Articles

Our problems today are complex, and sometimes seem almost insurmountable. Yet one thing is certain. If we can't discuss the issues, we will never overcome them. The Yala is designed to make such conversations - across multiple organizational boundaries - easy, effortless and enjoyable. Some of its elements are familiar: frequent interaction, thoughtful risk assessment, and communication over the internet. But the Yala adds a vital ingredient, so often overlooked or underplayed: somewhere safe to talk.
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Re-injecting ethics and morality

The last few years have been a tale of two disasters – one financial, the other political – both characterized by moral failures that have undermined public trust in our systems of power. Yet people are reluctant to talk about ethics and morality because it feels like pontificating in a world in which many no longer accept a pontiff. How do we found this vital discussion on this world not the next? By using language that recognizes that some things are simply good and others simply intolerable.
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Metalogue: how complexity can lead to simplicity... and why a game show remained so popular

Just as watching Blind Date (a long-running TV show) put us in the role of observers of a game, so the Yala puts us in the role of observers of the dialogue at interfaces - encouraging metalogue. For the more you can zoom-out and embrace complexity, the better chance you have of zooming-in on the simple details that matter most.
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How do we build a platform for collaboration?

As the Internet matures, so people are proving amazingly willing to collaborate on a large scale. There has been a flood of books offering advice on how to profit from this. Yet all these tomes seem stronger at describing interesting cases and raising issues than at providing actionable insights. What we need is a framework that helps each of us to focus on what we can do where we are, and to be aware of what those around us are doing… and a step-by-step guide to building it. The Yala offers much more than high-level, theoretical advice on how to “leverage the power of Wikinomics” or “surf the groundswell”. It details the practical, Monday-morning actions that will unleash the collective intelligence of your people.
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Virtual meetings: design with the 'distracted participant' in mind

There has been a useful discussion in a LinkedIn group over the last few weeks. The group was the National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation (NCDD) and the topic was “ground rules for making the best of virtual meetings”. It is an important topic since more and more of us meet and work together over the internet these days. The drawback with LinkedIn discussions, however good, is that they tend to fade away into hyper-space (I don’t think they are picked up by search engines, maybe this is accidental or maybe it is by design to ensure that such discussions remain relatively private). Therefore what follows is an attempt to distill and record this conversation.

Three ways to use a Yala

The Yala is so versatile that sometimes it’s hard to know just how you could use it. Here are three extraordinary ways to use a Yala:

To create a forward-looking measure of performance
To demonstrate a long-term commitment to quality
To sustain the conversation between big set-piece events

An example of the emergence of collective intelligence: the Sydney Power House Museum

In the article Three Ways to Use a Yala, I argued that longevity is a hallmark of great service. But we usually don’t observe this because our lives (and our measures of performance) unfold on the wrong scale. So what might a truly successful outcome look like over the long term? The Sydney Power House Museum provides an example.
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Set the stage: how to raise issues

We require a formal approach to raising issues because too often individuals, groups or organizations are blocked from effectively discussing a critical matter–either because it is unmentionable or because it is not visible in the light of their present level of understanding.
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Learning from patterns

A complex relationship outlasts its components, just as the ant colony outlives the individual ant, and in so doing develops a purpose of its own greater than the free will of its parts. While individuals may only be involved for a matter of months or just a few years, a complex relationship can learn, change, grow and adapt over five, ten, fifteen or more years. Nevertheless, because our lives take place at lower levels, we frequently don't know the contribution we make to complex relationships. But we can help its intelligence to emerge.

Bringing out the best in people

As a feeble report on the RBS disaster by the UK’s Financial Services Authority (FSA) has finally surfaced to public view, it’s time to revisit the key questions:

How could a few greedy individuals possibly be allowed to impoverish a nation?
How can we make sure this never happens again?