Overview:

As an Organisation Development (OD) and Leadership Development (LD) practitioner, you are frequently challenged to implement realistic and practical concepts and frameworks for organisational success. With the concept of Systems Leadership, you will acquire the necessary knowledge and skills to lead organisational intervention more effectively for business success in a complex world.

This masterclass programme will provide you with broader knowledge and help gain insights to engage key stakeholders with a systemic change perspective and address complex issues of mutual concern for shared purpose.

Programme Outline:

• Foundations of systems leadership – Core Capabilities, Role and Impact of the Systems Leader
• To become aware of one’s life purpose and contribution as a systems leader
• Learn what it takes to build shared vision with internal and external stakeholders
• Apply collective learning tools and skills to help others surface assumptions deepen thinking
• Apply systems thinking tools to gain fresh perspectives on seemingly intractable problems and begin the process of identifying more fundamental solutions
• Seeing and Shifting systems through systems thinking tools and frameworks such as the Levels of Perspectives and causal loop diagrams
• Apply coaching and inquiry to help others surface assumptions deepen thinking
• Process facilitation skills for improving the quality of collective thinking and conversations

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of the course, participants should:

• Understand Systems Leader’s role to influence and impact key stakeholders
• Develop personal mastery to manage structural tension creatively for success
• Understand the difference between building a shared vision versus writing a visionary statement
• Apply team-learning tools and facilitation skills to construct generative conversations at the workplace
• Develop leadership skills and capabilities to apply systems thinking tools for seeing the larger system and co-create systemic solutions to complex problems
• Learn tools and techniques to harness the team’s collective intelligence through deep listening and facilitation

Who Should Attend:

• All business leaders
• Senior Management
• Organisation Development (OD) and Leadership Development (LD) practitioners in Public Service
• Private and Social sectors

Overview

The shifting business and customer landscape has accentuated the need for organisations to be adaptive and agile. This 2 – 5 day programme will allow you to look at systemic structures and gain deeper insights into the complexity of organisation systems, to generate conversations and work out solutions as a group. Ultimately, the programme provides you with a set of tools where you will relearn and reframe knowledge and perspectives to handle VUCAH world challenges.

Programme Outline

1. Coalition Building through Generative Conversations Across Boundaries
2. Co-Creating the Future through Collaborative Leadership Skills
3. Gaining Insights into the Complexities of the Larger System

Overview

The Master Practitioner Certification focuses on the advanced application of Systems Thinking, Mapping and/or Leadership to a project of your interest.

Participants are expected to produce an original contribution to our understanding of these ideas but in a manner that leads to a tangible work product that is directly relevant to them. Some examples of final projects include:

1. Establishing a new non-profit that integrates different approaches to patient management and empowers patients and their families to be better advocates during health crises
2. Creating a set of “micro-credentials” related to systems thinking and leadership for widespread use
3. Examining and articulating a new way to teach the obeya process (related to lean management) using VMCL
4. Creating a new curriculum using Systems Thinking to teach Economic Analyses better

STML900 requires you to commit to two meetings a month – one of which is with Drs Cabrera to focus on your specific project and another with your cohort group for peer input and some additional materials to discuss as needed. With intensive feedback and guidance, the Black Belt takes 6-12 months to complete and is mainly self-paced and driven by you.

Learning Objectives

1. Has demonstrated mastery in concepts taught in prerequisite coursework.
2. Engaged with and created a community in the Systems Thinking Daily Network;
   1. Mentored at least 2 people in STDaily, cohort, or in the candidate’s organization, and
   2. Moderated or Hosted an ST Daily Group.
3. Demonstrated mastery of application of Systems Thinking, Systems Mapping, Systems Leadership in a real world scenario;
4. Developed an implementation plan (VMCL) for their work as a Certified Leader showing how they will make the world a better place.
5. Made an “original and significant contribution” to Systems Thinking, Systems Mapping, and/or Systems Leadership as judged by STML cohort and faculty.
6. Demonstrated mastery in two live question and answer ‘exams’ (A and B) with cohort and faculty.
7. Optional: Completed a challenge as identified by a panel of Certified Leaders that focused on candidates’ perceived weakness areas for consideration to be faculty at CRL.

Founding Faculty Bio

Derek Cabrera (PhD, Cornell) is an internationally known systems scientist who, in 2021, was inducted as a Member of the International Academy for Systems and Cybernetic Sciences for outstanding contributions to the field. Derek serves on the faculty of Cornell University, is Faculty Director for the Graduate Certification Program in Systems Thinking, Modeling, and Leadership (STML) and is a senior scientist at Cabrera Research Lab. He was Co-Founder and Chief Science Officer of Plectica (since sold to Frameable), where he invented several software applications.

