Solving wicked problems in the workplace
Tim Dalmau and Jill Tideman
Tim Dalmau has worked for the last 33 years as a consultant to the public and private sectors. Jill Tideman has 25 years experience in facilitating sustainable change in public and private systems.
28 November (2.30pm – 5.30pm) including morning refreshments
ABOUT THE MASTER CLASS
Tim starts from the proposition that our success with solving problems depends in large measure on the type of thinking we use. Some thinking creates problems or makes them worse. Wicked problems share some characteristics which he outlines, and then the type of thinking that is most likely to help resolve them.
Groups of people, whether they are a married couple, a work group, a sports team, corporate organisation, state government or indeed a whole city fulfil the criteria of a complex adaptive system. Complex systems, of their nature, produce wicked problems. Traditional approaches and thinking often amplifies the problem, ironically often moving things closer to the edge of chaos.
This Master Class will help you understand that tools used to solve problems that are more understood and predictable are not appropriate to solving wicked problems inherent in the leadership and management of organizations and social systems.
You will walk away from this session:
- Experiencing the use of a tool/process suited to wicked problems
- Understanding the difference in thinking needed to successfully engage wicked problems
- Knowing how to engage with your own wicked problems in the workplace, community or home
This approach has worked with multi-national professional service firms, steel companies, city administrations, peace commissions, forest products companies, large multi-national resource companies, heavy manufacturing companies, pharmaceutical industry, police forces, women’s shelters, community organizations and government. The approach has been used to for diagnosis, planning, facilitation, facilitation design, mapping conversations, coaching, integrating and clarifying issues, and galvanizing and coalescing shared will.