What we do
We help organisations make a better world, by using learning and design to change systems.
Our clients recognise us for …
Learning and Evaluation
How do you know your work is working?
How can you turn your stories into evidence?
How does your organisation learn best?
How do you know if you’re measuring the right things?
We co-create learning partnerships that prove the impact organisations are having, using measurement, evaluation, and learning to weave stories and data into compelling evidence.
We work with you to:
describe the changes you want to see in the world
design measures to tell you if you’re on the right track
reveal successes and tell you why they happened
support you in becoming a learning organisation
So you can have the greatest impact, on the greatest number
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Learning is most valuable when it’s always happening because, in a constantly changing world, adapting your work to fit the new normal is always a work in progress
Evaluation done with integrity is the best predictor of better solutions for your mission, and the people you exist to serve
A learning culture is the best early-warning-system for things that aren’t working, and the best way to avoid trouble
Learning needs to be shared if it is going to shape practice and shift systems
Strategy and Design
In an uncertain world, how do you know which direction to take?
How do you design your mission? your model? your money?
How do you choose the right things to do?
How can you capture people’s imagination, inspire them to listen, to join you, to back you?
We facilitate organisational design and strategy, helping you look in the mirror at yourselves, and through the window at the world. We use business modelling, organisational personality testing, governance design, and market analysis, to reveal the world and help you find your unique place in it
We work with you to:
spot patterns and translate trends, to help you see a way ahead
create scenarios, to help you choose and check your strategy
help you find your voice to tell a compelling story
co-design your plans and your processes to match your purpose
So you can be in the right shape, and do the right things for the people you serve
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In the social sector, organisations typically exist to make a difference, not make a fortune. That takes a special kind of strategy and design
In an unpredictable world with its unknown territory, strategy is a quest for agility not certainty. Requiring a compass not a map
Money can bend an organisation out of shape – designing a strategy to avoid this will help avoid mission drift
In a world of doing, creating space for thinking about strategy and design is essential.
People and Organisations
How can you cultivate the right culture in your organisation?
How do you make structures and processes more human?
How can you find the right people, and help them to be who they are?
How do you lead a purpose-driven organisation in today’s world?
We help create people first organisations, cultures, structures, and teams. We use psychology, behavioural science, and human-centred design, to equip organisations to deliver on their missions
We work with you to:
evaluate and re-imagine cultures
design people-centred structures and processes
develop and support leaders
reduce conflict and build collaborative teams
So you can do you, but better!
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Organisations cannot be what their people are not. Values matter. An organisation becomes the shape of its people
If you want to support and lead others, you need to start with you
As well as working in our organisations, working on our organisations is the number one predictor of how well we will deliver our missions
We are a social species and, in the social sector, social organisations do best. Relationships and collaboration matter, internally and externally. All of us is smarter than any of us
Systems Change
How do you see the system you want to change?
If the system is broken, how do you tell a story of hope?
How do you shift the conditions holding the problems in place?
How do you change the system for a better world?
We help you change the systems that harm the people you serve; supporting you to move from repairing people and the planet when they’re already damaged, to preventing the damage in the first place.
We work with you to:
map systems, helping you see where to intervene to greatest effect
reveal what is stuck, so your work can release maximum change
define compelling future systems, and find the shortest path to get everyone there
build networks that change systems faster by changing them together
So you can de-code systems, and change them for good
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Human systems are not laws of nature. We built them. We can rebuild them
People are in the system, and people are the system. People are not the enemy, faulty incentives are
Hope is a discipline. Broken systems can push people towards harm, a positive version can pull people towards hope
We can’t change a system on our own. Connectivity to others matters as much as the activity we create