There are technical specialist consultations. And there are big consulting firms like McKinsey, Roland Berger and Boston Consulting. What distinguishes the SEgroup?

Brigitte Bauder: We do not possess ready-made solutions; we bring the tools to solve a problem. In order for a solution to be sustainable, it must come out of the system itself. The problem solving experts are those people affected by the problem.

Alexander Kiehne: This is also because of our values and that we are committed to the process. We are not specialist consultants. Our expertise is mindful empowerment. We help in the achievement of business goals without having to dismantle an organization.

You are systemic organizational consultants, or "change fellows". There are systemic banks, risks and even constellations, but that's not what you mean by "systemic", is it?

Kiehne: To us, systemic denotes a context of communication which predicates its own social system. For example, the legal system, economic system or, for us, the customer/client system or the consultant system. In addition to configuring their own forms of language, along this sense, these "social systems" also construct different paradigms or rationalities. One must recognize these peculiarities during the change process. These critical success factors are then discussed, clarified and integrated within an advisory system based on a time scale. The resulting interventions fit and we achieve greater connectivity and sustainability.

What do "change fellows" do?

Bauder: As change fellows, we support organizations that want to evolve and change. Using co-creation, meaning: participatory, multi-disciplinary and cross-cultural.

Kiehne: Exactly. Change fellows also have the task of feeding objectives and expectations back into what is realistically possible. We ask whether the organization is even ready for certain developments. Instruments, such as our Organizational Readiness Check or Systemic Inquiry help in gaining clarity. A change fellow explores new realms of possibility in a type of continuous ping-pong with the client.

Mrs. Bauder, you are a Six Sigma Black Belt and Lean Expert. What is actually systemic in your work?

Bauder: My thinking. My approach. And of course, the different formats of our daily work can be superbly enriched with process management tool boxes, like Six Sigma and Lean. Sometimes an SIPOC can be useful if you want to define the processes within the change process. But also tools like stakeholder analysis make a good contribution in the navigation of a change project. And the Six Sigma Roadmap - define first, then analyze and measure, then implement and again evaluate - is, of course, the basis of all projects.

Stakeholder analysis is indeed now standard in organizations. What would be a tool not yet known to most change managers?

Bauder: The SEgroup has developed a very effective instrument, Systemic Inquiry (SI). An SI can take place at different points in time during a process. The SI is a combination of qualitative and appreciative interviews with relevant stakeholders of a project. Firstly, expectations are collected. Secondly, the interview is already the first intervention - a call to observe oneself and a reflection on the current situation: Where are we today? What's next? And are we ready for it? The consideration and discussion of these issues results in a change in one's own behavior. That's always a nice wow factor for organizations. Alex, perhaps you can say a little bit about it, as well?

Kiehne: Gladly. Two points are important to me. First, the appreciation of the interviewees whose perspectives on a project are being collected. "XY Department has considered this and that and before they begin their development, they are very interested in your perspective".  How's that for an appreciative statement? And, it helps the interviewee to send further messages via a third party. The other point already found resonance in you, Brigitte, namely the possibility to set an initial intervention through the interview. One can understand the interview as an additional channel of communication. Because through SI the development plans and change projects are broadly communicated. Within a team, but also throughout the organization. This draws individual and organizational attention towards the change. Change becomes tangible because it is more transparent; the perspective changes. People can give the change a direction. Or at least give suggestions on what, in their view, should not happen.

Mr. Kiehne, the SEgroup understands itself as a think tank. If systemic organizational consulting has such a high priority within the SEgroup, then what about the research?

Kiehne: The one determines the other. Organizations exist in a dynamic environment. Ideally, their adjustments are also dynamic. A consulting organization which, as an outside observer, dismisses these phenomena would eventually develop cyclopean perspectives, thus producing a lot of blind spots. Therefore, research as a reflection of these dynamics is fundamental. At the level of the research itself, the scientific results are generic. On the level of consultancy - and at the level of the SEgroup as an organization - the results are then observed as transfer payments: as new methods, instruments and tools to support change, transition and development.

Kiehne: Exactly in that same way. Culture is often only talked about at the level of ethnically-based cultures. But organizations are often not really aware that they manage different cultures every day. Engineers, lawyers and managers each have their own specific cultures in which their own rationales are expressed. Here a social issue, derived from abstract theory, becomes observable - and thus verifiable. Moreover, it becomes designable. Systemic thinking directs attention towards this point in that it hypothesizes that different systems or players have different rationalities.

Bauder: Of course, one must be interested in each specific culture in order to insure connectivity. But our experience shows that the approach of the SEgroup works both in China and in America, at the level of production as well as in the administrative area, or with a bank as well as in a heavy engineering company.

How then is your culture actually represented, in the SEgroup organization?

Bauder: If you come into the office in the morning, you never know which organization is waiting for you, but you know that the SEgroup will be a different one in the evening. We claim that we test everything on ourselves before we take it to a client for use. And so, the SEgroup does not remain without change.

Kiehne: Exactly. We really can not preach water and drink wine. Whoever speaks about management and leadership cannot, with good reason, avoid transparency, authenticity and participation. So these are also part of the foundation of the SEgroup. Our charter sets out how we want to design our internal processes and our business processes. And therefore, consistent self-application is almost paradigmatic to our understanding of culture.

Interview: Holger Dewitz

Rarely does a new consortium partner let the SEgroup know, right from the beginning, that he desires to work in his home country on a permanent basis. Mobility and engaging in exchange between cultures is, after all, very core to the essence of advisers. Hailing from Kathmandu, Suraj Dahal, part of the SEgroup since 2011, has the best reasons for his decision: "I want to dedicate my work to the development of Nepal, my homeland. I am needed most here."

Suraj Dahal is not only the General Secretary of the Project Management Association of Nepal (PMAN), but also very well connected internationally through roles as correspondent for the PM Forum and appraiser for the IPMA International Project Award.

Suraj Dahal is writing his doctoral thesis, entitled "Confidence in Development", within the framework of the CCCPM.

The regional focus of the SEgroup is continuing to take shape. On 16 February, Brigitte Bauder will be opening the new SEgroup office in Stuttgart: "Baden-Wuerttemberg is truly the power house of medium-sized enterprise and industry. As a consultant, my main clients are located either in Southern Germany or abroad. And as a Swabian, I look forward, after a ten year stint in Berlin, to returning to my hometown."

This year, Brigitte Bauder is not only changing her place of residence, but also setting a new course regarding the substance of her work. In 2012, she will be complementing her current focus as a change consultant with the completion of a training as a systemic mediator in organizations, at the Berlin Artop-Institute.

The PM Forum took place at CCN Ost, at the Nuremberg Trade Fair, from 25 to 26 October 2011. The Franconian city is the headquarters of the German Association for Project Management and as every year, the venue of the forum.

As the national equivalent of the major international conventions, such as the superordinated overall organization IPMA (International Project Management Association) and the PMI (Project Management Institute), the event is a national focal point for project managers, scientists and project management enthusiasts from all over Germany.

This year's PM Forum was titled "Project-Finest Hour - Radiant Success through Expertise". Good project management is seen as a core competency in the framework of strong professionalisation in an increasingly project-oriented industry. Thus, the keynote was also marked by a successful project from Nuremberg, the construction of the only automatic subway operating in Germany. In addition, the Congress was divided, on the one hand, into lectures on the best practices in recent years of mainly national projects and product presentations, on the other.

The forum offered SEgroup's Steve Raue an attractive platform to exchange ideas with experts. Of particular interest were papers on the dialectics of complex, international and intercultural projects, and interdisciplinary approaches. The general outline showed a heightened awareness that project management seems to be influenced by cultural, or respectively, paradigmatic differences, and that negotiation processes must be taken into account in the understanding of project teams.

Many contributions touched on the areas of social systems and complexity, which are often underlit in projects. These contributions took place during the formal presentations as well as in conversations during breaks.

Louis Klein on managing complex projects

Complex Project Management

Holger Dewitz: What distinguishes a complicated problem from a complex one?

Dr. Louis Klein: A rule of thumb for the identification of complex projects is asking: Are people involved? People can change their opinions or their levels of interest change - then it becomes complex because I'll have to deal with reflexivity. The result of an input feeds back into a previous process step and this often changes the rules. If the stakeholder has a preference that is different from my technical logic of production, then it is good for me if I've previously made myself familiar with this preference.

