Benjamin Taylor

Benjamin Taylor

systems | cybernetics | complexity Currently: public | service | transformation Previously: PwC, Capita, Adviser to Mayor in a London Borough

www.antlerboy.com

Collaborated On

Writings

2023

: The joke often goes that managers pick up the hashtag#OperationalExcellence bible and flip through the chapters: hmmm ‘Create Flow’? Sounds confusing… what else we got? ‘Pull at the rate of demand’? Ok, ok, whatever that means…. ‘Remove Waste’! Aha! THAT
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #109
: We fear rejection like we fear death. It’s the fear of being abandoned by the tribe, left to survive on our own
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #108
: What is the use of a spam filter you have to check every day?
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #107
: There’s a core tension in human organisation.
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #106
: Have you ever been on a course that’s changed the trajectory of your career?
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #105
: Dear client
: Can we end the nonsense of ‘chairman’ once and for all?
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #104
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #104
: Four dynamics
: I’m interested in the systems thinking | complexity | cybernetics field because I’m always looking…
: What does it all boil down to, for you, in organisations?
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #103
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #103
: The quest for efficiency through Digital in government is in a doom loop
: The quest for Efficiency through Digital in government is in a doom loop
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #102
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #102
: So, you want to transform public services?
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #101
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #101
: Let’s all remember Fish in a Tie restaurant, Clapham Junction, Battersea.
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #100
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #100
: We put as much thought into our learning design and delivery as we do into content at the The…
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #99
: Books that might spark innovation and imagination

2022

: Do you have question for me?
: Two ways to support deeper learning
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #70
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #66
: Naming the thing is a superpower — when did you last use it?
: Where do you learn best with others?
: Are you authentic?
: Isn’t it sometimes like this?
: “Be authentic!” “No, not like THAT!”
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #67
: Is it the best album ever, or did you just hear it first between the ages of 14 and 24?
: What are your #antimetrics — things which, simply measuring them, make things worse?
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #66
: Can you find the dog poo in the leaves?
: Here are all my intentional LinkedIn posts to date…
: Seeking a bid and operations coordinator for RedQuadrant
: RedQuadrant is seeking a consulting management trainee with two years’ consultancy and/or public…
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #65
: What skills do we need for the future?
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #62
: “It’s a merger, not a takeover”
: Who are you at work?
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #62
: Taking stock: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #61
: Have you heard about the dream of Total Football?
: What systems thinking practice would be most useful in your organisation?
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #56
: #systemschange: the dangers of over-correcting in a good cause
: What if we treated people as people, instead of employees?
: Demand management is a very bad idea — think about the need-to-demand curve
: 18 tips from 18 years in consulting
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #54
: So. Today is a migraine day.
: What the hell is systems | complexity | cybernetics anyway?
: What is success and what is failure on LinkedIn? In business? In life?
: Do things fit into neat categories?
: systems change, convening, practice, leadership, sustainability, chat… SIX systems events coming up…
: More monkeys and bananas in organisation
: Apportunity 2022 — the solutions pla
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #50
: What is meta-rationality?
: Are you anti-war, or pro-peace?
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #49
: What I’ve learned from my puppy.
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #48
: Why can’t we talk the same language, when it’s so important?
: What do you do when you need to get yourself going — when you’re short on motivation?
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #47
: How do you deal with unreasonable demands at work — when there’s no way out?
: How can you make better decisions in #complexity?
: When have you seen someone break a well-established pattern?
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #45
: What do you think this story is about?
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #44
: Announcing two ‘new’ podcasts… coming soon! (With bonus puppy pics)
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #43
: Taking systems thinking practice to a new level
: Why I Am Against Capitalisation (Or, Actually, Capitals)
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #42
: What’s your dream role — if you didn’t even have to leave your current job?
: How good are you at getting rejected?
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #41
: The blue dot and the terrible dance of power
: What’s your favourite management euphemism?
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #40
: When is #selforganization… not? And does it matter?
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #39
: What does seeing the different worlds that make up an organisation show you?
: Why is being in the wrong frame so hilarious? And what are the implications for business?
: Have you seen data, ‘best practice’, benchmarking, or ‘learning’ applied in ways which block…
: Do you know a trainer, facilitator, or consultant — and how do they feel about their job?
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #37
: Your help needed — Supporting Adult Social Care Commissioners — Strategic Commissioning Options…
: Pathological liars: they’re out there, and we keep giving them power
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #36
: We can ‘level up’ by transforming commissioning
: Can you see the courtly rituals still at work in our organisations and management?
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #35
: Thriving in the space of service — for consultants, coaches, facilitators, business partners…
: What do you want to read from me?
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #34
: Looking where we see
: When have you seen someone change their position — and suddenly change their perspective?
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #33
: It’s just noise!
: What’s your Facilitrainer Inheritance?
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #32
: How does the signal of demand get through to your organisation?
: When were you last put on a waiting list?

