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Friday 10 of October, 2008
What is it all about?
Group Partners changes the way its Clients think and work.
Our Clients are the Leaders of large, typically multi-national businesses or government agencies. They are thinking about tough things, their position, their performance, their future, it's complex. See Acceleration
They are aiming to improve their business fast and they want to make the best decisions about how to get there - fast. They need objectivity, expertise and support in this.
We have developed an inspiring way to help them. See The Mission
Hard - Complex - Wicked
'Defining characteristics of any ‘hard’ problem stated by clients' with thanks to Bob Horn.
- Given a typical problem statement it is likely that there is no unique or correct view of the problem. There are many principles, rules and attributes of complex problems. Here are just some facets of the complexity that needs dealing with.
- Different views of the problem by differing constituencies and therefore contradictory opinions about the solutions
- Problems are connected to other problems and unraveling them compounded by the defensiveness of their ‘owners’
- Data are often uncertain, defended by guardians and historic owners or plain missing
- Multiple value conflicts and geographic differences, standards and expectations
- Ideological, Cultural, Political and Economic constraints, legislation and standards
- Numerous possible intervention points that could each be argued and may well be
- Consequences of alternative scenarios are difficult to imagine and subjectivity and opinion rife
- Considerable uncertainty, ambiguity at times of dynamic change
- Great resistance to change is always present
Not every issue as a ‘wicked’ one - for the record these are the defining characteristics of a ‘wicked’ problem:
Wikipedia suggests that Horst Rittel and Melvin Webbers formulation of wicked problems specifies ten characteristics, perhaps best considered in the context of social policy planning.
- There is no definitive formulation of a wicked problem.
- Wicked problems have no stopping rule.
- Solutions to wicked problems are not true-or-false, but better or worse.
- There is no immediate and no ultimate test of a solution to a wicked problem.
- Every solution to a wicked problem is a "one-shot operation"; because there is no opportunity to learn by trial-and-error, every attempt counts significantly.
- Wicked problems do not have an enumerable (or an exhaustively describable) set of potential solutions, nor is there a well-described set of permissible operations that may be incorporated into the plan.
- Every wicked problem is essentially unique.
- Every wicked problem can be considered to be a symptom of another problem.
- The existence of a discrepancy representing a wicked problem can be explained in numerous ways. * * The choice of explanation determines the nature of the problem's resolution.
- The planner has no right to be wrong (planners are liable for the consequences of the actions they generate).
Our Approach
Typically a phased program but that always prepares us for success, engages the right people in a highly engaging way, works out the problem from an intelligent and thoughtful perspective and creates a sustainable outcome.
Group Partners works with exclusively with hard – complex - wicked problems and has learned many lessons dealing with them. We have figured out how to ‘engage’ with these types of problems. We are people who actually ‘live’ the problem through a process (a method) that goes simply by the name 4D™ - that is -
- Discovering what could be done
- Developing what should be done
- Deciding what will be done, and...
- Deploying, for the long run, what has been agreed.
We have infused an intuitively obvious process within an approach called Structured Visual Thinking™ (SVT) We have combined powerful process, framework, tools, and practices, with visual, visceral and visualizing experiences and ‘user interfaces’. We have developed methodologies for provoking and capturing deep thinking, so that hard, complex or wicked problems might yield enough of their essence that we can solve them.
Most importantly, the combination of right-brain and left-brain approaches both appeals to the folks who like one vs. the other, while forcing them not to get stuck in what’s familiar and safe. We believe this is a significant insight into ‘solving’ government and multiple stakeholder issues and opportunities.
Group Partners has built up quite a reputation for doing what seems almost counter intuitive: speeding the time it takes to get to decision while increasing the quality of thinking and rigor while making the whole of it easier to understand. Say that in plain English: better decisions, quicker, with more buy-in, fewer meetings, and better results. Working on hard problems. Working on complex problems. Working on wicked problems.
Put yet another way this is about intelligence and design applied to hard problems.