Chip shop example: A customer comes into a chip shop and chooses a Coke - simple problem. But if he says, "I'd like a Coke, a sausage and chips." it becomes more complicated. Then I can make critical-path reflections. From the production perspective, I begin with that which takes the longest: I throw the fries in the deep fryer and the customer gets everything at once. Sometimes, however, complexity comes into play. Maybe the customer wants his coke or a beer right away and the food later. Then stakeholder analysis is helpful: "Do you want your beer first or should I go ahead and put the fries in?"

As well as the technical components - and I would like to involve in addition to the engineering, the commercial perspective - there are the political and cultural perspectives. This triad in project management of the technical, political, cultural corresponds to the three lenses in the TPC-matrix by Noel Tichy. If I estimate a million for the technical realization, then I need a million to provide for political complexity and another million for cultural complexity. Surveying people, organizing a round table, bringing people together, conducting information policy all costs money.

Dewitz: A round table is still cheaper than building a railway station in Stuttgart?

Klein: We are talking about a period of 15 years. A good participatory policy would have had its price, but spared the costs of police operations. And of course, politics are played not only around the project, but also within the project.

Dewitz: That teams temporarily revolve around themselves is understandable. But three times the cost?

Klein: Show me a project in the public sector which remained within its cost approach. And, failed projects cost money, too.

Dewitz: If two-thirds of the costs are owed to politics and culture, then alarms should to be going off in the ministries of science and in corporate foundations, and this research area would be flooded with funds?

Klein: "Should" is such a wonderful subjunctive. In order to advance the research, we and the International Centre for Complex Project Management have launched the doctoral program "Cross-Cultural Complex Project Management". But this is independent research by the SEgroup and not funded by tax money or through grants from industry.

Dewitz: In Germany, there is no course of study called "Management of Complex Projects", not even a Wikipedia article about "social complexity".

Klein: There is a course in Brisbane which is accepted internationally. In Germany, there are good approaches in Friedrichshafen and Witten-Herdecke. But we should not suddenly teach complex project management instead of project management. My suggestion would be to align the training of the project manager with the trinity of the TPC approach. A nerd will never be a good project manager. Conversely, someone who knows how to deal with people, to negotiate interests, to explore cultural spaces and has a clue about technology will always be a good project manager.

Complex Change Management

Dewitz: What do I do as a change manager? Do I hire a complexity consultant or do I say to colleagues: take care of the soft factors and get HR and internal communications on board, they have skills?

Klein: All steps in the right direction. In practice, systemic organizational development consultants take a complementary role and provide a technically oriented manager with solutions in the political realm and the cultural. What is often overlooked is that change, therefore, is usually in the form of projects. Good change consultants are always good project managers. They can use instruments such as stakeholder analysis, qualitative interviews and focus groups to handle large group events and are able to visualize power relations and derive communications plans.

Dewitz: So is the management of complex projects a question of better communication?

Klein: Corporate communication can make a contribution. But what is important is seeing the big picture. Moreover, in an industrial company, corporate communications and human resources are small areas compared to production. The future question is: Who actually produces in the production? Computers, robots and machines are replacing from below everything that can be linearised, or respectively, trivialised. The only jobs that remain, deal with complexity.

Klein: If we can answer this question, then we are looking at "the next ERP". With so-called Enterprise Resource Planning programs, such as SAP, technical and commercial processes can be modeled. What would be possible if we could model political and cultural processes in their interactions? Then we would have the chance to map an organisation in its entirety. And terms such as audit and compliance would be solutions to problems that would no longer be faced in the integrated system.

Dewitz: In risk management, we have scenario plans and early warning systems. Proven tools and accepted methods exist in Six Sigma. This is more difficult in the young discipline of complexity management. What already exists?

Klein: Complexity management focuses on four levels. When I think about leadership and management, I always start with myself, leading myself. The second point brings the others into view: leading others - how do I lead others? Third, leading organisations, the ability to read the organisation as a social system, the ability to read their policy and culture and to assess their options, is still widely neglected today. And as the fourth point, leading change. This is in contrast to the organisation which thrives on its routines. Crossing over to the side of change and learning to read opportunities for change, so they can be updated in terms of management intent.

Dewitz: How to make sense - how do I as a manager handle the complexity of social systems, how do I get a clear picture, how do I deal with it?

Klein: Well, then I go along with Luhmann and say that social systems are communication systems. Communication happens in stories. These narratives are condensed around foci of attention and describe interiors, spaces of meaning and, therefore, spaces of possibility. Something is constantly being told somewhere. What we think is reality, is retold again and again differently. This applies to the whole range of sense making, creation and the meaning of storytelling.  The smartest or most authentic vision of the world is not stabilized, but one that works. For the project manager, this means expanding situational potential in time for strategic communications and creating channel capacity; thus, building up regular communications relationships, establishing networks and learning how to respond to stakeholders.

Complex Stakeholder Democracy

Dewitz: Is there a link between risk management and complex project management?

Klein: If one stays with the classical distinction between hazards and risks, then complex project management transfers hazards into risks. Then, I know what I am getting into.

Dewitz: If policy costs more, then the first reaction is not: more politics. An option in the expansion of power lines for the energy revolution in Germany would be: use leverage in the administrative court procedures and shorten the legal process. How dangerous is this for democracy?

Klein: Basically, not at all. What we could incur is a slowdown like in Switzerland. And more populism. We will not want to avoid a debate about giving people the chance to retract a return because they are getting smarter. Let us stay with the power lines. This technology especially reminds me of Italian partisan songs that were about blowing up electricity pylons. Which is relatively simple. So, I have a highly vulnerable technology that I do not want to put at risk by fundamentally inviting resistance. I would be well advised to take care which participatory processes are perceived as fair by those affected. This may be the referendum or focus groups or future conferences. It can also be: "Expropriate me, I'll hold out my hand and get my compensation." But one can ask, and listen, and then it becomes known.

Dewitz: For example government debt. Are ratings as classic complexity reducers wise risk control?

Klein: A state that is bust is bust. This is not particularly complex. The question is interesting only when we ask: "What should we do so it does not happen again?" Then, of course, we quickly find ourselves in a situation that is highly systemic and highly complex.

Because we have many parameters available which convey that in the way we are currently living democracy in "the West", we are structurally bankrupt. What are the adjusting levers? This is not at all trivial and also not linear, but more a generational issue. Where large infrastructure projects get out of hand, there is pain. There are stakeholders affected by national debt who say: Not this way, anymore.

We will also want to jointly embark on a learning journey to find out how we can strengthen our political and cultural competences in dealing with ourselves. Targeted research in the social sciences would be particularly pertinent in cultural studies and political science. But it is more important to dare a practice which gets involved in complexity in order to learn how to arrive at a balance of technical, political and cultural complexity.

(The interview by Holger Dewitz can be found in full at www.SEgroup.de.)

This year for the first time, Steve Raue traveled, as a representative of SEgroup, to the North American Congress of the Project Management Institute (PMI), the biggest event in the field of project management. From 22 – 25 October, some 3,000 trade visitors informed themselves about the latest project management approaches in metropolitan Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas.

A strong orientation towards software tools was noticeable in the very practical but the extremely over-sized program guide. Since most of the congress is geared to a wider audience in North America, the presentations exhaustively focussed on general topics.

The strength of the PMI Congress lies, thus, more in excellent networking opportunities between the numerous lectures, workshops and panel discussions.

Steve Rough, a PhD student at Cross-Cultural Complex Project Management, found the scientific exchange with other experts on the complexity of project management especially productive. This was very true of one particular conversation with Manfred Saynisch, project management researcher and founding member of the German Association for Project Management, who was supported by Steve Raue at the awards ceremony for the article of the year award in the Project Management Journal. The next PMI Global Congress for Europe, the Middle East and Africa will be held in early May, in Marseilles.

"From Passion to power for projects" was the title of this year's GPM Young Crew Workshop. The event, which is the junior branch of the PM Forum of the German Association for Project Management (GPM) and is particularly directed at project management talent, was held at the Technology Centre Aachen, from November 4 – 5.

