Systemics Development Associates
We design and implement programs to support the creation of learning organisations that are better equipped to understand complexity, and are strategically prepared for the future. We coach executives to achieve these outcomes.
To this end, we advocate skills and knowledge development associated with
-
Strategic Leadership
-
Scenario Planning
-
Critical and Systems Thinking
-
Experiential Learning
-
Organisational Change Development
-
Navigating Uncertainty
Clients
WindTunneling is a technology that is slick, it works and it enables aggregation, synthesis and assessment of divergent views quickly and easily. WindTunneling enables us to address the things that are “keeping us awake”.
John English, AMP
Samples of What We Do
Dairy Australia Adressing Climate Change
Knowledge Capture; Knowledge Assessment; Knowledge Integration; and Innovation
Issue:
A never ending debate within the Dairy Industry about all aspects of Climate Change left Industry Leaders confused about who stood for what, what was fact and what was fiction and how could the Industry prosper through an era of Climate Change. A multi phased study was commissioned with Systemics Techniques being used to capture the insights of the Industry’s many stakeholders and focus these into a range of Strategic Options for the future management of the Dairy Industry in Australia.
Method:
Systemics activities were conducted across all of Australia’s Dairy Regions with hundreds of participants drawn from all aspects of the Industry from before the farm gate to product consumption. A five person Committee of Dairy Australia leaders worked with the systemics practitioners to design and implement the Project.
Outcomes:
Nine strategic options for the future management of the Dairy Industry to sustain prosperity through the emerging era of Climate Change and consequential radical changes to the Industry’s operating environment were created and adopted by Dairy Australia. Further, these strategies gain wide cross-stakeholder endorsement.
Westpac Banking Corporation Building Resilience
Knowledge Capture; Knowledge Assessment; Candor
Issue:
Management believed that the annual Business Strategic Review (BSR) was not anticipating emergent problems, indicating that the current process was not identifying ‘weak signals’ in the operating environment. It resulted in the business not having adequate time to design and implement protective responses.
Method:
Extensive use of Systemics techniques was implemented across several ‘business lines’ by the Business and Technology Solutions and Services (BTSS) Group to identify from diverse groups of stakeholders ‘weak signals’ about changes in business and consumer banking behaviour.
Outcomes:
Embedded assumptions (often unconsciously) shaping the worldview of executives and senior staff, which were apparently blocking the recognition of weak signals of change were exposed and managed. Systemics techniques were implemented to permanently monitor assumptions being used for strategic and operational reviews and assessment.
Australian Taxation Office Fighting Non-Compliance
Avoidance of Group Think; Knowledge Integration; and Innovation
Issue:
The observation, within the tax office, that many vibrant and publicly highly successful organisations and individuals were paying very little tax and their audited tax records appeared to be in order, triggered a concern that the complexity of the entities operations was enabling non compliant taxation behavior. It was postulated that a greater understanding of the complexity of the entities from multidisciplinary perspectives might substantiate or dismiss the non-compliant concerns.
Method:
Systemics techniques were used to sweep in observations and experiential knowledge from a diverse range of perspectives and stakeholders beyond ATO staff, to create a ‘rich picture’ of an entity's activities not available from conventional investigatory practices. From the ‘rich picture’, a number of alternative lines of enquiry were identified. We provided one on one coaching to executives to anchor the new approach to tax avoidance.
Outcomes:
The 'rich picture' created assisted the identification of several previously unknown tax avoidance schemes. Investigation of these schemes continues to lead to the recovery of unpaid tax and the development of policy to eliminate some of the non-compliant practices.
About us
Systemic Development Associates, SDA, is committed to providing a high quality service to its clients. It has resolved to remain a small organisation with at least one of the principals being directly involved in each project. Services include coaching, customized training, and consultancy.
SDA's intention is to support the creation of learning organisations that are better equipped to understand complexity and are strategically prepared for the future. To this end, we advocate skills and knowledge development associated with strategic leadership, eyes-wide-open planning, critical and systemics thinking, experiential learning and organisational growth.
SDA's primary resource is its knowledge of how organisations learn and develop their way into the future. Hence, our major contribution is the facilitation of learning and development processes by the staff, within the organisation.
We see ourselves being in a strategic alliance with our clients to:
-
achieve their purposes,
-
in accord with their values,
-
through enhanced team capacity and competencies, and
-
the application of systemics principles to enable a culture of knowledge sharing.