Systems Thinking: Measures by Andy Lipok

In discussing the concept of purpose we briefly explored how the wrong purpose can be reinforced by measures and targets that create further distance between meeting the true purpose for the customer. Even worse, measures and targets themselves can become the default purpose of an organisation, pulling it in different directions and hiding the continued degradation of service in the eyes of the customer. To put it simply, measures can make performance worse!
It is often said that ‘you get what you measure’ as any metric you care to hold someone accountable for will drive us humans to further our scores against it, especially when livelihood is at stake. Traditional thinking sees measures and targets as motivational tools to encourage competition and further performance. The fundamental problem is they so often encourage the wrong behaviour to achieve the wrong goal. For example, the reason CEOs of the worlds biggest companies care so much about share value is because that’s how we measure them, and it’s what we pay them on. But a focus of our CEOs on share value leads, both strategically and operationally, to disastrous consequences for customers, staff and ironically, the share price and said CEO!
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Participation Now and Open University

Participation Now is a new project that aims to support the ongoing development and innovation of participatory public engagement initiatives. At a time when many established public organisations and forums are in crisis and many familiar forms of public belonging are being questioned, the number of problems we collectively face appears to be increasing. Partly in response to this situation, we are seeing a growth in the number and variety of participatory public engagement initiatives that attempt to address such problems. Read more…

Education and the State: A Digest

By the middle of the nineteenth century, a broad consensus existed among governing and middle classes in Europe and America over the necessity of some form of education for the masses. Disagreements raged over precisely how this education should be administered. In many countries, debates over church involvement retarded the organisation of public education. In others, serious conflicts over the precise nature of educational organization – whether it should be centrally or locally controlled, for instance – had a similar effect. Read more…

Podcast: Kate Gilliam talking about Guerilla Gardening

I see cityscapes as potential urban growing sites and opportunities to connect people with their environments again. Too often we trade in our connections to nature for an urban existence, but the need to engage on a basic level with our hands in the dirt is still present and so important to nourish. Furthermore, directly engaging in our environment gives us a sense of purpose and confidence that we have the right and the responsibility to positively change our situations.
Why shouldn’t we make community gardens where there is nothing but asphalt, and repurpose public space for community projects? Each person has a skill set and a perspective, and by demonstrating an ‘I can do it’ ethos, we can show others how they too can take the initiative and improve their physical environments for themselves, their neighbours, their kids and the city at large.
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How Feminism Found Me by Laura Mulcahy

Recently I was approached with the question ‘How and why did you become a feminist?’…

I have to be honest throughout most of my life I thought that feminism had died a death since its second wave and that (at least in the UK) men and women were seen and treated as equals. I thought there was no need to wave placards and get angry any more as we were in a really good position as opposed to others around the world. This is why I wasn’t a feminist. Oh how wrong was I!
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