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

2024

: Can you set me some exam questions?
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #124
: What do you think makes a development programme transformative?
: #PublicSector #procurement is ripe for disruption.
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #123
: Thank you! To all our customers and our peers who, once again, made the effort to the Financial Times and Statista survey of the top UK management consultancies, and put RedQuadrant amongst that list.
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #122
: Does accounting serve public services? Is it serving your business?
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #121
: Horizon scanning for learning and development
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #120
: There’s a better way for us to ‘get our needs met’. Can we talk about it? 
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #119
: The river remembers: eddies of time on Dog’s Beach
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #118
: A Doctor is one of the closest things to a King or Queen we encounter in UK public services. How much power do you think they actually have?
: Prescriptive Power?
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #117
: From problem to opportunity – how to make a meeting productive.
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #116
: Are businesses ecosystems? 
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #115
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #114
: My top ten most read posts in 2023

2023

: I am once again asking: how, if at all, should I continue to write on LinkedIn?
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #113
: What do gingerbread, chemistry, and House MD have in common?
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #112
: Partnerships in the ‘safe zone’ are the least productive and the most at risk of exploding in conflict. Do you recognise this dynamic?
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #111
: Transduction — leading transformation — Issue #110
: 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