Just to let you know that I will be off work until at least 3rd August 2008. I'm going into have my back sorted, so a new man will appear very soon ;-)

Please contact Phil for all your DNA needs.

Cheers
Paul

I have to just say a big public thank you to the people below. If I could have bottled their energy yesterday in regards to the passion in changing traditional thinking I would be rich;

Dr Paul Stevens (former IT VP at GSK.... now a happy free man)
Paul Argile (CEO Flight Directors)
Prof. Elizabeth McMillan (Research Fellow OU)
Dr Ysanne Carlyle (OU)
Paul Byard (CEO MAS Wales)
John Ward (DNA Agent)
Jean Matthews (PhD Glamorgan & DNA Agent)
Kath Ringwald (SL GBS)
Dr Rachel Mason-Jones (The Boss GBS Strategy/Supply Div.)
Andrew Hunt (Senior Consultant)
Prof. Hugh Combs (Accounts - we need one)
Gemma Collins (BBC)
Prof Joyce Liddle (NTU)
Prof Alan Lovel (Head of School GBS)
John Batten (SL & DNA Agent)
David Kerle (JW Morris)
Phil Crocker (DNA Co-ordinator)
Dr Kelly Page (SL Cardiff Business School)
Sue Mittchel (Finance Officer)
Sue Bevan (GBS)

The success experienced yesterday would not have happen if anyone of the above were absent.

THANK YOU!
Paul
PS... the titles don't matter that much....

Help..... I have just arrived in lovely Manchester by train (quite pleasant journey to be honest....although it could be the drugs) to be greeted by my hotel...... no I can't call it that, hovel, hole, fleapit, dump, the mother of all 'bug & breakfast' establishments.

There are bars on the door and windows. The doors shows scars form previous fights and police break-ins. The hot water is only turned on in the morning from 6.30-8am and there is no food on the premises. No internet. No drinks. No life, except for the spiders, and not that I've seen any yet, cockroaches.

They wouldn't let me in until I had handed over £50 to secure a key, even though we had pre-booked (yes I know....should have checked) and paid upfront.

I still went in........ WHY.....

Wow I lead a glamorous life...... only the best for me...... do you think this is Karma. The WAG getting me back.... all those managers .......no...yes....

I'm now in a open park, thinking of sleeping where I'm sitting, it has to be safer, cleaner and quieter ....

hehe..... this has to be bad planning...... hehe

Paul

Hello everyone,

Just some feedback from our recent event with the CMI.

Paul's session was......

• "Excellent
• Fabulously thought provoking and interactive. I may well follow this up
• Engaging speaker very thought provoking.
• This was excellent and very provocative
• Excellent & extremely thought provoking
• Totally (well partially) disagree with most of his challenges and assertions but enjoyable presentation .[...hehe...there is always one....]
  
• thought it conflicted with ethos of CMI"

Well, okay it was provoking, but fun!

I also recieved the news that I'm now a Fellow of the CMI..... great news, I think! My colleague jokingly stated that I'm now in the tent peeing out, rather than outside....well okay you get the image! I also spent this evening reading the 'code of conduct' for the CMI. I know...., I know.....but it was quite a good read.

I think I'm starting to work the system, enjoy the challenge from working with rather than against.

Paul

Hello Everyone,

Well here we are again, end of the Academic year, exhausted once again and the DNA Wales team physically and mentally shattered, okay thats just me then.... [the rest of the team are younger and better able to cope with work].

But wow what a year!

We have now formally removed the shackles of Welsh Assembly Gov. funding and whilst extremely useful at the beginning our time is here, and organic growth has driven us forward.  As from today we will no-longer based at Waterton. Our funding has finished most of our obligations met and new projects on the Global scale are on the horizon. I am sad this is ended, sad for Wales in one way as some have given up on the change process, but happy for others who have experienced the DNA change, thinking and ethos. Thanks must go to people like Phil Catherwood who took a risk with DNA, particularly so with Phil as he is very much a SixSigma guy and to allow a band like us to the concert took great courage. We would not have achieved this success and more if it were not for his support, Waterton Centre and Phil's grounding to the reality of details.