2021

: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #31
: When leaders have no idea of the real-life experience of their service, finding out can be a hell…
: Self-love can make you blind
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #30
: “We aren’t talking enough about power”
: Have you ever been ‘referred’ or ‘signposted’? How did it feel?
: Transduction — Leading Transformation — Issue #29
: What do you think of each other? How dangerous would it be if everyone knew? A partnership exercise
: Here is my theory of tomato inflation and latte carcinisation
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #28
: My top LinkedIn posts (you won’t BELIEVE number 77!) ;-)
: An outline approach to organisation or service review
: What do you think when you see someone flying this flag?
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #27
: How to hack LinkedIn
: Will you come to a conference that doesn’t have all the answers?
: I believe that the future of work is — no jobs.
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #26
: What’s your most controversial view about digital transformation?
: What Law would bear your name?
: What capability do public services most need in 2022 and beyond?
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #25
: Where is your organisation on the learning ladder of purpose?
: What do you think is necessary to accelerate #digital #innovation?
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #24
: Transformation is a load of old b*ll*cks, isn’t it?
: Why is it so hard to get people engaged in paid online events these days?
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #23
: Do you want to do the work of the future, or the past?
: What are you working hard to achieve in life, where the ‘working hard’ is self-defeating?
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #21
: Are we here to fight alligators, or drain the swamp?
: Context cues and the limits of possibility
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #20
: What gives you the foundations that enable change?
: The traffic lights will kill us all one day — unless the watermelons get us first.
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #19
: How do you show respect and collect learning when involved in organisational change?
: A whodunnit involving football pitches, desire lines, and a broken arm
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #18
: Transduction — a powerful and important concept that few have heard of
: Can you find the unlocking insight?
: Exploring practical systems change: why are we not learning all the lessons we could about fire…
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #17
: McKinsey and the capacity of business for evil
: What do you think of FestivalUK*2022?
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #16
: New cohorts for the RedQuadrant tool shed start soon
: What Gabriel Garcia Marquez’ Love in the Time of Cholera can teach us about organisations and…
: I’m intrigued and excited by the potential of the ‘ego to eco’ movement.
: On 7–8 October I’m proud to be hosting an event that brings together 14 of the most incredible…
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #15
: Is ‘systems convening’ a thing?
: The Conscious Organisation conference 2021
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #14
: They say, among the people of the coast…
: I’m on holiday!
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #13
: Register at https://bit.ly/SCBookLaunch
: “It is a misuse of our power to take responsibility for problems that belong to someone else.”
: I’m in a quandary.
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #12
: Systems convening
: I’m proud of RedQuadrant
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #11
: There’s been a kerfuffle about ‘stage theory’. What do you think?
: Speaking gigs — what do you think?
: Why we need #metaconsulting
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #10
: What does the shift to the collective journey mean to you?
: Long live commissioning! But what shall we call it?
: The Peter Block Community Exercise — connection, gifts, community: better than ‘a warmup’
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #9
: Something new has been named: #systemsconvening
: Is your team or organisation a ‘robust system’?
: Exiting from stress
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #8
: What is work?
: The Human Knot.
: CPORT task definition
: What pattern are you stuck in? Are you happy with it?
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #7
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #6
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #4
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #5
: My little freedom day poll: results
: ‘Honest, guv’nor’ — how to use change management for evil
: What does ‘freedom day’ mean to you?
: This week I spoke at #leanagileUK on ‘five core practices’ for effective organisations
: Cybernetics is not the banana.
: what could the role of government and public services look like in the 21st Century and beyond?
: Wouldn’t it be good if you could improve your changes of successful change?
: Essential practices for organisation — talk on 13 July
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #3
: The critical role of procurement in public value outcomes
: Moving into turbulence, uncertainty, novelty, and ambiguity
: The power of names, part two— @antlerboy
: The power of names, part 1 — why RedQuadrant?
: #Ask me anything!
: In world of infinite overlapping possibility and multiple, irreconcilable differences, what does…