Group Partners role
We work with partners to bring about change in global initiatives. Group Partners experience brings unique resources, proven tools and dedicated techniques to deal with many issues and opportunities.
Through our tools we aim to ‘engineer’ the best possible outcome in the face of extreme conditions. Most if not all complex projects are made up of multiple initiatives, disparate objectives and varied opinions. Most attempts to manage them succeed or fail at the point of consideration and set up. They often fail because of insufficient engagement by those who need to understand, engage and deliver, lack of clarity and definition of the vision and plan or inappropriate strategy in the first place that gets quickly uncovered.
Attacking the problem with the following weapons
- Collaboration with multiple stakeholders to address varied needs
- Visualisation techniques that create simplicity, transparency and understanding
- Context and Frameworks that force new thinking and then tell better stories
- Experience in decision quality and the ability to analyze through the critical uncertainties
- Acceleration techniques brought about by rigorous and proven structures
- Innovation Lounge as a physical place to structure and contain the work
We know that dealing with complex problems across multiple stakeholder groups requires a substantive and thoughtful approach. We have designed an approach that is fundamentally co-creative. We firmly believe and have proven (in over 2300 assignments) that structures and frameworks - creativity and visualization - facilitation and analytics all need to be applied to resolve complex issues.
Complex problems range from hard to wicked. Wicked problems are those that require more than just a few resources thrown at it to to figure it out. The bigger and more wicked any problem gets, the less it lends itself to top-down, fundamentally analytical approaches. This is true of all species of problems.
While wicked problems, and even just hard problems, are quite visible at the macro level – political change, the unintended consequences of legacy systems, new geographies opening up, dramatic need to control costs in the public interest, increasing customer expectation, that sort of thing - the texture of the thing at ground level almost always reveals a richer picture requiring new and different ways of thinking.
It’s here that we can create magic and win.
Impartiality in Outcomes
We have no vested interest in any specific outcome. We want to avoid resolving the wrong problem really well. We are dedicated to working on the team with the leadership, boards of directors and senior folk who aim to increase performance and be more effective.
We help our clients to understand for themselves the opportunity develop better outcomes. We co-create the right future through structured and inspiring tools and techniques that we designed when we were clients ourselves.
We have worked with over 2300 Clients on every imaginable type of business problem or opportunity and always aim to get breakthrough results.
The Playbook
What's It All About?
This pack explains how the 4D approach works and demonstrates the main frameworks. 4D is central to our philosophy of improving Efficiencies, Innovation, Complexity, Facilitation, Thinking, Pattern Recognition and Visualisation for our Clients.See Also 4D Explained
Get A Free Copy
If you would like a copy please contact Hazel Tiffany via email
Our clients are trying to solve complex issues. They will fall into the core areas addressed by our 'Playbook'
- Making the critical decisions - See Also Decision Manifesto
- Frameworks for Transformation and Change - See Also 4D™
- Alignment and Goal Congruence - Direction, Vision, Process and Systems - See Also Structured Visual Thinking™
- Future Scenario Development and Innovation across the enterprise - See Also Structured Visual Thinking™
- Strategic Design Sessions designed for Execution - See Also Genesis
- Visioning and Strategic Planning - See Also Structured Visual Thinking™
- Leadership Development
- Team Building
- Communication across multiple stakeholders
- Immersive Systems - See Also SVT Live™
The Tools
We bring people who are passionate about creativity, facilitation, innovation, expertise, best practice and insight to bear on complexity and we call it all Structured Visual Thinking™ and 4D™
Group Partners in 5 Minutes
For those of you in a rush please go straight to GP in 5 Minutes. If you want more context and are prepared to paddle about in what, why and how then continue to explore and click around below. See Also What Irked Us?
Why Business Needs A New Approach
Go to More Detail
If you would like further details about the Structured Visual Thinking™ 4D™ or Partnering with Group Partners please contact John Caswell. In the US contact Kevin Hoffberg
Why Business Needs New Tools
Business needs different tools to survive the daily pressures of time, competition, capacity to think and reason.