The Young Crew is a separate organization within the GPM and is open to membership for anyone up to age 35. Through events such as workshops and independent projects of members, exchange is encouraged as well as the realistic implementation of theory into practice. Called to participate in the workshop were both experienced, senior project managers, and especially, young professionals and students.

With its proximity to Luxembourg and the Netherlands, the Aachen meeting embodied the international nature of the event. This became clear within the thematic streams, one of which was only offered in English and was, therefore, a platform for foreign guests and presenters. The topics ranged from agile project management, team development, leadership and management development through to project communication.
The SEgroup and the doctoral program Cross-Cultural Complex Project Management (CCCPM) were represented by Steve Raue and Fahri Akdemir with a workshop on "Managing Cross-Cultural Complexity - a project management competence". The focus here was to make visible to the outside the research program and the timeliness of the topic. The workshop participants were led on a journey of discovery of their often unnoticed views and differences in project management.

In retrospect, the Young Crew Workshop will be regarded as an innovative exception in the conference calendar. While young project managers can expand their knowledge and skills, long-time experts are able through critical exchange with students with respect to current theoretical knowledge innovative insights into their practice.

Daniela Beck is beginning this year with intense "mental work" for her doctoral thesis at the University of St. Gallen's Asia Research Center. In her PhD, she is investigating contextual learning in social entrepreneurship projects in Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam. In 2011, Daniela Beck was included in the CCCPM research group. From her thesis, she brings knowledge dealing with complexity and uncertainty and is pleased with the positive mutual academic exchange. Daniela Beck is simultaneously present for the SEgroup in  Munich. The continued expansion of SEgroup Munich office is planned for 2012.

Suk-Han Tang has returned to China. Before Suk-Han Tang moved from Berlin to the Hongkou district of Shanghai, in August 2011, she'd spent two decades in the West. At the time she started school in Paris, her birthplace, Hong Kong, was still a British colony.

After having completed her studies in London, she spent the last few years at the SEgroup's Berlin office. Now, she is preparing for new assignments in China by taking intensive courses in Mandarin. She is also in the process of acquiring an additional diploma in strategic and lean consulting.

The

Just a week before the start of the change workshop, previously independent teams from Beijing and Shanghai were merged and the number of engineers was reduced by half. The manager in charge of the change project's global roll-out feared the worst: "With this amount of organizational stress, I thought things would get ugly. But things developed differently. There was a need for a plan. And that was the operating model, itself. Thanks to clear structures, everyone knew where they belonged. Suddenly, leadership had a face, at least in the intranet. "

Louis Klein and Brigitte Bauder, as systemic organizational consultants, had already supported the development of the operating model in Europe. Consequently, they developed the workshop design for the client: a one-week workshop entitled "Real Time Strategic Change Workshop", RTSC. From the perspective of the project owner on the client's side, the accommodation of social, cultural and political components during the planning phase of the change was crucial to its success: "At the local kick-off meeting, we tried to treat the merger tactfully: everyone on the team was able to express what he found important and what bothered him most about the merger. Balance was important: neither Beijing nor Shanghai was to enjoy a home team advantage. So, we held the workshop on neutral ground: in the meeting room of a factory in Inner Mongolia."

From the point of view of the change experts, they found the following especially remarkable: the extremely high percentage of women engineers, at 40%; the exact preparations of the participants; and the high number of critical and very precise questions from the Chinese side about the new operating model.
From Brigitte Bauder's perspective: "Of course there are differences. But the awareness involved in the systemic approach at a workshop generally works as well in China as in Europe or North America. There was a simple indicator of the authentic need for social interaction among the participants: nobody ever came back from the breaks on time. And that was a good sign."

C’n’B, Creativity and Business Convention, took place in Cologne as part of the opening events of the c/o Pop Festival. The convention is a place ‘Where creativity and business, digital innovations and real perspectives trade and people get together…’, said the C’n’B organisers.

It was all about creative business innovation. Whether it was a speed-dating style meet-up of creative and digitally minded people, or start-up mentoring sessions with the likes of Zach Klein, founder of Vimeo, the event promised to be more than just entertainment. Also on the plate were digital DIY (do it yourself) workshops meant for artists and communicators alike, discussions on the ever-controversial topic of the value of the arts in the digital age, looks into new working lifestyles propelled by digital workspaces such as the coworking movement, and how business in general can learn from how the music industry is re-molding itself in the new age of content sharing.

The steering committee, including Dr. Louis Klein - Managing Director of SEgroup Berlin, strived to fill the three days with non-stop thought-provoking events and intelligent happenings to serve as the perfect meeting ground for people approaching the same topics from different perspectives. Check out the full list of activities and watch the space for next year’s event here.

SEgroup continues to bring fresh thinking in with the addition of Micheala Thoma as Consortional Partner. She has been and will continue to be, coordinator of the Cross-Cultural Complex Project Management (CCCPM) Doctorate of Philosophy (PhD) programme.

Ms. Thoma brings experience in the form of her own expansive research towards developing a more comprehensive approach towards project management. Her application of which works in contrast to the dominant technocratic approaches in the field that are known to favor technical knowledge over all other factors.

The role as coordinator requires an abundance of capacity of functions. Responsibilities begin with much communication with the Phd candidates in all phases of the process, from the development of individual doctorates to monitoring and guiding the various steps of their extensive research projects. The overarching position also includes compendious evaluation of the overall progress of the programme, as well as further developing it through the organisation of conferences and events.

The management of so many projects will definitely be a great benefit in terms of further developing her skills and competences. "What excites me about is that it fits with my own research interests, that were already in existence before" she continues. Already there is a conference of all of the PhD candidates set in Berlin for June. The meetings and workshops will work to enhance the programme further as well as presenting the sort of breeding grounds for idea sharing that everyone in the project will benefit from.

All together now – working across disciplines: People, principles and practice.

President ISSS Dr Jennifer Wilby and Vice-President Dr Louis Klein invite for the 55th ISSS Meeting of the International Society for the Systems Sciences and International Symposium on Knowledge and Systems Science set this year on the theme: “All together now – working across disciplines: People, principles and practice.”

"All together now" shall be an invitation to explore the conditions for the possibility to improve and increase systemic applications and the performance for contemporary and future challenges in business, politics, project management and education - to name but a few. The conference is to be held at Hull University Business School, in Hull, UK, July 17-22, 2011 and participants are strongly encouraged to submit an abstract for a full paper or poster, or organize a workshop or other event.

Important dates:

• March 15, 2011: Deadline for panel, workshop and stream proposals
• April 30, 2011:  End of early, discounted registration
• May 15, 2011: Deadline for full papers
• June 15, 2011:   Final deadline for abstracts and poster abstract submission
• July 16-17 2011: Pre-conference workshops
• July 17-22 2011: Conference

The ISSS has been formally established since 1956 with purpose "to encourage the development of theoretical systems which are applicable to more than one of the traditional departments of knowledge.“ Every year since its inception cross-disciplinary discussions have been held. In the beginning purely theoretical and technical considerations were delved into, but over the course of the years the scope has broadened considerably to include the practical application of systems methodologies to problem solving. Continuing in the direction set forth upon in its early days, with room for the confluence of knowledge to guide and change course for optimal flow, the meeting has the ambition to focus equally on the practical side of systemic application as they have on the academic side.

Further information regarding conference registration, paper submission, accommodation and travel is available on the website.

SEgroup is proud to introduce Steve Raue, an exciting addition to the group. After working as an independent consultant in public sector development, he came to us last month as our newest Junior Consortial Partner.

This unique role created last year provides the opportunity for young professionals to grow expertise in research and consulting while safely fostering entrepreneurial and independent practice within our think tank.

As Steve Raue describes it: "The cooperation model at SEgroup is very unique and entering the think tank as Junior Consortial Partner is exciting, you get the chance to team up with professionals from various fields and create a pool of vast experience, while at the same time enjoying the freedom to push your potentials.“

With special expertise in the analysis and enhancement of potentials in organisation cultures and a focus on change management and organisational development, we expect his fresh perspectives will be a truly beneficial asset for the communal knowledge base. We also aim to promote his interest in cultivating his expertise in the field of Cross-Cultural Complex Project Management (CCCPM).

