biomatrix societal transformation programme

The aim of the Biomatrix Societal Transformation Programme is to contribute to the dissolving of humanity’s complex societal problems. This involves systemic strategic issue (re)design on the one hand and redesign of associated stakeholder organisations on the other hand.

Thus the Biomatrix Societal Transformation Programme consists of two parts. Both are delivered as an action learning programme.

part 1: systemic strategic issue (re)design

A systemic strategic issue (re)design can refer to the (re)design of a public policy (e.g. for the provision of a public good or service like transport infrastructure or education), a framework for industry governance (e.g. regulation of the finance industry), or an industry supply chain.

As the stakeholder organisations implement the strategies they are responsible for, the complex problems associated with the issue gradually dissolve.

part 2: systemic organisation (re)design

To implement a systemic strategic issue design, the stakeholder organisations will have to become systemic as well and transform themselves.

The Biomatrix Organisation Transformation Programme, in a version adjusted to the public sector, will allow them to do so.

interaction of parts 1 and 2

The interaction of parts 1 and 2 of the programme will explore what the systemic governance of the public domain should, ideally, look like.

For example, the current world-wide model of democratic governance has serious flaws according to generic systemic governance principles, such as not accommodating equality from a functional perspective and lacking function specific transparency.

Dissolving these problems could suggest the design of new governance mechanism (e.g. systemic stakeholder democracy).

clients of the programme

The clients of the programme are public sector organisations associated with the delivery of public goods and services, cooperation in and governance of the public domain and related research institutions.

These include government departments, international governance bodies, private and public sector partnerships, NGOs, industry bodies and research organisations concerned with the public domain.

Private sector organisations who want to contribute to a change in private and public sector cooperation are also potential clients.

Because of the systemic nature of complex societal problems, they need to be dealt with in a systemic manner. This requires that public sector organisations

• develop a cadre of systems experts able to facilitate systemic strategy and organisation (re)designs in the public domain
• embrace the worldview of systems thinking and function systemically as a learning organisation in themselves
• inspire their stakeholders to participate systemically in the co-design and co-delivery of public goods and services and the governance of the public domain.

selection of participants in the programme

Participation in the programme should include the current public policy designers and facilitators,  strategic thinkers, leaders, some senior managers and representatives of relevant strategic and functional units of the client organisation.

Because issues in the public domain always require the cooperation of independent stakeholder organisations, it is useful to invite stakeholder representatives to participate in the programme. That way alignment is created from the start.

structure of the programme

The two parts of the programme, Strategic Issue (Re)Design (part 1) and Organisation (Re)Design (part 2) can run parallel or sequentially, depending on the situation of the client organisation(s).

Both parts involve the same phases and share the same basic education, but require different additional education modules. They also work on different parts of the case study

Note: The phases overlap and involve iteration. Their sequence and content can also be customised to suit the specific needs and realities of the client organisation.

delivery of the programme

The programme involves individual e-learning and facilitated team work.

It is delivered in partnership with the client organisation which manages and administers the delivery of the programme. It appoints a Biomatrix Change Management Board for this.

The Board works together with BiomatrixWeb to ensure that the programme is implemented correctly and customised appropriately to meet the requirements of the client organisation.

The contributions of BiomatrixWeb are:

• providing the e-learning programmes, frameworks and templates for the strategic issue and organisational redesigns and change management plans
• integrating the data from the education assignments and stakeholder surveys
• feeding the data back as diagnostic reports and design notebooks with specific comments
• reviewing and commenting on the designs and change management plans
• providing a roadmap for the programme delivery and guidelines to the Biomatrix Change Management Board for customizing, managing and administering the programme
• supporting and coaching the members of the Board and the learning facilitators.

The amount of support that will be required from BiomatrixWeb will depend on the complexity of the case study, the specific organisational setting within which the programme is delivered and the availability of change management skills available within the client organisation.

The Executive Workshop can be delivered by a Biomatrix representative or by the delegates supported by video presentations, exercise templates and a course outline provided by BiomatrixWeb.

duration of the programme

The education phase involves the following for each module:

• 1-2 days for individual e-learning and doing the individual exercises
• 1 day for the facilitated team workshop
• 1-2 days for the team exercises involving both preparation for the workshop and post-workshop information processing.

To make the first draft designs (which include the processing of the survey data) will require each team to spend a minimum of three days.

As soon as stakeholders are involved in design iterations, the programme changes from the realm of management education to one of management consulting. From this point onward, the time involvement will differ according to the size and complexity of the client organisation.

The duration will also depend on whether parts 1 and 2 are delivered parallel or sequentially.