DNA Wales/Global will be based for the time being at Glamorgan Business School. The main reason for this is we have a new colleague Phil  Crocker (AKA Paul….. sorry in-joke). Phil will be acting as our new link-co-ordinator for events, research and in-company training. Welcome on-board Phil.

We have so much on Phil is such a wonderful asset at this time of year and its great to be working with him on the new projects.

If you need to contact us then you can do this via Phil on University of Glamorgan Business School 
Email: Bustemp2@glam.ac.uk 
Tel: 01443 482678

Also just to let you know that I will be off for 4 weeks soon to recover from an operation to my back. Those that work with me are aware of my moaning over the past 5 months, so yes, peace at last….. sorry folks its taken so long to sortout…

PT

I just want to remind everyone that DNA Wales at present is a Non-Profit making, cash neutral organisation. No one in DNA gains financially as a result of the work we do in company. Why? Well I suppose we do not want to be considered as consultants, only help. We also want to be able to walk away if we are unable to help. Honesty, openness, transparency, trust and passion are our core values. Its what we do, love, and enjoy. Helping managers change.

We do have costs to cover of course as well as day jobs and as such we sometimes ask for expenses and this is all we ask for in the process of helping you gain solutions to your problems/issues.

Why; well as being introduced to new perspectives of thinking, understanding and working, senior leaders DNA Wales helps 'managers' learn more about the skills and language needed to develop an engaged workforce through the use of Complex Evolving Systems (CES) thinking.

In today’s competitive environment it demands we consider new, emerging and differing perspectives on how we manage our organisation, which are in fact natural human-systems within which we live, work and learn. This is important, not only for the sustainability of private and commercial sectors, but increasingly for all organisations.

This common sense approach makes a real difference to employee empowerment and wellbeing, reduces senior leader stress and improves the agility of the organisation as a whole.

We always present....

•    The ‘real’ context and structures of organisational life and human interaction.
•    The limitations that the rational perspective has on organisational innovation, development and health in light of new developments.
•    A new means to deal confidently and selectively with the most complex problems involving uncertainty and disagreement.
•    A messy but sustainable approach to reducing absenteeism, sickness, stress and disputes to improve worker welfare.
•    An understanding of the basic tenets and applications of ‘ownership’ and trust in a in any organisational context.
•    The impact of targets and measures.
•    The impact of hierarchy, control and managerialism on sustainable change.

Just thought I would remind members we believe what we say, act the way we ask others to act.....

Cheers
paul

Well its been nearly 3 years since DNA was launched and wow, just looking at what we achieved  it is quite staggering.  Business Assisted  over the Welsh Manufacturing/Private sector which means more than 2 days contact is 24 companies. Business Assisted in Public Services/Non-profit making is 6 organisations. We have also assisted USA companies, 5 in total and still on-going.

We have visited over 17 countries and advised organisations from every continent.

We have also created numerous Events & Publicity

Incuding;
•    Cophenhagen – CEO 3 day programme on CES
•    NHS – Cardiff visit March 2008-02-8
•    MoD Abbeywood – March 2008
•    CMI – Cardiff June 2008
•    Prof. Ralph Stacey – Complexity in ‘Real’ Companies
•    Cognitive Edge – 3 Day Agent Training – Cardiff Campus
•    Eve Mitleton-Kelly January 08.
•    Head Teachers Training Pontypridd Jan 08
•    CIPS – MoD Bristol
•    Paul Stevens GlaxoSmithKline
•    19th November – Rhondda Manufacturing Group
•    22th November  - Dave Snowden Cognitive Edge
•    Several BBC – Radio appearance
•    11th December – DNA Wales Conference to Industry
•    11th December – DNA Wales Annual Dinner
•    Sustainable Innovation with Wales Quality Centre 20th June.
•    Get connected at Waterton 22nd June –Glamorgan was well represented.
•    CalNET USA Complexity Conference – Kellogg Management Centre – Manufacturing

BBC Radio Wales, Wales at Work Programme discussing leadership 26th June.

