Leveraging Uncertainty in Your Organization (Stanford University Press, April 2013). It is a roadmap for anyone who chooses to work at the intersection of order and chaos.
Glenda grew up in the Texas Panhandle, where there is more sky than ground and the wind “has been blowing for a very long time.” She lives now near the headwaters of the Mississippi River, on a little lake in Circle Pines, Minnesota. Thanks to Zoom, she engages with global partners in local action.
