When people tell you to think outside the box, they don't tell you where the box ends and the future begins. That is why we find ourselves so often trapped in our own blind spots and assumptions, constrained by our ordinary (Newtonian) worldviews. The nonlinear sciences complexity and chaos, as well as Integral theory shine a light on those dark corners of reality, as well as the habits of mind that keep us stuck. In ancient times, maps of the world would show sea monsters and dragons on the edge of the known world. In this program, we call such mind-blowing and habitually intractable realities dragons. Hence, The Dragons of Transformation.
In this program, the Human Systems Dynamics Institute (HSD) and The Collective Edge (TCE) expand their collaboration begun last year to introduce a new form of deliberate sensemaking to:
- Explain in practical and understandable terms the nature of complex systems and dynamical change.
- Empower you to see, understand, and influence patterns that emerge from complex systems.
- Reveal the paradoxes that live in this new paradigm.
- Challenge the habitual predict and plan mindsets that apply an outdated view to such systems, leading to us experiencing them as intractable.
- Share tools and practices from the sense and respond worldview to help you adapt, even when you can't predict or control, uncovering a new understanding, enough to inform action without needing certainty.
- Create a deliberate sensemaking container within the cohort to help you connect with ideas and people that will sustain you and your clients through the turbulent future.
Faculty & Coaches
Glenda Eoyang is the founding executive director of the Human Systems Dynamics Institute. Since 1986, she has applied principles of complexity to all aspects of human systems. She leads a network of over 900 scholar-practitioners who tame wicked issues across contexts and disciplines. She trains, coaches, and consults internationally. Recent clients include National Health Service (UK), VTT—National Research Institute (Finland), and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US).
Her publications include articles in professional, scholarly, and practitioner journals and book chapters in fields ranging from mathematical analysis to medical education and leadership. She has co-authored multiple books, including Coping with Chaos: Seven Simple Tools (1996), Facilitating Organization Change: Lessons from Complexity Science (2001), and Adaptive Action: Leveraging Uncertainty in Your Organization (2013).
Michael Spayd has been a pioneer in the Agile world for 22 years, bringing in thinking and methods from professional coaching, leadership development (LD), organization development (OD), Integral and systemic methods that are relevant to the transformation of self, culture, and leadership in service of organizational agility. Michael is known as a transformational teacher and leader, with a deep ability to facilitate both compelling and transformational learning environments.
Michael is a serial entrepreneur, having co-founded the Agile Coaching Institute, and founded Trans4mation and most recently, The Collective Edge. He has taught, coached, and mentored many thousand Agile coaches, managers, and leaders in his years in the field. He is the co-author of a highly anticipated book, Agile Transformations: Using the Integral Agile Transformation Framework to Think and Lead Differently, which was published in December 2020.
