In this week’s issue, I want to break down the failure of many change initiatives. While my newsletter is intended to be about problem solving, it’s hard to influence complex problems without a formal structure for working with others. Teamwork matters because it gives you insight and leverage on the many different aspects of any […]
TEP #005: Why Your Change Initiative Is Grinding To A Halt Read More »
Read time: 4 min This week’s tip: Don’t forget that effectively solving problems matters more than changing the system I spent years changing the system and getting results – it was a total mistake. Way back in 2007, I staffed an advisory council for the governor of Minnesota. As a group we brainstormed and recommended
TEP #001: The Mistake Made By Most Changemakers (including me) Read More »
Systems thinking is a change of perspective When I first learned about Hennepin County’s workforce initiative back in 2013, it was apparent that they were thinking differently than everyone else. In most organizations, especially government, systems change was about big reforms that prescribed how other people should act differently. Further, change initiatives broke issues down
How Government Can Use Systems Thinking To Drive Impact Read More »
The dream of many changemakers is large-scale societal transformation. To achieve this vision, it is often imagined that we need similarly large systems change initiatives. In this view, lack of progress on the hardest to solve social problems is a lack of investment in big visions, big initiatives, and big grants. But what if there’s
Why is it so hard to make system-wide impact? Read More »
Is the most popular way to organize systems change ineffective? Or is organizing systems change like a startup better? Most systems change initiatives are large-scale reform efforts aimed at agreed-upon social problems. They’re characterized by big boards, broad goals, and strategy at scale. Investors are usually groups of large foundations and managers are paid staff
Systems Change Like a Startup, Not a Bureaucracy Read More »