Laura Cabrera (B.S., M.P.A, & PhD, Cornell) currently teaches Systems Thinking and Modelling and Systems Leadership at Cornell University at the Institute for Policy Affairs. She is also the Program Director for Cornell’s Graduate Certification Program in Systems Thinking, Modelling, and Leadership (STML). Cabrera serves as faculty for the SC Johnson College of Business, where she delivers Executive Education Programs to executive teams. She is co-founder and chief research officer at Cabrera Research Lab and was Co-Founder and Chief Research Officer of Plectica (now Frameable).

Overview

The Advanced Practitioner Certification (STML 500) is a highly interactive, hands-on, and cohort-based programme that offers advanced applications of all of the concepts taught in Systems Thinking (ST101), Systems Mapping (SM201) and Systems Leadership (SL301).

You can learn from and leverage shared expertise from experts and a community of peers. In addition, completion of the course provides access to free resources, including slide decks you can adapt, and ongoing support as needed.

Through this programme, you will deepen your knowledge and be empowered to apply systems thinking, mapping and leadership to your context in your organisation.

Programme Outline:

1. Apply all of the ST101, SM201 and SL301 “Can Dos” to your personal and/or professional life.
2. Facilitate and motivate the application of Systems Thinking, Systems Mapping, Systems Leadership with your colleagues or in your organisation or context.
3. Strategise and plan implementation of Systems Thinking, Systems Mapping and Systems Leadership with your colleagues or in your organisation or context.
4. Clearly communicate and present through different forms (i.e., spontaneous vs. planned; different audiences with different problems; different delivery formats and lengths; and using an array of mediums) to your colleagues or in your organization or context.

At the end of the programme, you should be able to:

• Deepen your knowledge and build skills for leading systems thinking efforts and training in your organisation
• Learn from experts and a community of peers
• Apply Systems Thinking, Systems Mapping, and Systems Leadership to your context

Founding Faculty Bio

Derek Cabrera (PhD, Cornell) is an internationally known systems scientist who, in 2021, was inducted as a Member of the International Academy for Systems and Cybernetic Sciences for outstanding contributions to the field. Derek serves on the faculty of Cornell University, is Faculty Director for the Graduate Certification Program in Systems Thinking, Modeling, and Leadership (STML) and is a senior scientist at Cabrera Research Lab. He was Co-Founder and Chief Science Officer of Plectica (since sold to Frameable), where he invented several software applications.

Laura Cabrera (B.S., M.P.A, & PhD, Cornell) currently teaches Systems Thinking and Modelling and Systems Leadership at Cornell University at the Institute for Policy Affairs. She is also the Program Director for Cornell’s Graduate Certification Program in Systems Thinking, Modelling, and Leadership (STML). Cabrera serves as faculty for the SC Johnson College of Business, where she delivers Executive Education Programs to executive teams. She is co-founder and chief research officer at Cabrera Research Lab and was Co-Founder and Chief Research Officer of Plectica (now Frameable).

Overview

This programme introduces the practical application of ‘Systems Thinking (ST101)’ and ‘Systems Mapping (SM201)’ to help leaders build an organisational culture where systems leadership and collaborative working flourish.

SL301 is a self-paced online course that covers the specific skills and steps required to design, manage, and lead adaptive organisations and bring about cultural change. Participants will learn how to build an effective vision, mission, capacity map, and learning systems to maximise the productivity and culture of their organisations. Learn the systems approach to change management.

Learning Objectives

• Use Systems Leadership to design, align, and lead an adaptive learning organisation
• Diagnose Plan, Command, Control, and Utilise (PCCU) organisational design thinking errors, and differentiate PCCU from Systems Leadership.
• Use checks to analyse implicit-POSIWID (i.e., “The purpose of a system is what it does”) Vision and implicit-Complex Adaptive System mission of existing organisation
• Use checks to design a new vision and mission
• Analyse system behaviour to identify system structure failures
• Map Capacital Systems of all kinds (CapMap)
• Map and evolve mental models of any complexity using the Systems Thinking Loop and DSRP.
• Differentiate and relate Individual and Organisational Learning, Culture, and Mental Models in real-world scenarios
• Demonstrate fractal use of Systems Leadership across scale
• Reify cultural mental models (e.g., through chachkis, symbols, branding, practices, metaphors, incentives, and stories)
• Model a scenario where a mental model is enculturated partially
• Facilitate organisational change with the Culture-Building Graph

At the end of the programme, you should be able to

• Apply a systems approach to change management
• Build effective vision, mission, capacity and learning systems
• Create a culture that is built on shared mental models
• Manage and lead an adaptive organisation