WORKSHOP SERIES #1/7
Perin Ruttonsha
This series of 45-minute workshops examines the balancing act that is implicit in global sustainability transition, organised around the following seven themes: (1) order in chaos; (2) reductionism reconciled; (3) parallel worlds; (4) power and vulnerability; (5) shadows and archetypes; (6) relational well-being; and, (7) fierce and quiet kinds of love.
One of the greatest challenges of facilitating global sustainability transition is attempting to implement fundamental, transformative systems change, across multiple sectors and scales, while also maintaining social, economic, political, and technological stability, therein. As well, complex global challenges continue to present novel conditions to which we must learn to respond, with speed, accuracy, and depth. Work in the fields of design thinking, social innovation, and sustainability transition have emphasised the urgency to facilitate comprehensive, cross-sectoral systems transformation, comprising a complete reinvention of business-as-usual. Meanwhile, resilience and complex systems thinking intimate that societies can only afford to cope with change within a limited range, or risk collapse. Notably, balancing between conditions of change and stability during processes of transition may also be reflected in how we navigate our roles of leadership and management, therein. Harvard thought leader John Paul Kotter articulated the distinctions between these two roles as pressing for change versus managing stability; visioning versus planning; aligning versus organising; motivating versus problem solving; and, inspiring versus controlling. He advised businesses to cultivate complementary capabilities, on both sides, to be more adept within a changing world—coupling compelling insight with pragmatic implementation. In this workshop, we will discuss how to balance among change and stability, when facilitating regenerative sustainability against the backdrop of complexity.