Groups learn with and from one another. During the Napoleonic Wars, Europe learned that Napoleon could only be defeated by collaborating – until he met his match in the Anglo-Prussian armies at Waterloo. Or take cars. Since Karl Benz invented the internal combustion engine in 1886, Germans have refined and dominated the market. With fossil fuels in decline, Chinese carmakers have quickly learned how to leapfrog electric car production to fill the innovation vacuum left by German dithering. Not only do individuals learn, but groups learn.

Let’s talk about collaborative rather than competitive games, about collaborative system change that benefits everyone. Currently, change processes either appear on the horizon of single organisations or companies, or we find them in lip-serving political strategy papers on social impact. We rarely talk about industry-wide systems change, about changing entire system clusters. Is this too bold? Too complex to handle?

I am currently contributing as a consultant on an exciting inter-municipal project in Lower Saxony. Like most German administrative districts, the region suffers from a low level of digitisation of public services. Germany is known to perform in the lower range within Europe (DESI). The region also suffers, as the rest of Germany, from complex bureaucracy, which hampers the local high-tech industry. It is a tough task that most renowned consulting firms have failed. So how can we save the day?

Imagine this: In the psychologically safe space of an innovation lab, we practice agile management methods and allow groups to learn from each other. Imagine whole industries working together to participate in the transformation from harmful to environmentally and socially sustainable systems. I was inspired by contemporary filmmaking, especially films that use massive visual effects (VFX). As the credits roll, we can see hundreds, even thousands, of people from dozens of companies working on a feature film over a few years. It is an amazing example of creative self-organisation.

Is this a distant dream for other industries? For us, it isn’t. This is the vision we are working on. Sandwiched between teams and knowledge assets (content) are learning processes. With the concepts developed at NEXTGEN.LX, we can model all formal human learning processes in algorithmic form.

Theoretically, this allows us to run (a) multiple processes at (b) multiple speeds and (c) different starting points while keeping all teams informed during a shared change process: Those who have not yet started can learn from those who have started earlier. Teams can share their experiences of processes and methods in meta-meetings (exchanges outside the process) to improve the quantity and quality of data within the process (see illustration below). The point is that this only works once learning processes become visible and accessible for everyone to contribute original data and experiences via their respective ‘community of practice’ (Lave & Wenger). It is one step up from previous Innovation Lab approaches as we can dive right into the details of learning processes to keep communication most directed and effective, e.g. opposed to finalized workshop protocols and notes.

Conceptually, we follow in the footsteps of innovation labs such as MindLab in Denmark or the Public Service Innovation Lab in Singapore. A novel setting is how we offer access to the underlying learning processes to all stakeholders while their progress, as has been pointed out, does not need to be synchronous. The presented approach is about optimizing and improving multiple learning processes as they run, not just after they have completed their cycle. This is not to be confused with overall project management, although learning and working now merge.

Starting wars, as Napoleon did, is as easy as it is barbaric. Transforming contemporary highly complex and advanced systems, not even a comparison, is an art and progress for everyone. We hope to bring some light into otherwise dark times.

Photo: Author