Is your team struggling to solve seemingly intractable problems?
Intractable social and environmental problems are part of the multilevel complex adaptive systems that comprise society, culture, and nature around the world. A complex adaptive system is one that isn’t easy to predict, doesn’t respond proportionally or consistently to implemented solutions, may suddenly and unexpectedly change, and/or may be impacted by historical decisions that influence present day options.
How is it that those systems in nature we call complex and adaptive—brains, insect colonies, the immune system, cells, the global economy, biological evolution—produce such complex and adaptive behavior from underlying, simple rules? How can interdependent yet self-interested organisms come together to cooperate on solving problems that affect their survival as a whole? And are there any general principles or laws that apply to such phenomena? Melanie Mitchell, (2009). Complexity. Oxford University Press. Kindle Edition.
Tackling any whole system challenge, such as intractable problems, requires new tools, new processes, new collaborations, and new understanding of the principles and laws that may apply to complex adaptive systems.
By ELUCIDATING* social and environmental complex adaptive systems, CA:TMaPS enhances understanding of these systems and their policy challenges, improving your ability to address ‘intractable problems’ more efficiently, effectively, and sustainably.
In other words, CA:TMaPS can help you to…
Rise Above Obstacles
Ballooning in the Alps, © Darien Simon
Cities face wide-ranging challenges including: inequality, crime, housing shortages, infrastructure congestion, carbon dependency, environmental degradation, and low skills. Local governments are working to address these against a background of prolonged financial austerity, electoral disengagement, misalignments in priorities between central and other tiers of government, rigid funding cycles, organisational silos, and low levels of information, all of which contribute to suboptimal decisions that can intensify persistent problems and degrade public confidence. Project Proposal, Transformational Routemapping for Urban Environments, an EPSRC (UK) funded Urban Living Partnership Pilot Project (the inspiration for CA:TMaPS).
What does it actually take to drive large-scale change? Co-Impact founder and CEO Olivia Leland… has identified three areas that need to be addressed before real and meaningful change can happen. To effectively provide support, we must listen to the people who are already doing the work, rather than trying to start from scratch; make it easier for groups, government, and others to collaborate; and change our mindsets to think more long-term so that we can scale impact in ways that matter. (Emphasis added) 23/11/20 https://bigthink.com/skoll-foundation/how-to-solve-global-problems
The climate crisis is as much a rural problem as an urban one. It is both economic and human, domestic and international. This means transformation is required at every level of society: individuals, employers, institutions and international partners will need to work together to understand the trade-offs, agree compromises and seize opportunities. And just as scientists are pooling insights from diverse fields of expertise, policymakers will need to work in new ways, sharing ideas across disciplines to plot a clear path from here to net zero. This is a whole systems challenge. Tackling it will require a systemic approach. (Emphasis added) Patrick Vallance, 09/08/21 (Opinion, The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/aug/09/ipcc-report-transforming-society-avert-catastrophe-net-zero)
We started our interviews with senior leaders with one question: What, if anything, about the way people are leading today needs to change in order for leaders to be successful in a complex, rapidly changing environment where we’re faced with seemingly intractable challenges and an insatiable demand for innovation?
There was one answer across the interviews: We need braver leaders and more courageous cultures.
Brené Brown. Dare to Lead (p. 6). 2018. Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
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*To “elucidate” is to make something clear that was formerly murky or confusing – and it is perfectly clear how the modern term got that meaning. “Elucidate” traces to the Latin term lucidus, which means “lucid.” “Lucidus” in turn descends from the verb lucēre, meaning “to shine.” So “elucidating” can be thought of as the figurative equivalent of shining a light on something to make it easier to see. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/elucidate.