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May 18, 2006 Issue 74



“Though I lack the art
to decipher it,
no doubt the next chapter
in my book of transformations
is already written,
I am not done with my changes.”
—Stanley Kunitz, from “The Layers”




Get 50% Off a Two-year Site License for The Systems Thinker® Newsletter

“Our Systems Thinker site license has helped us develop a common language, and, more importantly, provides us with quality pieces for dialogue and reflection. Using real life examples, it continues to challenge some of our mental models and constantly reminds us to think strategically rather than simply reacting. I’ve used articles in trainings and often reread past issues to find new insights. It’s been invaluable in my growth as a systems thinker.”
—Jo A. Berry-Segna
Florida Education Association

Your site license to The Systems Thinker gives your workforce instant access to the ideas that are shaping the future of management practice by offering a mix of feature articles from thought leaders such as Russ Ackoff, Peter Block, Arie de Geus, Daniel H. Kim, Sandra Seagal, Peter Senge, Margaret Wheatley, and many others; along with stories from the field, reinforcements for your toolbox, viewpoint pieces, and book reviews. Take advantage of this incredible savings opportunity to improve the quality of collective thinking and strategic decision-making across your organization.

Through June 30 you can purchase a 2-year organization-wide site license subscription to The Systems Thinker Newsletter for the cost of a 1-year license subscription.

For only $1000 (the cost of 10 individual 1-year subscriptions) you can put the ideas, tools, and insights of The Systems Thinker in the hands of everyone on your organization's intranet for the next 2 years! The Systems Thinker Newsletter is published ten times a year and delivered in PDF format to your email inbox. Site license terms authorize an organization to place the PDF on an intranet for access by networked staff. Click on the link below or call us at 1-781-398-9700 to order.

Order #STSL2Y, $1000

Also, jump start your corporate library, training resource center, or management reference collection by purchasing site licenses of past volumes for just $500 per year. All past volumes are fully indexed and searchable using Adobe Reader. Click on the links below or call us at 1-781-398-9700 to order.

Order # ST1016SL, Site License for Volumes 10-16, $3500

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“Systems theory, systems thinking and system dynamics are foundational to our program. The Systems Thinker is a core resource that helps us all to “sharpen our saws” as it brings us instructional and inspirational applications of systems thinking. Our students and alumni love to keep their fingers on the pulse of systems thinking and appreciate continually being tutored in the art of becoming true systems thinkers.”
—Bill Koenig
Organization Systems Renewal® Graduate Program
Seattle University

Current site license holders can take advantage of these offers too! Purchase a 2-year site license subscription and we'll extend your term for the additional period.



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Pegasus Communications provides resources that help people explore, understand, articulate, and address the challenges they face in the complexities of a changing world. Since 1989, Pegasus has worked to build a community of practitioners through The Systems Thinker® Newsletter, books, audio and videotapes, its annual Systems Thinking in Action® Conference, and other events.

 



FACE TO FACE
Five Centuries of the Future: A Whirlwind Journey through Time with Eamonn Kelly

PEGASUS CONFERENCE UPDATE
• Early Registration Discount Deadline Extended
to May 31
• Conference Brochure Now Available
• Teams Program Facilitator Jen Hunter Suggests Tools that Inspire Teams to Learn, Grow and Deliver!

LEARNING LINKS
Action-To-Outcome Mapping: Testing Strategy With Systems Thinking
 



FACE TO FACE
Five Centuries of the Future: A Whirlwind Journey through Time with Eamonn Kelly

Eamonn Kelly is the visionary author of Powerful Times: Rising to the Challenge of Our Uncertain World, and CEO of Global Business Network (GBN). He is central to GBN’s leadership role in the evolution and application of scenario thinking and strategic conversation to help organizations change and innovate in fundamental ways.

In the preface to his recent book, Powerful Times: Rising to the Challenge of Our Uncertain World, Eamonn Kelly uses a metaphor from the world of bees to acknowledge the heartening spirit of experimentation and discovery that he observes in natural leaders at all levels.

“This book is for all of the ‘scout bees’ of the human world—those explorers who find it their calling to seek, on behalf of us all, a better future. I hope it makes a modest contribution to strengthening your wings, animating your dance, refreshing your optimism, framing your insights, and, above all, helping you make a difference in the world.”

Eamonn’s enthusiasm for addressing the Pegasus Conference this November stems from his recognition of how aptly that metaphor applies to the systems thinking community. Seeing the conference—like his book—as a means for strengthening, animating, refreshing, and framing, he promises to engage us with his insightful observations about the outdated mental models we’ve inherited over the last five centuries of history, and stirring inquiry about where we go from here. “It is no longer a luxury to think globally, act collaboratively, and tap into our capacity for collective intelligence. It is an imperative given the extent to which the bedrock assumptions that we’ve depended upon for the last 500 years are cracking right before our eyes.”

