In today’s world, you deal with complex issues and challenges. Consider the last decision you made, at home or at work.
- What forces did you have to consider—Financial issues? Social appropriateness? Political connections? Organizational or group norms? Future or current risk? Potential benefits?
- What kinds of diversity confuse the issues in your system—Different needs for different people? Multiple options for selection? Varying opinions of those around you?
- What was the history or baggage you and/or others brought to this decision—Negative past experiences? Unclear objectives or outcomes? Competing hopes? Competing fears?
Consider society-wide conversations and disagreements about ethics in communities of all types. So much rides on each decision, and factors involved in each decision are so different from the last. How do you know what is “ethical” at any given moment? How do you make ethical choices when you cannot control or predict the impact a choice might have on you, your community, or your world? How do you work with others in your sphere to make decisions that make sense? How do you judge the ethics of decisions that are made by elected or appointed officials when there is so much partisan noise in the system?
Human systems dynamics (HSD) offers a path for making choices that consider the complexity of your world. It recognizes that determining the ethical nature of a decision is not about some external set of standards. It is, rather, how a decision contributes to the functioning of the entire system, as well as the individual parts and people who make up that system. It is about creating sustainable and coherent patterns of interaction and thought.
In this HSD Adaptive Action Lab, bring your toughest ethical challenge. Use HSD to find a choice that contributes to fully functioning, coherent systems in all areas of your life. In this lab you will use HSD-based models and methods to explore the underlying complexity that makes some decisions so difficult. You will leave with tools you can use immediately and into the future to make sense of questions you and others face as you live, work, and play together in the 21st century.
Faculty & Coaches
Jennifer Jones-Patulli works with private and public organizations to facilitate constructive conflict and influence positive change. Jennifer helps organizations establish flexible conditions, within a solid framework, to confidently adapt to ongoing change.
As a skilled facilitator, mediator, and coach, Jennifer brings over a decade of practice in conflict resolution and application of conflict theory into her work with the Human Systems Dynamics Institute. Using human systems dynamics Models and Methods, Jennifer designs and delivers tailored approaches to support groups through complex challenges. Her work helps groups and individuals let go of non-productive ways of behaving, and brings them to a place of creativity.
Jennifer’s approach is innovative and creative. She believes that complex challenges require an adaptive, interdisciplinary approach to achieve lasting results.
Royce Holladay has been working to support people as they navigate change for over 30 years. With a Masters degree in counseling, she began learning about the dynamics of personal change and has been using those skills in multiple areas of her work and personal life since that time. She has worked with individuals of all ages, supporting them to find their own path through the challenges of their complex lives. Over the past decade, Royce has co-authored five books based on Human Systems Dynamics. Her most recent books are a series of brief guides designed to help people apply HSD principles to specific areas of work in human systems. Examples include coaching, instructional design, and facilitation.
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