‘I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of old ones.’-John Cage

As digitalisation compels further globalization markets are changing rapidly, and cross-cultural understanding, exchange, and dialogue are more important than ever before, the need for fundamental change in business models within the creative industries has become more than apparent. The C’n’B provides an excellent position point for stirring new ideas, as it is a stomping ground of creative and business minded alike.

C’n’B – The creative business convention, embedded within an indie and electronic music festival c/o Pop 2011, acts as a meeting of the creative industries and business in Cologne, Germany. Set for 22-24 June 2011 the convention promises to be an energised arena for the meeting of minds from a myriad of fields.

Dr. Louis Klein, Managing Director of SEgroup Berlin, joins the steering committee of the convention along with music industry professionals ranging from producers, festival organizers, labels, and intellectual property lawyers, to name a few. He comes to the table with expertise in creatively innovating business and managing the evolution of established systems.

Embracing innovation in such an invigorating environment, as well as taking advantage of the currents of adaptation that the music industry must make in order to continue propelling themselves within the world of web technology, is one way of broadening and embracing interdisciplinary understanding. Of course the music and musicians will add an element of excitement as well.

‘It’s our responsibility as a think tank to engage in any kind of expert  talk where possible and where our expertise in social complexity, is applicable.’ Dr. Louis Klein, Managing Director SEgroup Berlin.

Dr. Klein and Birgit Andrag, Managing Director of SEgroup Cape Town, met with Marc Drewell, the CEO of the Globally Responsible Leadership Initiative (GRLI), which was initiated as part of the United Nations Global Compact (Global Compact). Together the GRLI and Global Compact seek to align business strategy with principles that ensure stability and sustainability to benefit economies and society by promoting leaders well versed in advocacy, best practice, and innovation.

During the collaborative talks some time was focused on the SEgroup’s Leadership 21, a study that examines the key role of entrepreneurial thinking in sustainable business development, and its relation to the ambition of the GRLI. The informal discussions allowed both parties an in-depth exploration and sharing of expertise in developing leaders. Furthermore, how the continued relationship will enable beneficial contributions towards stable and sustainable practices in business.

The relationship shall continue to be nurtured with invitations for discourse and mutual endowment of knowledge and information, galvanising the relationship well into the future.

Chongming, an Island north of Shanghai, is a part of Greater Shanghai and the second largest Island of the Peoples Republic. It was chosen by Chinese Authorities to be transformed into a “Green zone” in the course of the Shanghai Expo. The aim is to develop sustainable ways for agriculture, producing organic food and to serve as a starting point for incoming eco-friendly tourism. Furthermore Chongming is designated as a hub for medical tourism and to become a showcase of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).
Studio TAO as the design consulting branch of TEKTAO, a Chinese research group, was selected to design and implement parts of the major plan. The approach is to use design as a catalyst for sustainable living in rural-urban contexts, bridging traditional values with new opportunities for socioeconomic change.
As a part of the wider collaboration between Studio TAO and the SEgroup, senior members of SEgroup’s knowledge project SocialDesignSite were asked to facilitate a workshop and give advice about the impact of social design. Now, in time with the Shanghai Expo, a book has been published about the “Chongming Sustainable Community Project” by TEKTAO, including a contribution from editors of SocialDesignSite. 
“This exceptional project has great potential”, says Suk-Han Tang, Consortial Partner within the SEgroup and responsible for the SocialDesignSite, “"Exploring social design for such an ambitious project, enables to uncover and reveal the great potential it holds and is certainly the way to enable true sustainability. We really hope to see this project realized."

Design Harvests - Chongming Xianqiao, Sustainable Community Design Research Project ISBN nr: 978-0747595823 -3

Culture is about surprise. Like a theatre-play, a night at the opera or a video festival, we have a certain amount of met expectations, but we also expect an element of surprise. Culture itself on the other hand needs a certain element of reliability.  Wages, royalties and a lot more have to be planned before the curtain rises the first time. In short, money is the interface between culture and politics. The bi-annual Cultural Development Plan (in German: Kulturentwicklungsplan) in Frankfurt (Oder) adresses the topic.

As the times are, upcoming culture development plans are not allocated higher funds. Instead, due to a shrinking budget, culture has to manage with less funds than in the last years. A community such as Hamburg with its steep cuts for the Schauspielhaus is a good example. Savings are simply decreed by the powers that be and due to this, highly controversial cutbacks are being made.

The mayor of Frankfurt (Oder) instead chose another approach: to include stakeholders and concerned parties right from the start and to have the process facilitated by external experts. Therefore from the beginning, Frankfurt (Oder) relied on local resources and expertise. Thus the mayor chose the well-known University, Europa-Universität Viadrina for its research work in culture. Janine Nuyken, Vice president of the Viadrina then included SEgroup Consortial Partner Alexander Kiehne in this facilitation process.
The city focused on asking the stakeholders themselves to deal with necessary cutbacks instead of predetermined percentages. Among the possible solutions are cooperations between theatres to reducing costs without cutting programs or quality.

Alexander Kiehne is positive that the process will be finished successfully in due time for the deciding city council meeting in November. “So far the good results justify the process”, states Mr. Kiehne.
“Beside the political parameters, it was interesting to facilitate outside of a master-design, but with ad-hoc designs after each step. So it was less of a co-moderation for me, but a co-processing facilitation.”
He was especially impressed with the negotiation processes of different mindsets and action-guiding paradigms inside culture, arts, administration and politics. “It was interesting to see that people with very different interests managed to develop a keen sense for other perspectives towards culture and it’s financing beyond their organisational and personal points of views.”

It seems that when stakeholders are involved right from the start, even cutbacks can be discussed surprisingly matter-of-factly.

Sometimes the efficiency of an organisation is a matter of life and death. Not in a technical sense, where the life of customers may sometimes depend on the reliability of a consumer product, but literally here, when it comes to the efficiency of organisations that fight capital punishment and generate action to stop grave abuses of human rights.
Probably the most respected and influential pressure group among the many organisations that lobby human rights is Amnesty International. This organisation supports defendants worldwide and petitions heads of states in cases of unfair trials especially if the death penalty is imminent.  As a non-governmental organisation, Amnesty International’s resources are scarce, even with more than 100,000 supporters in the German section alone. The contact between Amnesty International and Systemic Excellence Group was established in 2008 when a team of researchers from SEgroup conducted a study on NGOs with focus on social, political and public affairs called “Next Practice NGO”.
SEgroup has a renowned expertise in supporting NGO’s to improve their organisational capacities. Consequentially, the German section of Amnesty International decided to benefit from this expertise to prepare itself for the future, thus becoming SEgroup’s first client awarded with a Nobel Peace Prize.
The original team was comprised of Nils Diederichsen, Fabian Hoffmann, former SEgroup Consortial Partner Claas Wenzlik and Alexander Kiehne as supervisor. In 2009 the extensive project started with a systemic evaluation. The objective of the evaluation was a closer look inside the organisation to have a better impact outside.
As Fabian Hoffmann puts it: “The traditional approach would have been an organisational realignment as a means of strategic development but in this case, we decided together with our client to have a close look at structures and procedures inside the daily work: to lobby for human rights.”
A second sub-project was deducting measurements from the evaluation projects for re-organisation. Among the central issues were the future organisational structure, prospective processes, and how cooperation and communication can be enhanced in order to reach the prime objective more effectively: doing human rights work.
As Monika Lüke, secretary general of the German section approved the plan, the experts of SEgroup co-created job descriptions for the 52 professionals, developed team structures and created an elaborated draft for the organisation body in close collaboration with the client. “That was something I appreciated during the project,” says Fabian Hofmann, “we developed nothing behind closed doors, but did everything together with our client. That is a typical strength of the systemic approach and being close to the organisation during the process is something that benefits the organisation.”
The project for Amnesty International in Germany still goes on.

