Right people right time right organisations right missions — how does it help us achieve SDGs & NDCs ? Or any societal transition and organisational transformation !

What do we mean with these buzz words ? What does science say ? How can it help accelerate momentum and sense for any societal project — social, economic, environmental ?

The time has come to lay out a very simple scientifically backed equation. The one stated in the title of this article. Here is an attempt to do so…. we say attempt … because we know the proof is in the pudding !

We have had the experiences and it works, so we have exemples . These are too few and maybe too small, not societal enough yet. May the SDGs and NDCs push us a little bit further in the right direction to accelerate the needed paradigm shifts , by getting out of the “deadly obsolete” comfort zones and renew our mindsets and perspectives.

Wisdom and knowledge is there. Now we need theory of practice and practice of theory !!

I. The right people in the right time

We are all differently wired. We all see, feel and perceive the world from a different perspective. We are not all equal in front of change, whether it is linear and smooth, disruptive or a deeper paradigm shift.

Science has developped the theory of diffusion of innovation . This allows us to determine an ideal logic between people’s mindsets and time when people join in and contribute / adopt a new new, in order to optimize diffusion of innovation , optimizing all limited ressources available : people, time , money, raw materials, knowledge, wisdom, impact, etc…

We are not all equal in front of change and paradigm shifts — Are we aware, do we accept ? Where are initiators on this curve ? How do we treat them, value them, recognize them ?

Why would we not ask a societal HR organisation of a city /regions, to cover corporations and public services, SMEs, NGOs, the UN, any organisations and all to actually “identify and segment” their citizens / employees according to these action logics ?

We are all asked to cocreate ecosystems, public-private-civil society partnerships, favorable to accelerate all together the transitions necessary to reach the UN global goals, and make transfromations effective in order to meet the 163 metrics covered in each country’s NDCs. Isn’t that a first step toawards right people right time ?

A few more hints: the right people to drive innovation are also to be found in the 2nd tier of spiral dynamics from Clare Graves, those who are moving from self to Self according to GC Jung, and those getting beyond the Strategist action logic from William Torbert.

Once we have gathered 16 % and tapping into the early majority, we are getting to the famous “tipping point” — read Malcolm Gladwell — meaning the rest will adopt quickly and swiflty …

II. The right organisations for right missions

We do understand that different organisations need to look at different complementary sides of the life equations in order to keep a living organisation alive. For example:

3 time lines that should be aligned: short, medium and long term

These are easily understood and managed by most adavanced classical conventional organisations with 3 complementary roles & responsbilities:

1. operational frontline actions in factories/production, accounting / investments, sales & marketing, logistics and distribution, purchasing etc…which is often run on weekly or monthly targets and metrics ;
2. business, product and service developement often run by monthly or yearly budgets;
3. classical strategy often run on 3–5 years with aim to improve contiuously value propositions, Brands, business models, etc… according to longer life cycles

Do we have all the diferent levels of the space craft populated with the right people, culture, structure and missions, reaydy to take off for the 21st century, people, life and nature centric? Who is allowed and has the mission to connect the diferent levels and align them ? Do we have Living Labs in all organisations ? Do we have a meta integral coordination across all living labs via a lab of labs ? How would the Labs of Labs across countries and city regions be connected to the UN SDG Lab ?

Is this enough in front of the current societal challenges ? Is it done by all public organisations, ministries, SMEs, corporations, political parties and organisations ? Is it done to align the societal needs across the organisational and cultural divides in a given city/region ?

III. how to tackle disruptive changes and paradigm shifts in curent organisations and within a city/region to solve complexe problems ?

Now we are facing new disruptive challenges via the SDGS and NDCs : we need to invent organisations that are capable to address the societal design thinking for complex problems solving at meta integral levels, redefine purpose and reasons to be, reinvent organisations, , corprorate societal respondbility, adopt an multicapital accounting system, etc… run on 5 to 20 years timelines and budgets, returns and assets.

We need to add many more dimensions into the equation for it to become a solution that cocreates the momentum and energy, the collective intelligence, the cocreativity, the intuition, to unleash human, organisational and societal latent potentials.

for example:

4 problem classifications: simple — linear sequential; dual — very few dimensions, contained in a closed controlled environment; complex — with many interdependent dimensions, societal — with many stakeholders

4 perspectives and worldviews: micro, meso, macro, meta — using all lenses from microscope to telescope

4 mindsets and cultures: silo, synergy, systemic, symbiotic

5 inclusiveness parameters: I; a simple us — you and I ; many us’ — multiple you and I’s; us all — all the you and I’s possible; the complex whole — holistic / integral

5 solutions lenses : updated knowledge sciences & technology, wisdom from first nations and all great traditions, bio mimicry by better looking and listening to nature

6 P win wins: people, planet, profit, peace, partnerships, prosperity

Based on our experiences these new type of organisations and spaces — defined by a very differentiating people, mindsets, worldviews, — the initiators, early adopters, timelines, places, culture, methods, missions , tools, ICT, …. — are then defined as for example “think tanks”, Living Labs, or hackatons, governance tables, open networks, free enterprises ( entreprises libérées ), holacracy, etc… with 2 missions:

1. internal, business : align the business model and Barnded Value propositions on the 17 global goals and demonstrate how the organisation contributes to the 163 NDC metrics
2. external, societal: define how the organisation contributes to the global goal number 17 — and becomes an aligning force of good, that leverages the ecosystem and synergies across al societal stakeholders, public, private and civil societal in a right dynamic balance optimizing all assets and ressources to achieve the whole effectively the meat integral, only 5 to 10 % can grasp, handle, entertain, animate, via selflessness, collective intelligence and transdisciplinary co-creation, continuous learning and improvements, disruptive innovation and emergence.

Ideally these “early young fresh” initiators’ spaces are supported by the top like Board of Directors, CXOs, Ministries, then populated by the initiators, integrators, innovators, energizers, early adopters, pioneers, strategists, visionaries, etc…

IV. A proposal for the Greater Geneva, as a test to be validated and replicated world wide, while also listening and learning from other pioneering city/regions in the world, via the UN SDG Lab

The Greater Geneva to become a Lighthouse for the UN SDG Lab ? A proud exemple of a city region that is consciously contributing to its fair share of SDGS and NDCs achievement , for Switzerland and the world ?

Our dream is that Geneva — the local and international organisations, place all initiators, early adopters into Living Labs attached to all current public and private organisations with the above two missions.

Even the communes and cantons would start to get there, to address the whole federal system, over time.

Some federating methods like Roadmap 2030 and an ICT meta-integral integrating tool like resilience.io

A Lab of Labs would then be constituted to bring to life the global goal number 17 — including and aligning public private and civil society stakeholders to insure the optimisation of acceleration towards SDGs and NDCs, reaching for a common greater good, the true societal sustainability, at typology level 3.0 , as defined by University of St Gallen and Business School of Lausanne: www.truebusinesssustainability.org .

May we become truly wise, and enjoy fully a new new mindset, worldview and societal win win partnerships in the 21st century.

SYNTHESIS: see picture below; PDF link with access to references here

SYNTHESIS