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Embracing Complexity:NGOs in the New Order of Innovation and Disruption
A Workshop by Facilitated byDr. Felix ‘Skip’ Bivens
Sponsored by CORPluS
November 22, 2012Sofia, Bulgaria
The Workshop at a Glace
Start 9:00 amPart 1: Introducing the Participating OrganizationsPart 2: Setting the ContextPart 3: Introducing and Learning from Complexity
o Emergenceo Rhizomatic Networkso Bifurcation
Part 4: Wrapping UpFinish 1:00 pm
IntroductionsThe participants will introduce
themselves and their organizations.
What is the mission of your organization?
Who do you work with?
What are your core projects and activities?
Setting the Context in Today’s NGO Sector
• 30 Years of Neoliberal Economics • 2008 Global Financial Crisis• Eurozone Debt Crisis & Austerity• Widening Economic Inequality• Climate Crises• Food and Fuel Crises
Changes within the Sector Itself
• Increased role of private donors/foundations
• Increased private sector involvement• Measurable, results-based development• Value-for-money agenda• From service delivery to catalytic aid and
advocacy• But also more ‘going local’
Group Reflection:
What is the most significant change you have seen in your organization or in the NGO sector
in Bulgaria in the past five years?
Using Complexity Science
to Understand and Act within
an Increasingly Complex NGO Sector
What is systems thinking and complexity?
• The whole is great than the parts:
Systems thinking concentrates not on basic building blocks, but on basic principles of organization. Systems thinking is ―contextual,‖ which is the opposite of analytical thinking. Analysis means taking something apart in order to understand it; systems thinking means putting it into the context of the larger whole (Capra, 1996, 29).
• All actions are interactions
• Emphasizes non-linearity and unexpected/indirect outcomes
• Looks for the ‘why’ and ‘how’ in change processes
3 Useful Concepts from Complexity
• Emergence• Rhizomatic networks• Bifurcation
EmergenceEmergence occurs when new qualities arise in the whole of a system which are not found in any of the component parts.
– In nature: ‘Hydrogen and oxygen are the elemental gases that make up water, but the ‘wetness‘ of water is an ‘emergent property‘ of the system not reducible to hydrogen or oxygen’ (Zajonc 2010, 81).
– In organizations: ‘[This] perspective implies that change does not result from someone first intending an intervention and then ‘letting‘ this change emerge from the interaction between the parts of the system. Rather, everybody is acting intentionally, on an ongoing basis, thereby change is seen as emerging from the interplay of intentions’ (Luoma, et al. 2007, 11).
Emergence, Learning and Innovation• Emergence involves experimentation
– ‘Probing’ the system– Multiple prototypes– ‘Safe-fail’ experiments
• Learning is an emergent process– It requires action and reflection– Innovation is based on quantity of ideas rather than quality– Focus on an ‘minimum value
product’ (MVP)• Failure is unavoidable
– ‘Fail often to succeed sooner.’ –Ideo
Disruptive innovation
• Innovation is disruptive when it changes the rules and forces other to reconsider their practices (and/or markets)– Iphones/Ipads– Grameen Bank
• Disruptive innovation is holistic thinking that crosses boundaries (Johansson, 2006)– Charles Darwin was a geologist– Dinosaur extinction explained by an astrophysicist– The architecture of termites:
http://inhabitat.com/building-modelled-on-termites-eastgate-centre-in-zimbabwe/eastgatew_mound1jpg/
Group exercise
• Surfacing ‘theories of change’:
– How does innovation/change happen inside of your organization?
– What drives ‘good’ change in society which improves social problems?
15 Minute Break!
Rhizomatic networks
Complexity see society as a rhizomatic network. – Dense social connections– Non-linear– Resilient (many paths to any outcome)– Very similar to neural networks in our brains– Similar to our road systems in cities
As such social and power relations are not static or fixed, but constantly changing.
Through the internet and social media, communication systems act increasingly like rhizomatic networks.
Social media for networking and learning
• Social media enables rhizomatic networks to develop.– Social media is two-way (or more!) street– Communicate your message but also receive feedback from
stakeholders– Look for ‘bright spots’ for innovation– Organizations are nodes to connect stakeholders
• Social media isn’t all about marketing– Good social media is about sharing/learning– People follow blogs/Twitter accounts that provide valuable ideas
and insights– Blogs as upside down pyramids– A blog ÷ 2÷ 2÷ 2÷ 2 = a tweet
Group Survey:
Whose organizations are using social media?
Which ones? Facebook, blogs, Twitter? Others?
How frequently?
For what purposes?
Who are you trying to talk to who?
Bifurcation Point
The natural variations within and around all complex adaptive systems may build up to a stage challenging old forms. This accumulation happens because of the recursive interactions of the components and subsystems within the system. The bifurcation point is the stage where the system ‘chooses‘ its future, the stage of greatest tension between the old and the new (Salem et al 2003, 3).
Bifurcation: Learning for Transformation in NGOs
• Reflective practice (Schön 1980)• Challenges for high intensity/low resource groups• ‘Babies in the river’!– Lack of time for individual/group reflection– Involves opportunity cost of time away from ‘fires’
• Organizational learning– Single and double loop learning– ‘Doing things better’ versus ‘Doing better things’– CDRA in South Africa
Documenting Complexity• Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E)
– Not always donor-driven– Tool for learning and reflection– Helps to improve ‘theories of change’– Provides hard evidence—’measurable results’
• Complexity based methods of M&E– Outcome Mapping (IDRC 2001, http://www.outcomemapping.ca/) – Developmental Evaluation (Patton 2011)– Collaborative– No singular causality– Focus on learning– Adaptive in design
Final exercise:
What are two ‘take aways’ from today for your organization?
Questions?
Final thoughts?
Thank You!
For more information and/or a copy of these slides, please contact me at
Dr. Felix Bivens, Empyrean Development Consulting and Research
References• Capra, F. (1996). The Web of Life: A New Synthesis of Mind and Matter.
London, HarperCollins. • Zajonc, A. (2010). Attending to Interconnection, Living the Lesson. The Heart
of Higher Education. P. Palmer, A. Zajonc and M. Scribner. San Francisco, Jossey-Bass.
• Luoma, J., R. Hämäläinen, et al. (2007). Systems Thinking, Complex Responsive Processes and Systems Intelligence. Espoo, Systems Analysis Laboratory, Helsinki University of Technology.
• Johansson, F. (2006) The Medici Effect. Boston, Harvard Business School.• Salem, P., F. Barclay, et al. (2003). Organisational Culture at the Edge: A Case
Study of Organisational Change. Annual Meeting of the International Communication Association. San Diego, California.
• Schön, D. (1981) The Reflective Practitioner. New York, Basic Books.• Patton, M. (2011) Developmental Evaluation. New York, Guilford.