To get a sense the exuberant presence that Eamonn will bring to the conference, enjoy this video with his “warp speed” survey of the roots of many of today’s major political, social, and economic issues:

Five Centuries of the Future

Suggested reading:



Powerful Times: Rising to the Challenge of Our Uncertain World

 



PEGASUS CONFERENCE UPDATE
16th Annual Pegasus Conference
Leading Beyond the Horizon: Strategies for Bringing Tomorrow into Today's Choices
Westin Waltham-Boston Hotel
Waltham, Massachusetts, November 13–15, 2006

Deadline Extended! Register before May 31 to secure your place and save $500 off the standard conference rate!

Hot Off the Press!
The conference brochure includes detailed descriptions of each session along with schedule and registration information. Please download a copy today, or call us at 1-781-398-9700 to request a copy by mail or extra copies for distribution.

Teams Program Facilitator Jen Hunter Suggests Tools that Inspire Teams to Learn, Grow and Deliver!

The Teams Program bookends the conference with launching and concluding sessions to help intact and project teams attending together achieve shared focus and make it stick. In addition to cross-pollination with other teams and the support of a dedicated coach throughout the conference, teams benefit from the wisdom of facilitators experienced in applying systems thinking and related tools to the knottiest team performance issues.

In the following list, lead facilitator Jen Hunter suggests some of her favorite Pegasus resources to support team learning and development. Buy ahead or plan to pick up a copy at the conference bookstore to reinforce your conference learning:

1. The Systems Thinker. This is simply one of the most valuable team building tools I've ever found; short provocative articles that help a team frame or reframe a challenge or opportunity, or set the foundation for thinking boldly about new futures.

2. A tie between...The Systems Thinking Playbook, by Linda Booth Sweeney and Dennis Meadows. I LOVE THIS!!! It gives me a leg up on the design of interesting and provocative exercises, often providing context that allows me to slightly adapt the exercise to meet the specific needs of the team or community I’m serving.

AND

The Learning Fables by David Hutchens, illustrated by Bobby Gombert, with my favorites being Outlearning the Wolves, The Lemming Dilemma, and Listening to the Volcano. These are great tools to create common language and explore some challenging team areas. Each fable has such a lovely way of telling an important and meaningful story. The images are fun and engaging, and they make the learning process easy; these are fantastic social lubricants.

3. Pegasus Conference audiotapes (and videos). These are excellent ways to bring the conference home with you! When one of the keynote sessions moves me, I will often buy a copy of that audio or video and include a clip or two in my presentation to the team back home. It makes the experience real for others and exposes them directly to the power and quality of the keynote itself!

BOTTOM LINE: I think the most valuable learning tool Pegasus Communications offers is the annual Systems Thinking in Action® Conference. With its thoughtful focus on innovation, leadership and systems thinking, it brings together people from all over the world and a variety of sectors and disciplines to explore issues, ideas and challenges in a way that’s fun, engaging, and rewarding. For me, it is the one learning event each year that stimulates new thinking and practices!

Jen Hunter of The Learning Catalyst first served as the lead facilitator of the Teams Program at the 2005 Pegasus Conference. In 2006, Jen is returning with an international team of exceptional coaches and Charles Alday and Michelle Boos-Stone to design and deliver an extraordinary conference introduction session for individuals and teams!

Register your team of four or more on our web site before May 31 for only $1050 per person, or call 1-781-398-9700 today to ensure that you will be part of this important conversation! Also, take advantage of a special subscription price for The Systems Thinker® Newsletter—only $89 for a one-year subscription when you register (regularly $109).

 



LEARNING LINKS
Action-To-Outcome Mapping: Testing Strategy With Systems Thinking
by Andrew Jones and Don Seville

In the “classic” systems thinking approach, a group uses mapping and modeling to help explain an important behavior over time. While we occasionally encounter groups that resonate with this classic approach, more often we find teams that are fixated on immediately improving their current strategies.

They look to systems thinking for some specific help in addressing questions such as, “How can our team test our thinking about the best way to achieve our goals? How can we strengthen our strategy and achieve more success with less energy? And how can we avoid unintended consequences or ‘push-back’ from the system?”

To help a group respond to those queries, we lead them through a structured process that we are calling “action-to-outcome” mapping. We have found this approach particularly useful in situations where a team has already chosen a set of actions intended to achieve specific outcomes within an uncertain environment. This process can stand alone or lead to a more expansive effort to map, understand, and formally model the system in which the group is operating.

While we have used several variations, the core of our action-to-outcome mapping process involves five steps: (1) Exploring the existing causal theory, (2) Adding feedback, (3) Uncovering critical mindsets, (4) Accounting for external forces, and (5) Looking for opportunities for learning and action.

Having seen groups use action-to-outcome mapping to improve their strategies on challenges ranging from urban sprawl to sustainable agriculture to air quality to inner-city poverty gives us hope that systems thinking can fulfill its promise of helping overcome the complex challenges of creating a more sustainable world.

Read the complete article or see The Systems Thinker, V14N2 (March 2003)

Subscribe to The Systems Thinker

 



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