WISDOM COUNCIL
Solving Complex Problems by evoking Collective Intelligence
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It is becoming increasingly clear that the challenges we face are complex. They are made up of myriad interconnected parts, and the cause and effects relationships cannot be understood by simple linear, logical explanations.
"In an increasingly dynamic, interdependent and unpredictable world, it is simply no longer possible for anyone to figure it all out at the top." Peter Senge
When faced with complex decisions, we need a diversity of perspectives, co-creation and collaboration.
The Wisdom Council enables people to participate in resolving complex decisions and issues.
| "Most people
are frustrated by the way decisions get made. We
all try to be troopers. People may complain, but then they say,
'Well, I trust the leadership to come up with the best thinking.'
But behind closed doors people wonder if the leaders really do
have all the information, especially when the decisions affect
people who've had no input." Helena Light Hadley, Marriott(*) |
|---|
We all need to feel that our voice has been heard when decisions are made that affect us. And given the complexity and uncertainty in today's organisations and businesses, we know that the best decisions are made when a diverse group brings their knoweldge and experience to bear.
The Wisdom Council is a powerful tool for resolving complex issues and questions by accessing the collective intelligence. it has been used for millennia to help groups of people make wise decisions.
Our common approaches to problem solving and decision making are not working in this time of complex and fast moving change. It has never been more important that we understand the true challenges that today's problems bring us and learn how to engage more people in resolving them.
Recently Hadley experienced an alternative approach to corporate decision making. She and 35 other participants from some of the most traditional U.S. companies -- General Motors, AT&T, Unisys, Northern Telecom, Bank of Boston, Aetna, McKinsey & Co. -- and even the World Bank found themselves participating in a tribal council ceremony. Eight hours later, when the council was over, Helena Light Hadley left with a new insight into decision making. "The tribal approach makes a lot of sense," she says. "When a decision is put in the context of `the greater good,' you stop acting so territorial. You see the needs of the entire system, not just the little piece you're hanging on to."(*) |
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Karl Popper, the philosopher of science, distinguished between problems that are Clocks and those that are Clouds. If they are Clocks, they are complicated but the parts, and how they are connected, can be understood and their actions predicted. Problems are solvable by logic and deduction.
It is the Clouds that present the real challenges because they are diffuse and complex. They do not yield to logic and deduction. They are complex because they are made up of myriad interconnected parts. The interdependent relationships are difficult to grasp – like the weather, an eco-system, a human organisation.
Additionally, complex problems, especially if they involve humans, are rooted in adaptive systems – they learn and change, so that what appeared to work yesterday may not work today.
The Wisdom Council draws on an ancient understanding of living systems, complexity and of wisdom and 'coming-to-knowing' to look into the issues and decisions facing us from eight distinct perspectives that make up a sequence of wholeness. It engages the hearts and minds of the people to provide the diversity of perspectives needed to release creativity and innovation for solving complex problems.
"I
am impressed with the Wisdom Council process. |
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In the Council process, we learn to see quickly and deeply into: what is needed; what is missing; what we need to remember to act powerfully and what are the likely outcomes of a given plan. It teaches us to think and act systemically.
The Wisdom Council is a process whose simplicity and wholeness are easy to grasp, and yet it is worthy of a lifetime of study. It is capable of holding the enormous complexity of the whole without getting lost in the details. The design of the Council remains visible, accessible and guides us to a place of clarity - a clarity that is in harmony with our highest aspirations.
Find out more about the History of the Council and How It Works
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