The International Centre for Complex Project Management (ICCPM) announced that the inaugural Research Prize would be awarded to a team of three scholars from Germany for an interdisciplinary group submission on the theme “Mastering Complex Projects by radical Rethinking of PM”.
The ICCPM, a non-profit initiative of government bodies and corporate partners in Australia, the UK and the US, honours Manfred Saynisch, Thomas Baumann and Dr. Louis Klein (Managing Director of the SEgroup), for scientific progress in the field of complex project management.
The focus of Dr. Klein was the insight that social and cultural complexity is ever more becoming a critical success factor in managing complex projects. As Dr. Klein puts it: “We could do much more exciting and progressive things in complex project management, if we would just dare.”  Dr. Klein finds it “especially rewarding, that the award honours the work of the newest development inside the SEgroup – the knowledge project CCCPM (Cross Cultural Complex Project Management).”

Some things are best done by external experts. The systemic consultants of the SEgroup, whose success heavily depends on the advantages of external observations, are the first to admit that.  On the other hand, some critical standard processes can be done in-house. That includes figures and numbers. From April on, says Brigitte Bauder, the new acting vice President of finance, “SEgroup aims on higher transparency in financial matters. Therefore we switch to cost centre accounting, change our tax consulting office and do a lot of what we have outsourced in the past from now on in-house.” Most of the change was finished 1st of July.

Our Kids is about transforming Ukraine’s traditional vast foster homes towards small living groups. Offering some kind of family life for children who already suffered from dysfunctional families and a lack of emotional warmth and feeling of security was made possible thanks to the “German-Polish-Ukrainian society”, a Berlin-based charity. In collaboration with the Humboldt Viadrina School of Governance (HVSG), the SEgroup supervised pilot projects of this Public Private partnership in Ukraine’s capital Kiev.
Part of the supervision team was Dr. Louis Klein, Managing Director of the SEgroup: “We see this as a chance to bring change and an equalisation of standards to the European level of youth care by implementing these pilot projects.”
The transformation initially meant a steep cultural change for the involved civil servants and Dr. Klein says he was “amazed to see the level of passion and commitment, not only among the European partners and the President of the Ukraine and other leaders who sponsored the project, but as well inside the rank and file of the national and local institutions of Ukraine’s public sector.”

The CCCPM, a knowledge project of the SEgroup presented its first findings during the session of the APRPM (Asia Pacific Research Conference on Project Management) in Melbourne, Australia, from February 24th through 26th.
The Emphasis of CCCPM’s research is on understanding the importance of social and cultural complexity for successful project management.
Most studies prove that projects rarely fail due to technical complexity. More often, management of social and cultural complexity is a critical success factor for complex projects. Research in this field becomes the base of knowledge to respond properly to handling global challenges such as changes in demographics, aids, climate, and overheating financial systems.
As Dr. Louis Klein, Managing Director of the SEgroup and Research Director of the CCCPM puts it: “That is research beyond engineering. The ability to manage diversity as a critical success factor requires virtually “Going to the other side”. Both as agenda setting and as substantial research work, CCCPM is enabling project managers to act upon science and knowledge in uncharted waters.”

For its first Learning Expedition, SEgroup offers a one day event organised in cooperation with Petra Richard from Gedankengang. She is a management consultant on new dimensions of creativity such as spiritual, emotional and social intelligence. Key note speakers next to Petra Richard are Anselm Bilgri, former prior of abbey Andechs and Professor Wolfgang Walkowiak, Neurobiologist, University of Cologne. This event will be held in German.

For further information and registration please contact: Diese E-Mail-Adresse ist gegen Spambots geschützt! Du musst JavaScript aktivieren, damit Du sie sehen kannst.

>> Programme

Systemic Excellence Group Office Berlin announces Consulting 21, an explorative discourse study on the future of consulting. Managers, consultants and experts will be challenged to explore the value consulting may create in regard of social responsibility. If you are interested in participating to the study, please sign up before 15. March 2010 at Diese E-Mail-Adresse ist gegen Spambots geschützt! Du musst JavaScript aktivieren, damit Du sie sehen kannst.

>> Call for Participation

A Socialize your Knowledge Workshop was conducted on January 11 for an organisation which develops young leaders through education in a community near Guatemala City. “Los Patojos”, the young ones in Guatemalan Spanish, is a project providing after-school teaching and lunch for children, and developing a cooperative of mothers, youth programme and clinique. The project started in September 2006 and is to date taking care of more than 130 children from 5 to 18 years of age. The results of the workshop conducted under the keyword "motivation", were three presentations: the young ones, integral development and financial stability. On January 14, a follow-up workshop was held to adress specific topics.

SEgroup will present a paper on „Balancing Social and Cultural Complexity“and qualified for the Asian Pacific Research on Project Management Conference to be held at Monash University in Melbourne, 25 and 26 February 2010.

The Paper written by Dr.Louis Klein summarises the first findings of the CCCPM Research Project the SEgroup is conducting together with the Humboldt Viadrina School of Governance.

SEgroup participated to the “PRME/CBS International Conference on Responsible Management Education: Sustainable Leadership in the era of Climate Change” held on 23-24 November in Copenhagen. The outcome of the conference was a Call to Action for Management Education. Daniela Beck presented results of a study conducted at the Asia Research Center of University of St. Gallen, investigating on new learning forms which foster the competence streams of creativity, interdiciplinarity, imagination and innovation. These are seen crucial in the challenge to designing desired future in an era of climate change.

SocialDesignSite has created a community platform on Ning. This platform was created in response to the valuable feedback of our participating projects. Through this platform, the project seeks to offer a convenient and lively communication environment, enhance connections between the members of the community and provide opportunities for sharing, participation and collaboration. This is the place to share any kind of information, network, provide content, engage in discussions, join and create groups.

SocialDesignSite will be presented at the exhibition DREAM FOR A CAUSE - Social Design between Utopia and Reality from November 4 until December 12 2009 in Vienna. The event will also be the occasion to run a SoYouKnow workshop facilitated by Suk-Han Tang and Glória Costa on November 12, 2009 inviting participants to reflect on social design and focussing on the practical issues for a successful social design project. For more information concerning the exhibition and to access the full program, please visit this link.

What are you ready for?

The SEgroup presents its latest approach: the Organisational Readiness Check (ORC). Combining a set of in-house tools, methods and instruments, the approach evaluates and improves your organisation by posing three basics but essential questions for sustaining change: What can you do now? What can you do next? Will this be enough? Designed to be fully adaptable, the ORC is about tapping and unleashing all resources of your organisation to its full potential, guiding you through the sustainable change you are ready for.

>> Approach

On November 13, 2009 SEgroup will conduct the Innovate Change workshop in Berlin. The newly created format is characterised by creativity and playfulness with hands-on case studies, PowerPoint karaoke, and subgroup work. Participants will have the opportunity to experience change management from an entirely new perspective. Lateral thinkers, innovative change agents, and non-orthodox managers who are looking for an alternative approach to the topic are very much welcome to participate. This one day event will be conducted in German.

SocialDesignSite  is proud to announce that it has conducted two first SoYouKnow events. The first SoYouKnow took place on October 9, 2009 at the Young Crew Workshop in Berlin for young professionals and students in the field of project management. It lasted for three hours and received warm acceptance of the participants. The second SoYouKnow workshop was conducted on October 16, 2009 in Witzenhausen at the “Global Thinking – Local Responsibility” conference for the students of food business. The event was again welcomed by the audience.

SoYouKnow, standing for Socialize Your Knowledge, is an interactive and playful workshop format. During the event the participants have the opportunity to share knowledge, communicate on the topic of soft skills in project management and network with each other. The friendly atmosphere of SoYouKnow creates not only meaningful knowledge exchange, but also ground for dynamic and enjoyable learning. SocialDesignSite team will continue working on the SoYouKnow format. The next workshop will follow on November 13, 2009 in Vienna.

The editors of JPoX proudly announce the publication of a new video interview. Dirk Hillbrecht is the former chairman of the German Pirate Party, one of the youngest parties within the German political system. It specifically addresses Web 2.0 topics like data privacy and surveillance. In this interview Hillbrecht explains possible benefits of new technologies for the political process, as well as the digital divide within both the population at large and the political system and its actors specifically. He states that the Pirate Party can fulfill an essential role in voicing concerns and hinting at possibilities regarding the inclusion of new technologies in the political realm. We strongly recommend this video interview to anyone interested in the implications of new technologies and Web 2.0 for the political process, as well as the new possibilities these technologies bring about.