It's actually really frightening to contemplate the enormity of a task when faced with countless moving parts and so many of them out of our command. Every team member with a different perspective and contribution.
Having been in large global businesses all our lives we have witnessed the lack of best practice in teamwork, meetings; collaboration over strategy or value creation processes. We've noted a difficulty generally how we innovate; over how to think or team over everything we need to do to win and survive.
Whether it's a new strategy, a better experience for customers, a transformed culture or innovating new products or markets, the way it gets done is often massively ad hoc, time consuming and unrewarding for everyone involved.
Redefining Thinking
Over ten years ago now we set about rethinking business thinking. Redefining the way we might achieve improved performance and value but achieve it faster; more effectively and with significant focus on sustaining the outcomes; gain total ownership by the people at the heart - our clients.
Keywords in our thinking: Best Practice Principles, Facilitation. Pattern Recognition. Structured Visual Thinking, 4D, Clients, References, Information Design, 4D Deliverables, Approaches, Key Images, Expectation Setting, Technical Specifications.
Structured Visual Thinking™
These three words carry our vision and our mission at the same time as ensuring that in the process we avoid solving the wrong problem really well.
Structure has many forms - order, prioritisation, form or arrangement immediately spring to mind. We think in a structured way and bring an informal yet totally logical framework to support the clients assignment. We have designed a way of structuring - combining ideas, conversations and the value that resides there to help business design and promote new value.
Visual techniques have been used to excite and inspire humans for ever; in every walk of life; in every aspect of what we do. Interestingly it's not been common in the business world for the visual aspects of the thinking or strategic process until recently. We have pioneered unique tools and approaches that apply visual solutions to these areas of business. We do this to build real energy and understanding in real time. We want to generate that wow moment, the engagement and unlocking of passion in the process.
We create a real ownership of the outcome by unleashing the power of conversation. We do this through the visualization of important conversation and critical fact.
Thinking is a natural human act which is so indefinable and illusive without an embodiment of it that we could talk about it for months. We all observe many direct results of good or bad thinking every day. We see teams of individuals with different ideas and wildy conflicting opinions working to the same end. Our role is to alter the process and arrive at a more consistent and agreed set of ambitions with the best available insights welded together to an increased level and value.
Structured Visual Thinking™ is flexibly applied. Whilst we would prefer to always apply a Discovery component gain alignment and shared appreciation we also deliver bespoke programs to solve very specialist requirements and we have developed very specific frameworks for deliberate applications.
Unique is not a word we particularly aspire to but it does enable us to draw out some comparisons. In its own right unique might not suggest a specific value.
However.
- We have developed 4 phases of thinking using Structure Visual Thinking(tm) in order to solve business problems.
- We apply a specific algorithm to these frameworks known as The Business Equation
- Within these frameworks are a specific series of conversations within a set order and proven to elicit certain conclusions within a set amount of time.
- Within these conversations we have developed a way of developing the resoning through classes of questions and by applying a visual language.
- Our deliverable is multi-media and directly rooted in the language of the client or the task. We are not selling a methodology or consulting mantra.
- The outcomes are truly co-created scenarios of the clients own thinking.
- We will take existing content, scope and frame a suitable application of our approach in order to elicit what is important, what is desired and what is missing.
- We will inspire a team to greater heights by co-constructing a vision for how things can be and the way to get there.
- We will work in 'real-time' and remotely to recognize the flaws in an argument and the valuable patterns in the conversations so that the team builds an emergent value that didn't previously exist.
- We will systemise the outputs into immediately usable and reusable form.
- Our materials can be immediately be used. We have removed the need for lengthy iteration and reiteration by removing many semantic and subjective opinions right within the process itself.
- We will bring experts into the conversation from our Expert Network as required but not until we have understood the overall context in order that we all share in the big picture and we avoid solving the wrong problem really well.
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