Narrate

We spent last week working on a new narrative research framework using SenseMaker® with a new client – a quick snapshot of the organisation ahead of a big leadership and organisational design event in a month’s time. The week started with a workshop to explore the issue and the potential angles for the SenseMaker® triads, dyads, […]

With spaces filling up, just a quick reminder – if you’re thinking about coming to our extended exploration of complexity in development, the Early Bird discount closes in a few days on 30th June 2018. For details of the course, there’s this blog and this brochure. Early Bird discount means almost £700 per head for groups […]

For decision-makers and policy experts in aid and development, complexity in development has become a critical factor.  It is both an opportunity for new approaches to old problems and a threat as standard approaches reach the limits of their effectiveness and efficacy.  With that in mind, Narrate and Mesopartner have joined forces to offer a […]

I woke to the radio at 7am. My first thought as they read the news headlines was “I must have misheard that,” then as the slightly-longer version kicked in I realised that I hadn’t. It was 24th June 2016. The day after the UK referendum on staying in Europe. The close vote was “51.89% of […]

I’ve realised that site changes mean that one of the best case studies of using SenseMaker® in field has disappeared from both the Cognitive Edge and GirlEffect websites.  I was lucky enough to work alongside both the authors – in Rwanda and to a lesser extent in Ethiopia – on these brilliant projects.  If you’re looking for […]

If you’re thinking of running a SenseMaker project – I’d strongly recommend reading these first. In recent years, the Narrate team has been working closely with UNDP staff on SenseMaker projects across Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East. UNDP staff regularly blogged about their experience of using SenseMaker in field on the UNDP website, but […]

NetIKX: Working In Complexity Just announced in the past week, a variety of opportunities to learn more about complexity, Cynefin and SenseMaker®. I’ll be in London on 7th March from 2pm running a session for NetIKX – all welcome. It’ll be a mix of theory and exercises, along with the obligatory side stories and examples. […]

This week, Tony joined fellow complexity explorer Marcus Jenal for a webinar hosted by Laurie Webster for Cognitive Edge.  Looking at social change, both presenters talked about recent experiences of using SenseMaker to explore social and attitudinal change.  The webinar was recorded and is available for watching at Cognitive Edge’s Wistia site here. Tony’s slides are […]

I’ve just finished Tim Harford‘s excellent Messy (paperback just out) alongside Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa‘s The Leopard and both have thrown up examples of phrases that brought a smile to my face and, along with an example from a conference earlier this year, highlight one of my concerns about automatic forms of text analysis. To be […]

Tomorrow, I (Tony) am running a workshop on narrative in Leeds at the LGComms conference – looking forward to seeing some familiar faces and returning to a theme that I haven’t touched on in a few years.  And in preparing today, I came across this blogpost from five years ago – which while relevant to […]