>> www.JPoX.eu

SEgroup is proud to announce the publication of the Next Practice NGO study. The study was realised in cooperation with the Humboldt-Viadrina School of Governance. Its aim was to help NGOs to reflect on their organisational capacity and to prepare themselves for the future. In 2008/2009, 31 leaders of NGOs were interviewed on how they are developing their organisations' capacity. The findings of these interviews are summarised in the study.

The results of the study were deepened in a discussion with some of the study participants during a workshop, which took place in June 2009 and was funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. A conference in autumn 2010 is planned as a next step to further foster the discourse on the future of the organisation of NGOs and to allow participants to share their experience and knowledge.

>> Management Summary (English, PDF)

>> The Study (German, PDF)

The JPoX team attended the Government 2.0 Camp, which took place on August 28, 2009 in Berlin. The event, held in the barcamp format, focused on the issues of Web 2.0 with regard to its usage by the government and in the public sphere. All sessions of the Barcamp, proposed and conducted by the participants themselves, aimed to reveal how transparency, participation and collaboration can be fostered by the modern states and their citizen. Three members of JPoX team – Jan Lachenmayer, Florian Popp and Stefan Rupp – offered a session presenting Journal on Political Excellence and debating the concept of next democracy. The participants discussed how JPoX can contribute to the development of next democracy through expert knowledge, political dialogue and networking.

SEgroup participated in the exhibition "Paradise Lost Or Lost In Paradise?", which took place on August 6, 2009 in the IFA Gallery in Berlin. The exhibition was ogranised by Sommerinstitut - an open network of young activists in the fields of economy and culture.

An interactive presentation, conducted by Jan Lachenmayer, explored the issue of the economic development of Dubai in times of boom and crisis. It seeked to show what contradictions, opportunities and challenges Dubai is facing at the moment. Participants were offered not only to learn about Jan's research on Dubai, but also to engage in vivid discussion in the form of World cafe.

SEgroup will carry out two events for the Young Crew Workshop 2009. Both of them will take place on October 9, 2009 in Berlin. This event is organised by the young fraction of the German Project Management Association, young project managers working voluntarily to disseminate knowledge and best practices in the field.

The first event presented by SEgroup is a workshop focusing on moderation and facilitation skills as important competences for project managers. Participants will be offered to learn and try out different techniques and approaches to direct more efficient meetings.

The second event, called "SoYouKnow", is conducted under the motto “Socialize your knowledge”. It is presented by the SocialDesignSite. This interactive knowledge sharing workshop allows its participants to determine its content themselves with the help of creative tools. The aim of "SoYouKnow" is to foster sharing of common knowledge and to allow for fruitful peer-to-peer communication. For more information, please visit www.youngcrew.de.

SEgroup participated in the SOIC 2009, the 5th Conference on Social and Organisational Informatics and Cybernetics (in the context of the Multi-Conference IMSCI). The conference took place from the July 10th – 13th, 2009, in Orlando, Florida, USA. The focus of the conference was on the social, societal and organisational problems in the information age, which are interrelated and need to be solved jointly by the means of multidisciplinary projects, interdisciplinary communications and transdisciplinary concepts and methodologies.

Fabian Hoffmann attended the conference as a speaker and chairman of a session in which he presented a paper on “Cross-Cultural Complex Project Management – Value Awareness in Virtual Project Teams”. His paper reflects on the impact of values in virtual project teams and, related to this, presents a research approach to explore the practice of values management.

The conference took place from July 12 – 17, 2009 in the University of Queensland. SEgroup was represented by Dr. Louis Klein, who held a presentation on social and cultural complexity in project management. He elaborated on the idea of ecology of paradigm and contributed to the conference’s aim to debate how to make liveable, sustainable systems unremarkable.

SEgroup presents an approach in-use now available in paper form. Explorative Culture Analysis, short ECA, is an approach to support decision-making and initiative-planning. With its explorative character based on the concept of micro anthropology it has a distinct advantage in comparison to traditional approaches in science, management and consulting. It is about gathering real life information and knowledge through generative interviews. The aim is to open up and tap into a field of collective intelligence and knowledge-making. The interviewees tell their story and their unique perspective, thereby providing access to their distinctive knowledge and expertise on the specific field of interest. The power of this approach has been proven in particular through our research efforts in Dubai (see Library).

>> Approach

SEgroup is proud to present a new paper, titled “Competitive Social Design – The Social Question of the Next Society”. The paper was completed by Dr. Louis Klein and presents the reflection on the new society, which is emerging under the influence of modern computer technologies. The idea behind this publication is to address the fundamental questions of the future through utilizing the opportunities of design-centered thinking. As the paper suggests, competitive social design can potentially become an appropriate response to the challenges of the new society.

>>  Paper

SEgroup participated in the 23rd International Project Management Association (IPMA) World Congress 2009 in Helsinki, Finland from 15 - 17 June. "It's time to refresh" was the official title of the conference and it focused on next practices, bringing together technical, behavioral and contextual competencies of project managers.

Dr. Louis Klein presented a paper on social and cultural complexity based on the findings by the Cross-Cultural Complex Project Management team. Currently established as a Graduate School Project, the CCCPM is gaining more international recognition. This fact can be verified by the enrollment of a new member during the congress, Suraj Dahal, president of the Project Management Association of Nepal. The world is in search of a way to balance social and technical competencies in complex project management, and the SEgroup is already one step ahead.

The editors of JPoX proudly announce the publication of a new video interview. Dr. John Hulsman is an Alfred von Oppenheim Scholar in Residence at the German Council for Foreign Relations in Berlin. In his interview, Hulsman examines democracy, party politics, and the political systems of Germany and the United States. For Hulsman, democracy is about changing people's opinions - something that top-ranking politicians in Germany do not have the heart to do - as he had come to find out during his uncounted, off-the-record conversations with them.

We strongly recommend this video interview for any player in the political field. It also provides interesting insights for politically interested citizens.

>> www.JPoX.eu

On June 4th and 5th, SEgroup organised and facilitated a workshop with a group of representatives of important German NGOs, which have participated in the “Next Practice NGO-Study”. The objective was to discuss the findings of the study and define the next steps to improve the organisational performance of NGOs. A vital outcome of the workshop was the preparation of a conference that will take place in 2010. The participants agreed on the main topic for the conference: “The Professionalism of NGOs”. SEgroup realised the workshop in cooperation with the Humboldt Viadrina School of Governance (HVSG) and with financial support of the German Federal Environment Ministry (BMU).

SEgroup is proud to present a new paper on cross-cultural project management. The paper was written by Jan Lachenmayer and is based on his three months research endeavour in Dubai. The paper, titled "Dubai: How to Build the Babylonian Tower Properly?" deals with cross-culture, complexity and the management of projects.

This paper presents the findings of several interviews through which he distilled and developed a general framework for mapping culture. This paper has generated very positive feedback, specifically in Dubai.

Integrating system thinking and design thinking, SEgroup attended the Design Organisation Media (DOM) Research Lab conference in Linz from 14 -17 May 2009. The aim of the conference was to explore how design - here not understood as a way of form shaping but as a way of creative thinking different from analysis - may add value in solving complex business problems. Speakers from Nike, Shell, ARUP, and Innovation Research amongst many others from the field of consulting, academia and research gathered to discuss the topic. 

The central hypothesis of the conference was that humanity in general and businesses specifically are currently facing complex problems which cannot be solved solely by analytical thinking anymore. Current problems have to be solved creatively inducing innovative products, services and processes. Thus design thinking is a creative approach towards innovative solution finding. The combination of design and business thinking leads to sustainability and enable cultural cohesion.

JPoX's intention is to foster a discourse on the improvement of political systems. Creating this discourse, we need your participation, your visits on the JPoX website, your comments and suggestions. We did not expect there would be thousands of people watching the interview with Albrecht Müller, eventually even causing our server to break down for some hours. In this case, the technical difficulties only highlighted the tremendous potential of the project. Of course the interview is online again at the JPoX website.

>> www.JPoX.eu

In March, the editors of the Journal on Political Excellence had the extraordinary chance to interview Stephen Aldrige, the acting director of the British Prime Minister's Strategy Unit of the Cabinet Office. Speaking from an insider's perspective, he provides insights into the work proceedings of political counsel in the United Kingdom. Regarding the project-based and long-term oriented work of the Strategy Unit, Aldridge's remarks are highly relevant in terms of Organisational and Political Excellence. The interview is now online at the JPoX website.

