Systemic Innovation: a discussion series

The heart and soul of systems innovation

Alister Scott and Neil Scotton, The One Leadership - 26.03.2013

As Professor Andy Stirling of SPRU at the University of Sussex has long pointed out, cries for "innovation" are too often uncritically uttered without any consideration of the crucial counterpart: "for what?".

It is surprising see how discussions about systems innovation seem to be for systems innovation for its own sake - there is little mention of what we want those systems to do.

So we get systems that attempt to maximise outputs. But lose humanity, are not sustainable, or don't pay attention to inter-connections with wider aims, the long game or the bigger picture. 

We see it in the health system - compliance at the expense of compassion.

We see it in the financial system - clever financial instruments that end up bringing volatility.

We see it in the food system - obesity and hunger in equal abundance.

Part of the problem seems to be that "objective" commentators fear that any discussion about outcomes will rapidly become political. Yet it's not as if there they aren't some high-level goals that reasonable people can agree on in the above examples - compassion, stability, health. 

So how are systems transformed? At its most fundamental, it's worth remembering that systems do not transform themselves - people do. So to transform a system, people have to want it, have to work to make it happen, have to care.

One such catalyst for change is Andy Bradley, winner of one of the 2012 Nesta Britain's New Radicals awards and founder of Frameworks4Change, which works to bring about cultures in care settings that are consistently kind (for further details see Andy's TEDx Brighton talk at www.enablingcatalysts.com).

At the heart of any effort to do transform a system must be a good why. And that 'why' should touch our hearts, and not simply be an adolescent desire for control, power, self-gain, cheap-for-the-masses, something 'new and shiny' and other aims that are ultimately based on insecurities of various kinds. As we grow up as a race we can take a more mature approach to how we want the systems we build to serve us.

Instead, all too often in these debates we see a weary, postmodern dissembling - the active search for reasons not to act. This goes beyond "avoid" (too difficult) or more simply "freeze" (too complex for me to cope with). Such dissembling - for example the religion around avoiding picking winners - may help us feel sophisticated but ultimately it does not serve. We should get on with the business of driving systems innovation for the greater good - on current trends, it seems likely that the future of humanity depends on it.

We therefore suggest that those involved in these debates consider the need for a healthy balancing of:

• activity with purpose - a compelling shared vision provides the "why" - essential especially when things become difficult
• technology with care - so that we put our knowledge to good use, a pragmatic form of knowledge born of public service that Aristotle called "phronesis" in contrast to "techne" (technical knowledge) and "episteme" (abstract, theoretical knowledge)
• innovation with leadership, so that we don't just seek change for change's sake, or the narrow interests of the few, but harness it for the greater good with courage, commitment and a generous spirit.

In short, it's about getting our wonderful brains working in harmony with heart. And a bit of soul.

About the authors

Alister Scott and Neil Scotton are co-Founders of The One Leadership Project www.enablingcatalysts.com, Twitter: @OneLeadership

Dr Alister Scott is also Visiting Fellow at SPRU, University of Sussex. He has worked on many aspects of systems change for the greater good in the fields of energy, finance, risk and new technologies, public perceptions, expert systems and in the care sector. 

Neil Scotton is also Director of Coaching Professionals. 20 years ago, Neil led systems change for the triple bottom line in an engineering environment. More recently he has led transformational change at the International Coach Federation when he was its UK President. Both of these won Neil global awards in two different professions. 

(The views in this blog are the author's own and not necessarily those of Nesta)