: What I learned from 100 intentional LinkedIn posts
: Making sense of systems change and systems leadership
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #2
: Seeking comments on my new Revue newsletter
: A grid for better customer / citizen led transformation
: What’s your mission? How are you bringing it into the world?
: Technical vs adaptive problems
: Have you heard of the brown contract?
: Events coming up — please join me!
: What do we want for the days after?
: Which world do you live in?
: Complexity is not a paradigm shift
: Come and sample the RedQuadrant tool shed — free show and tell on 10 June
: Why do they say my country doesn’t exist?
: How can you quickly assess how you are doing as a leader?
: Ten principles for public service transformation
: What sort of posts do you want from me?
: What would you most like to hear from me about my approaches on June 10?
: How do you help good work thrive in the world and increase impact?
: Where do ideas come from, and who owns them?
: Being compassionate to ourselves turns out to be a powerful lever for change
: What do you do when you’re stuck in the middle? How’s that working out for you?
: Consider the oboe
: The universe is greebling.
: Quality Improvement — consider dangerous?
: I’m hiring! Be at the heart of RedQuadrant
: What idea changed the way you see the world?
: We are all consultants, advisers, coaches, change people — but only a select few enter the tool…
: Metaphors are both stages and cages for our thinking.
: #Recognition! It’s very nice, isn’t it?
: How do you feel when you realise how much you took after your parents?
: the seven per cent rule
: What I know about #systemsthinking
: Pristine shelfware to working in the swamps
: What do you reach for to get a quick overview of an organisation’s structure and key data?
: Do systems exist?
: There are multiple ways of looking at organisations.
: Most customer service performance measures are worse than doing nothing
: Three tribes are contesting for the #futureofwork. Which one will you join?
: Have you progressed in your career?
: What would *you* do to improve this organisation?
: We would all like a ‘neat and compleat’ way of making sense of the world, of leading, consulting…
: What does ‘service transformation’ look like? A challenge for you!
: Are you learning as effectively as a dolphin?
: New Normal
: What are your fundamental needs at work? And are they being met?
: The worst projects I’ve ever been on have been doomed to succeed
: Do public ‘services’ make things worse? Does help *actually* help?
: What would happen if you said what you really thought?
: What topics should I dig into in more depth?
: What would you most like me to write about on LinkedIn?
: What’s wrong the way we use organisational measures?
: This intriguing image contains two possibilities for organisations, and the people who spend their…
: This is very true, and has generated some quite good comments on LinkedIn (where this blog is…
: Why is a bridge and water such a good explanation of how people go wrong with business…
: What would you say if I told you customer intimacy was dangerous?
: The great big sh*t-shovelling machine
: Have you heard of ‘commissioning’? Here’s why it’s important in all our lives
: How can we change the world? Exactly — join us and we’ll see!
: There are only seven ways to make savings and improvements in service organisations
: There are two fundamental outlooks on life
: Are you a naive enthusiast, an oversimplifying populariser, a gooroo, or a curmudgeon?
: How often do things go wrong because of lack of clarity?
: The Campaign Against Consultancy — do you want to join?
: There are five core things which, if you make them your practice, are likely to lead to…
: Local public services in the UK face a ‘perfect’ storm — we need Adaptive Councils
: ‘the chick does not break the egg out of hatred for the shell — it does so out of a desire to walk…
: We’re all trying to make sense of things — in our own way and from where we are
: A practical approach to making decisions in complexity
: ‘How the heck do I make decisions in this chaos?’
: You should never publish your values or behaviours if you want culture change
: I sabotaged the plan, and it was one of the best things I’ve done
: Who wants to become an organisational Jedi?
: Are you playing the real human game, or are you being seduced by the Dark Side of The Force?
: Are you fit for your job? Are you stretched?
: Organisational Jedi Knights have to confront themselves with love
: Are you trapped in a tractor beam of The Force?
: The Force in organisational life: how dominant/other cultural patterns create system fragility…
: The Dark Side of human responses — The Force in organisation, part VI

2020

: A letter to the future from some little time after 2020
: Most organisations are zombies.
: This is part 11 of my series on The Force in organisational life. The rest can be accessed here:
: Irreducible complexity: The Force in organisational life
: 'wolves change rivers' links
: Not 100# to your point, but this is a good nuanced take on '30-50 wild hogs' and failures of…
: The Force in organisational life — the story so far
: - Here's the complete set of articles on The Force in organisational life, so far.
: Organisational Jedi Knights have to confront themselves with love
: Debora, please see the twitter thread started by Sonja Blignaut posting this: https://twitter.com/so
: The Force in organisational life and becoming a Jedi — The Beginning
: Only Requisite Agility can save us now
: Who am I, and what do I want? @antlerboy reflects