>> www.JPoX.eu

SEgroup is proud to present the final version of their knowledge project titled Alpha Change. Cultural change is increasingly recognised as a vital success factor for sustainable change. Alpha Change is a holistic approach, which allows sustainable cultural change as it generates awareness for cultural dimensions and relates specific measures to initiate cultural change in all dimensions.

For the initiation of successful cultural change the three aspects of cultural change namely; understanding change, understanding culture and understanding cultural change management have to be considered carefully. The approach is based on the framework of the cultural triangle, allowing a holistic observation of the dimensions that sharpen organisational culture: the values, the observable practices and the organisation's institutions. Alpha Change operationalises the cultural triangle and integrates the dimensions into cultural change management.

SEgroup has completed a new paper, titled "Next High Performance Organisation - Towards Organisational Integrity". In this paper we argue that High Performance Organisation (HPO) remains a myth and is hard to observe in reality. Nonetheless, aiming for the quality of an HPO pays off, as the underlying ideas can substantially contribute to foster a healthy development and increase performance.

The concept of HPO is based on the balance of strategy focus and operational excellence. Both of these concepts are brought to practice in a variety of organisational areas, outlined in 19 presented factors. The major challenge for striving towards an ideal HPO is the establishment of a political / cultural framework. This framework enables to win people over for any kind of co-creation, creativity practice, contribution and commitment. That is our answer to the question of how to bring an HPO into practice. We call it Next HPO.

SEgroup proudly welcomes Elke Umbach. Elke recently joined the group as a consortial partner. Elke has a degree in Sociology (Dipl. Soziologin). She has established herself as an organisational consultant, executive coach and passionate trainer since 1996. In her career she assists and supports processes of organisational transformation, cultural change, strategic planning and execution, team development and simultaneous change through large group processes. In human resource development processes, she conducts talent management programs. Elke has extensive experience in the automotive, IT and banking industries.

In February 2009, SEgroup launched a new knowledge project titled "Innovate Change". The project idea is structured around reinventing our approach to change management to a more creative and playful manner. Ordinary change management can be characterised in the opposite way. We have identified models, methods and instruments of change management and are currently bringing them together in an appealing way.

In a pilot workshop, which we shall host during the course of this year, further elaborations on this idea will take place in the presence of friends, clients and an interested public.

SocialDesignSite constructed a vision of co-creating a synergy effect of world changers. We have opened a dialogue on this topic to expand the project to its full potential and to establish the site as a self-sustaining network, functioning as a bank of knowledge on Social Design.

The Journal on Political Excellence, our project in the field Political Excellence proudly presents a new video interview online. Hermann Scheer, member of the German Bundestag (SPD) and laureate of the Right Livelihood Award was asked about his perspective on the German political system and democracy in general. Scheer observes an almost hermetically closed system that causes a decrease in identification resulting in a lack of democratic participation. He proposes to refresh the political system by using referenda, a responsible and independent media and most importantly political structures that allow for the discussion of the very basics - a proposal directly connected to where JPoX's endeavour kicks off.

>> www.JPoX.eu

Reflection in Action (RiA) develops leadership qualities beyond that of which are offered by the conventional tools and methods. Reflection in Action (RiA) is the platform for the first cooperation project between the SEgroup and consulting.art & friends. This partnership will support organisations and individuals dealing with uncertainties and provide them with sustainable solutions.

These leadership reflections will be in the form of workshops to be held in 2009. In subsequent lectures we shall offer performativ talks in different settings - arts, nature, and retreats - to get in touch with one's own leadership capabilities.

SEgroup is currently in the process of completing one of its knowledge projects, the Next Practice NGO study. The study will be completed during the next couple of weeks. The next step is inviting all our interview partners who participated in the study for a workshop. This workshop will be held in cooperation with the Humboldt-Viadrina School of Governance. The objectives of the workshop are to discuss the results of the study and the meaning thereof to the NGO community. We want to explore the possibilities for developing and increasing the organisational performance of NGOs.

The workshop will take place on the 4th and 5th of June 2009, at the the Humboldt-Viadrina School of Governance in Berlin. Financial support is provided by the German Federal Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety.

SEgroup has recently launched a new research project titled Cross Cultural Complex Project Management (CCCPM). One of the project members, Jan Lachenmayer proposed a research project that explores the mechanisms and future of Singapore's society.

The opportunity originated for a new cooperation partner, The Online Citizen (TOC), to join Jan on his research endeavour. Established in 2006, the TOC is based in Singapore and aims to tell the stories about Singapore and Singaporeans that are not being told in the mainstream press.

Jan has engaged in further talks with the TOC and he received positive feedback regarding the initiative and the future of this project. The project is due to start during the course of this year, and further cooperations are yet to come.

On the 19-20th of February, Dr. Louis Klein and Suk-Han Tang of SEgroup held a workshop in support of the Chongming Eco-Community Project in Shanghai. Initiated by Studio TAO (www.tektao.com.cn) the project has the objective to revitalize rural villages in China by improving the quality of lifestyle through the environment, communication, local business structures as well as the public and domestic infrastructures.

SEgroup facilitated the generating of new knowledge and ideas on the Chongming project, fostering discussions amongst the participants and providing training on social systems theory and tools on exploring social systems. Steering the workshop to correspond with the initiative of the Chongming Project, participants were ask to brainstorm and present definitions of what a village is and can be. To develop the project's strategy in taking it to the next level the perspectives of business, government and consumerism in addition to the village residents were emphasized and considered. The Stakeholders analysis and their interests in the Project will serve as a framework for future study.

The successful workshop proved SEgroup to be an effective and leading think tank on an international level. This project will continue to support the rural communities in fostering everyday sustainability by establishing links to an urban and rural network of social and economic exchange. You can learn more about the Chongming Eco-Community Project here: www.chongmingtao.blogspot.com

SEgroup has completed a new paper, focusing on leadership for the 21st century, Leadership 21.

In this paper, we highlight the value and value-added of entrepreneurship as a supplement to the ongoing discourse on leadership and management. Using the St. Gallen Management Model as point of reference, we argue that leadership and management should not be conceived as counterparts that leaders have to chose from in fulfilling their tasks, but as a tandem that can fruitfully be completed by the incorporation of entrepreneurship as the essential third function of leadership. Being a leader, a manager, and an entrepreneur and thus balancing these three functions makes for a complete and more resilient leadership personality.

SEgroup has released a paper on "The Next 11" on the website. According to research of Goldman-Sachs, the "Next 11" are the "next emerging markets" following the BRIC countries. The group's contribution to the recent discourse on the "next emerging markets" focuses on the relevance of co-operation and co-creation. It sheds light on the Next 11 countries in terms of business and management practices, culture, politics, as well as economy and technology.

SEgroup, in collaboration with the European University of Viadrina Frankfurt/Oder (EUV) and the Humboldt Viadrina School of Governance Berlin (HVSG) have initiated a new research on Cross Cultural Complex Project Management (CCCPM). This project aims to bring together the different cultures of the world focussing on the design of a global society and its proceedings.

To allow the world, our stakeholders and the interested public to join us in experiencing our endeavour, we have launched a website displaying the visions and research in the field of cross cultural complex project management. Everybody interested in learning more on this exciting challenge can observe our work here. We invite you to explore our vision and research.

SEgroup is glad to present the key findings of one of the two studies, based on three months research, conducted by Jan Lachenmayer in Dubai. "Lens on Dubai's Society: Fragile or Postmodern?" analyses the issue whether Dubai's extraordinary economic development is accompanied by a comparable social development. Jan identified several socio-cultural frictions and predominant paradigms, all of which have a major impact on Dubai's future pathways.

Furthermore, by building scenarios, it was possible to formulate alternative options for development, with the objective of building a sustainable society.

Master in Business Administration (Dipl. Kauffrau)
Daniela Beck joined SEgroup as consortial partner founding the office in Munich in 2008.

Her professional career compromises over ten years of international corporate experience in the logistics and consumer product industries. As research associate and Ph.D. candidate at the Asia Research Center of the University of St. Gallen she is exploring teams in Indonesia. Her theoretical lens is complexity theory and theory of learning in its application to Social Entrepreneurship.

