Augmented or Complex Intelligence
The world is undergoing a profound shift. Government organisations, once the dominant force in organising human society, are being challenged by networking structures. The pressure is on to adapt to decentralised, digital communications that operate across boundaries. At the forefront of this force for transformation is VUCA. It requires the augmenting of individual intelligence with collective and artificial intelligence.
The articles below offer a new approach to leadership and coaching in government organisations. They explore and support dynamic systems thinking to make sense to help address a new era of VUCA challenges.
Learning to lead with stories
Stories reveal how people respect themselves and the arguments they use to tackle their personal challenges. Listening to people stories is a sign of respect. It fosters trust and mutual understanding. When stories are shared, they offer fresh insights and uncover different patterns of meaning
We collect and learn from other people’s wisdom and imagination. The stories help us understand how we can reframe our assessments to benefit our life and work. We open ourselves to alternative worldviews that we would otherwise be blind to.
Transforming the future of leadership
Augmented or complex intelligence has the potential to help organisations thrive in a world that will demand continuous technological change, human wisdom and collaborative working.
In tomorrow’s interconnected and uncertain environment, a new style of leadership will be needed, to learn and embed new skills to ‘navigate complex systems’. These systems will emerge without warning and require self-organising teams with an innovative and adaptive mindset.
Leading with augmented intelligence
Leaders are beginning to realise that in order to navigate VUCA challenges they need to connect up human, artificial and collective intelligences to thrive in complex adaptive systems. All three forms of intelligence are needed to find workable solutions to wicked challenges
The inclusion, wellbeing and relationship needs of humans in the workplace cannot be divorced from artificial intelligence and collective wisdom. New approaches to leadership will be needed to serve a diverse range of personal needs and collective interests.
Augmented Intelligence for a VUCA World
This article looks at how to harmonise human and artificial intelligence by expanding collective intelligence. It distributes and embeds leadership in every interaction.
It looks at:
Adapting to the challenges from a VUCA environment
Understanding how Complex Adaptive Systems work
Embedding leadership in a Complex Adaptive System
Applying leadership to Augmented Intelligence
Examples of Complex Intelligent Conversation
Self-Organisation and Team Action
My experience of leadership in different roles and contexts has made me question the idea that leadership can only be developed in those who hold leader positions. I believe leadership is a “way of being” that should be encouraged and practiced in every interaction.
I share some of my experiences of self-organised leadership in teams and organisations. It’s an approach I learned in my volunteering, teaching, leisure management, consultancy and community development work.
A new culture for Local Authorities
Local government services are under pressure like never before. Its culture must become more agile, resilient and cost effective. In addition, employee trust is being eroded and relationships are becoming strained. These tensions are being generated by the emergence of a VUCA environment
Anxiety grows when employees are not empowered or supported to work more effectively with their colleagues and stakeholders. An investment in human intelligence is needed to expand the power of collaborative action and realise the full potential of artificial intelligence to augment human creativity and productivity.