Western Mail Business News
•    Western Mail – 2 articles
•    Cited in 7 professional Journals as a result of BBC Programme
•    Democracy the way to better management, 13th June.
•    Cut back on managers and trust your workers, Welsh Businesses urged, 8th June.
•    Women Managers are Better – Western Mail
•    Complexity and DNA – Western Mail
•    BBC Wales Radio – Special programme Wales@Work 2008
•    Dr Paul Thomas Nominated for the Leader of the Year Award – Hilton Cardiff, Feb 2008

Our Website
Over 60,000 visits to the website, with 8552 visits to the website during December 2007.

530 members to DNA

152 Companies

Sound Clip – BBC Wales Radio
Video Clips – Waterton Management Series now on UTube

And things are still happening....... what do you think?.... wonderful, thank you DNA Wales Team......

Paul

Extract of an email to me today;

According to Sandra Mitchell and her book "Biological Complexity and Integrative Pluralism",(Cambridge University Press, 2003), a complex system can be defined as follows:

"complex systems can be distinguished from simple objects by having multiple parts that  stand in nonsimple relations [...] There is structure or order in the way in which the whole is composed of the parts".

She argues in her book that a form of "integrative pluralism" is the best way
to describe the complex systems in the  biological sciences, which study complex
multi-component and multi-level systems that evolve dynamically over time.

In her attempt to define complexity, she distinguishes between constitutive and dynamic complexity.

Constitutive complexity: "Organisms display complexity of structure, the whole being formed of numerous parts in nonrandom organization

Dynamic complexity:
"Organisms are complex in the process by which they develop from single-celled origins to multicellular adults and by which they evolve from single-celled ancestors to multicellular descendants

Hope this helps
Paul

I keep getting asked why DNA are systems thinkers..... we are not....very simply, a system is a collection of parts and subsystems integrated to accomplish an overall goal such as system of people is an organization.

"Systems have input, processes, and outputs with ongoing feedback among these various parts. If one part of the system is removed, the nature of the system is changed." 

Systems of course range from very simple to simple to very complex. There are numerous types of systems. For example,  biological systems, mechanical systems, human 'systems' or bio-metrics, ecological systems, and social systems.

Complex systems, which DNA operates in is of course a system, a social system comprised of numerous subsystems, but quite different to the above. These subsystems are arranged in hierarchies, and integrated to accomplish the overall goal of the overall system. But this is where the simularity ends as each human, human subsystem has its own boundaries of sorts, which is movable, unclear and co-evolving and includes various inputs, processes, outputs and outcomes geared to accomplish an overall goal for the subsystem. Yet the outcome, goals are often unclear, unknown until after the event.

A pile of sand is not a system nor is a Human system (human). If one removes a sand particle, you've still got a pile of sand. Yet its different. However, a functioning car is a system. Remove the carburetor and you've no longer got a working car.

It scares me to find managers now diagnose problems, not by examining what appear to be separate pieces of the organization, but by recognising larger patterns of interactions. Managers maintain perspective by focusing on the outcomes they want from their organizations, yet these outcomes are almost always unknown. Most managers focus on the structures that create behaviors that determine outcomes rather than reacting to events as which is mostly done in good organisations.

Hello Everyone,

Not sure who reads these blog-things any more but having started the week with a talk to the NHS, then J W Morris, and J T Morgan, in the same day with the BBC and on Thursday gave a workshop/debate with the Chartered Management Institute I'm now very, very hot. Not in the wanted, brilliant sense, but temperature. I'm in USA, Washington to be precise and its blinking hot, 104 F.

We tried to work today in a room without air con....nope, impossible. I've drunk loads, perspired more and feel awful. However, I was given a gem of information from a CEO who wanted to explain why she understood what DNA was about but just couldn't see how she could do it..... it goes somewhat like this;

"I lost my house keys and was searching for them on my hands and knees in the road when a young man came over and asked 'what you doing miss'. I replied I'm looking for my keys. He then asked 'where did you loose them in the road'. I replied that I hadn't lost them in the road but in the field over there. He looked at me strangely and asked 'why are you looking for them there then?' I said because there is a street light here and not over there"

What she was trying to tell me was that whilst most CEO's understood that the tools, methods and systems they use where 'wrong' they gave 'short-term' results. Research and management schools seem to also concentrate on the lighted areas and fail to search in the dark. She went on to explain that it just  gave more 'disappointments' to people in the long term.

Paul....very hot.....