The United Nations Global Compact invited for the Global Forum for Responsible Management Education, held in the UN Headquarters in New York. Fostering the discussion and sharpening the "Principles for Responsible Management Education" (PRME), the forum discussed adequate, innovative forms of learning where we substantially contributed with a presentation on experience-based learning.

Core international business education institutions were present to discuss the future role of business in society in the light of sustainability needs. UN Secretary-General H.E. Ban Ki-Moon acknowledged the necessity for implementing sustainability and social responsibility in the business world. Find more at: www.unprme.org/global-forum

The 2008 IPMA world conference was held in Rome, Italy from the 9th - 11th of November. The IPMA is a non-profit and world leading project management organisation. The title of the conference was Project Management to run; elaborating on the question ‘where is project management running to...?'. Interest in project management is growing. The 22nd IPMA WC was probably the congress with the highest participation of top managers from industry and universities.

‘Projects as difference' is a paper written by Markus Koerner and Dr Louis Klein and was presented at the 22nd IPMA world conference. This paper explores the possibilities to improve project management practice in reference to social systems thinking.

SEgroup is conducting an explorative study in Dubai. Jan Lachenmayer will be a visiting scholar, focusing on the topic "Cross-Cultural Complex Project Management in Dubai". He will interview leading managers and experts in the field, figuring out how they create and manage their realities. His observations will be documented in a therefore established blog. The blog Dubai-CCCP.blogspot.com invites readers to reflect and comment on the provided observations. Jan is hosted by the Gulf research Center in Dubai, with support of the Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations.

SEgroup continued cultural exploration while scouting Asia visiting Hong-Kong, Shanghai, Indonesia, Dubai and Singapore. We observed and gathered some deeper insights on urban planning, cross-culturality and complexity and people's attitude towards change.

The SocialDesignSite organized the First International Social Action Film Festival (ISAFF) in cooperation with Betterplace.org and HVSG. This was the chance to discover movies on human rights, conflicts and social entrepreneurship in Berlin. This one-day festival was a pilot event for all venues to be launched in US, Europe, South America, Asia, Australia, and Africa in February 2009: www.isaff.org

SEgroup decided to transfer our Reflection in Action approach and focus it on Leadership Excellence. This brings forward the idea of opening a broad range of experience based reflection to work on personal mastery thus improving leadership skills.

This year's highlight was undoubtedly the summer hike in the Pyrenees, from Aragon through Catalonia to Andorra. It had been a substantial two weeks mountain trek providing room for all kinds of reflection exercises.

On August 1st, Fabian Hoffmann has joined SEgroup as a further consortial partner. Prior, he completed a six-month traineeship. His expertise as a consultant is in the project management of organisational development processes.

As a researcher, his ambition is grounded on the field of corporate culture, vision and values. Moreover, he is team member of the research group conducting SEgroup's Next Practice NGO study. SEgroup sincerely welcomes Fabian in the circle of the consortial partners and is appreciating the upcoming collaboration and co-creation.

SocialDesignSite participated at Changing the Change conference held in Torino and presented a paper exploring the systemic conditions for sustainable change. We met people from all over the world, received some very encouraging feedback and giving us some inspiration and directions to pushing the project forward. Answers to uncertainty of design community probably lie in systemic thinking, co-creation and social design.

With three papers and one video interview, the Journal on Political Excellence continues. Scientists with a background in development studies, international relations, and systems theory provided their perspective on what Political Excellence could be. Sophisticated and hands-on contributions are always welcome.

On July 1st, Florian Popp has joined the ranks of SEgroup consortial partners, after a previous eight-months stint as a trainee. His expertise is in "Grounded Leadership, a new approach on leadership practice and theory, as well as in systemic coaching and counselling in general. Also, he is deeply involved with SEgroup's Next Practice NGO study, as well as a newly joined editor of JPoX - Journal on Political Excellence. SEgroup sincerely welcomes Florian as a consortial partner and is looking forward to future collaboration.

Dr Louis Klein of SEgroup, in collaboration with Markus Koerner, Managing Director of AGORA Associates GmbH in Faellanden, Switzerland, submitted a paper for the 22nd International Project Management Association (IPMA) world conference in Rome. The paper, Projects as difference - towards a next practice of complex project management, was accepted and will be presented during the conference in November.

The paper explores the possibilities to improve project management practice in reference to social systems thinking, based on the theory of Niklas Luhmann. The aim is to share theoretical insights for improving the practical performance of project management in the context of international development aid. The final version of this paper is available here.

What is the future of project management and what are the PM standards in 2020? In the search of an answer the German Project Management Association invited scientists and practitioners for a two days research workshop to Karlsruhe. From SEgroup Louis Klein was invited as an expert for social systems. As it turned out in the course of the very vivid discussions, it is the social side of project management that promises the greatest room for further development and improvement. Further cooperation especially in the realms of cross-cultural complex project management was appointed. >> www.Gpm-ipma.de

For this first international conference held in New York, Louis Klein and Suk-Han Tang presented the SocialDesignSite project through a movie. It was the occasion to test the project among the scientific community, and exchange vivid discussions on the role of organisations, governments and individuals in our social world, and tentatively defining "social entrepreneurship". The event undeniably sharpened our understanding of the on-going transformation of our social world and positive feedback we received comforted us in our work approach.

There is a lot we can learn from the Barack Obama campaign. And with the Pennsylvania primaries heating up, it was the right time to go there and explore the phenomenon on site, in the headquarter, the local steering committees and with the volunteers out in the streets. It is amazing what momentum the combination of a strong purpose, a small set of fairly simple guiding principles and allowing for local autonomy can create. There is a lot to learn especially for organisations. And with regard to all kinds of organisational or political resignation we have lost the chance to say "we can not".>> BarackObama.com

This year the 18th Standing Conference for Management & Organization Inquiry took place end of March in Philadelphia. SEgroup ventured to set our developments in "Systemic Inquiry" to a critical test. The SCMOI is rooted in post-modern narrative and critical theory,which is quite a contrast to our reference to systems theory and constructivism.However, the encounter was of mutual benefit, and the scientific feedback to our work was very appreciative and rewarding. "Systemic Inquiry" will be a little sharper now. >> SCMOI.org

SocialDesignSite is invited to participate in the 4th PRaDSA Workshop: "Designing for the 21st Century: Using Web 2.0 Technologies (and Social Networking Tools) for Social Action"- 11/12th March, London. Our ambition as a Think Tank is to put social design impact evaluation on the agenda of the leading discourses in society, and for this purpose, SocialDesignSite will run a twenty minutes mixed-media presentation exploring the idea of social design and sharing the best practices through a selection of projects. >>Designing for the 21st Century

The 51st Annual Meeting of the International Society for the Systems Sciences "Integrated Systems Sciences: Systems Thinking, Modelling and Practice" was held 5-10 August 2007 at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan. SEgroup had the chance to present our research on Organisational Excellence highlighting the role of art and design in any kind of excellence process. We received some good feedback. However, the integration issue for the systems sciences is from our perspective the post-modern twist which would allow the linkage of different conceptualisations of social systems and offer a bridge to Luhmanns System Theory.

Excellence replaces consulting, for more than one good reason. Completing the transition towards the independent think tank for leading practice called for a new name. The daily quest for excellence in all our work, not only in consulting, named itself, as did systemic consulting in former days. We did not completely say good-by to consulting. On the contrary consulting is still the central activity to support organisations and people in becoming excellent. We ourselves do not claim excellence as an attribute, we claim it as a calling to pursue excellence in all our work and in the results we like to deliver. >> History

SEgroup is proud to present the SocialDesignSite exhibition at DESIGNMAI 2007. We will open our offices to the public and present movies and billboards representing projects from all over the world. The week-long exhibition will cap off beautifully with an open-space discussion on social design issues. >> DESIGNMAI

SEgroup just launched SocialDesignSite, an online portal which aims to foster a discourse on social design. Consisting of an ever-growing number of worldwide social design projects, the site allows people from all over the globe to discuss and explore possibilities of change. With a strong and appealing claim - "We cannot not change the world" - it will hopefully grow and generate a large public interest. >>SocialDesignSite.com