Complex or wicked problems like climate change need to be addressed by “search consortia” with broad stakeholder representation. This seems to be the kind of leadership that the Climate Ready Academy is calling for. But I don’t think leaders are in the zone where they might give this serious thought…..yet. Traditional competitive dynamics around advantage are too embedded in our norms and processes. How would such groupings be convened? Who is inside and who is outside the consortium? How would incentives be aligned? Who would be the sponsor? And there are many more questions….
Complex or wicked problems like climate change need to be addressed by “search consortia” with broad stakeholder representation. This seems to be the kind of leadership that the Climate Ready Academy is calling for. But I don’t think leaders are in the zone where they might give this serious thought…..yet. Traditional competitive dynamics around advantage are too embedded in our norms and processes. How would such groupings be convened? Who is inside and who is outside the consortium? How would incentives be aligned? Who would be the sponsor? And there are many more questions….
So what do we do? I think we need to be much more honest, humble, experimental and attuned to reality. From local to global our governance systems need a radical overhaul – to become more real-time, more responsive and more caring of who we really are. It is beyond my humble imagination to picture it but it feels radical. I believe we urgently need to lean into it. Just take the first step and let the work teach us...
Complex or wicked problems like climate change need to be addressed by “search consortia” with broad stakeholder representation. This seems to be the kind of leadership that the Climate Ready Academy is calling for. But I don’t think leaders are in the zone where they might give this serious thought…..yet. Traditional competitive dynamics around advantage are too embedded in our norms and processes. How would such groupings be convened? Who is inside and who is outside the consortium? How would incentives be aligned? Who would be the sponsor? And there are many more questions….
So what do we do? I think we need to be much more honest, humble, experimental and attuned to reality. From local to global our governance systems need a radical overhaul – to become more real-time, more responsive and more caring of who we really are. It is beyond my humble imagination to picture it but it feels radical. I believe we urgently need to lean into it. Just take the first step and let the work teach us...
And yet we know that an organisation, a community or a sector that wants to learn and find new solutions has to be willing to look at the information that disconfirms its past beliefs and practices. Communities, organisations or sectors that want to stay vital must search out surprise, look for what is startling, uncomfortable and possibly even shocking.
This conflict was reflected in the Forum’s call for more collaboration and more whole-of-society engagement. The conflicting perspectives and values need to be rebalanced or integrated. Focusing on rebalancing requires a shift in power dynamics – and feels like a battle. Focusing on integration requires better thinking and the capacity to see more comprehensively. And that requires hard work! However, integration is the sustainable way forward.
