The Interventions Insights

A  reinforcing loop  is one in which an activity creates an outcome that impacts business as usual activity in this manner bringing about development or decay. The reinforcing loop is one of the two basic structures of systems thinking, the other being the Balancing Loop.  Because of the manner in which this structure reinforces itself it generally produces exponential growth or decline. This exponential change may be unnoticeable for a period of time until it reaches a certain threshold. The structure then seems to change very rapidly causing one to wonder how it began all at once, when in fact it really didn't. The growth just wasn't substantial enough to be noticed. A  balancing loop  tries to move things from the current state (the way things are) to the desired state (goal or objective) through some action (whatever is done to reach the goal). A balancing loop is representative of any situation where there is a goa...

Systems Thinking: What does it involve? It's essential to recall that the expression "systems thinking" can mean various things to various individuals. The order of systems thinking is something beyond a gathering of instruments and strategies – it's likewise a hidden way of thinking. Systems thinking is additionally an affectability to the roundabout idea of the world we live in; attention to the job of structure in making the conditions we face; an acknowledgment that there are amazing laws of systems working that we are uninformed of; an acknowledgment that there are outcomes to our activities that we are absent to.  Systems thinking is additionally a demonstrative instrument. As in the therapeutic field, successful treatment pursues careful determination. In this sense, systems thinking is a trained methodology for looking at issues all the more totally and precisely before acting. It enables us to pose better inquiries before forming a hasty opinion. ...

In the last article, we discussed the situation of acquisition of Alstom by GE and analyzed the reasons for its failure. Here we will continue with our discussion by analyzing possible models of Large System Intervention in the context of the above-mentioned acquisition.  But before we delve into the hypothetical analysis, It would be interesting to have a look at the intervention that was led by Jack Welch (most prominent Ex-CEO of GE) in the early 1980s. After a period of corporate restructuring, retaining businesses which will be profitable and letting go of unproductive ones, Welch understood that the slash and burn technique won't be enough. "Work-out" was created by Welch’s insistence where the Front line sales who were the drivers of change would be empowered to make decisions and their bosses will align themselves to it.  Work-out was launched in large-scale setoff with the help of few facilitators, HR folks and top management. The process was s...

What do you mean by World Cafe? World Café provides a lived experience of participating in a dynamic network of conversations that continually coevolve as we explore questions that matter with family, friends, colleagues, and community. The metaphor of the “World as Café,” helps us notice these often-invisible webs of dialogue and personal relationships that enable us to learn, create shared purpose, and shape life-affirming futures together. (Brown, Homer & Isaacs, 2005) The cross-pollination of perspectives that results is one of the trademarks of the  World Café. A series of progressive discussion engages people in a constructive way. People build onto their ideas. Latent and collective knowledge becomes visible. Group wisdom emerges. A developing feeling of the bigger whole changes how members see themselves and their connections. Collective intelligence develops and evolves, and creative conceivable outcomes for activity are put forth.  Old wine in a new ...

As a class after deep diving into the world of LSI , getting a holistic view on the tools used, the approaches to be followed and the major aspects to be taken into consideration what remains of major importance now is looking at the different setups wherein LSI can be used. LSI involves large scale changes but covers all 4 areas of intervention most likely - Individual, Group, Organisation and Systems Level. It is indeed very interesting to see that apart from the usual Business Context, where all can we use the different approaches of LSI. LSI is used on every continent, in many different cultures and sectors. The following are some examples of applications in specific sectors: Business The complete redesign of a product line in sixteen hours: from raw materials to the showroom floor, using Future Search;  Strategy development involving clients and suppliers Integration of cultures following a merger of any size Addressing quality, safety and productivity...

It’s true that companies spend a lot on large system change interventions; this makes it very crucial that companies are able to measure the added value. Companies always need to know if they are getting return on investment; even if we are getting ROI how can we calculate it? One of the reasons that ROI can be particularly difficult to calculate is the different factors that impact an intervention. These factors can be time and quality but are not essentially quantity and money therefore is difficult to put into a basic equation of: output / input equals productivity (output/input = value). Real problem here is that if we consider that if money as input, output will be money too. However this is not always the case in terms of large system change intervention. So how do we measure an impact which can be expressed as currency value? Calculating the full financial ROI of Large System interventions has been elusive resulting in undermining the perceived credibility of large syst...

In light of the developments around the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance – including the controversies and allegations around its iconic leadership –  several relevant observations emerge for other strategic alliances. Readdressing mutual strategic dependency In Renault-Nissan’s case, the strategic goals of the two partners were divergent from the start. Nissan required emergency surgery, which it received with Carlos Ghosn’s Nissan Revival Plan, while Renault wanted access to the Asian growth markets where Nissan was already well entrenched. These goals do not add up to a recipe for long-term harmony. Indeed, Renault’s response to a strengthen Nissan becoming the larger of the two companies was to reinforce its own power position within the alliance. Transitioning to alliance leadership In the early days of the alliance, Carlos Ghosn clearly understood how to translate the differences and gaps between Renault and Nissan into highly successful  management practice...

In my last blog, I shared my journey of using FutureSearch to create a New vision for i labs at TISS. In this blog, I share the journey of co-creating an LSI for a social sector organization in Kolhapur, Maharashtra. Part 2: How World cafe Transformed an NGO in Kolhapur Two months after we conducted the i labs visioning exercise, One of the core members of i labs, who is a student of Livelihoods and Social Entrepreneurship- Social Work went to Kolhapur for her Rural Practicum. It was a one-month stint with an NGO in Kolhapur that works with farmers in areas of livelihoods, health and education. The NGO was a 15 Member team, of which three were founding members- The Director, Secretary and Treasurer. The other twelve were employees of the organization who had spent between one to seven years with the organization. During the stint with the organization, the TISS students noticed several dysfunctional elements in the team- there was no clarity of the direction in wh...

HABITS, PROCESSES AND ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE Organisations run on processes and habits, not just a few but hundreds and thousands of them put in place by the managers for smooth functioning at some time.   These could be referred to and has come to be recognised as the corporate culture. Habits form a large form of corporate culture but the entirety cannot be defined by it. However, the habits, routines are in fact processes in practice, outnumbering the actual no. of processes. Therefore, if we talk about improvement, then it should be our endeavour to bring in continuous improvement by changing both the habits as well as processes. Gradual and continuous improvement and bringing about change in both the processes and habits is what pertains to LEAN Movement. Lean implies continuous improvement. Lean Process Improvement is the process of continually reviewing a process identifying waste or areas in a process map that can be improved. It is an on-going feedback process of ...

I was first introduced to Large System interventions through a course in my Masters program at TISS. I was very fascinated by the idea of creating solutions for complex systems using group wisdom. Over the course of my next three months of the semester, I actually put my theoretical knowledge of LSI to practice. Here's an excerpt of my experiments with LSI! Part 1: Envisioning a future for i labs using Future Search i labs is a student-led platform that promotes the spirit of entrepreneurship at TISS Mumbai. Founded by three TISSians- Ajay (HRM), Priya (LSE-SW) and myself, Chaitanya (ODCL) in January 2019, i labs had come a long way from being just a series of entrepreneurship talks. In June 2019, we conducted impactathon- a competition for Juniors on campus to create solutions for real-world problem. After celebrating the overwhelming success, reality hit the three of us- We had just 9 Months left on campus. This also meant that what we created as i labs would ...