Atelier WeekNotes w/c 1 Jan 2024
Re-introducing an Atelier of What's Next (a studio for initiatives at the frontier of generating a better future). What, why and how. Success in 2024. How you can help.
I am writing newsletter of #weeknotes of starting the Atelier of What’s Next (What’s needed, What’s ready? What can we do? What next?). For my rationale for starting the Atelier see here.
This week I've been focussing on 2024, using a book, Your Best Year Yet by Jinny Ditzler, recommended to me by friend and spark to the Compassionate Professional Revolution, Tim Malnick. So, there hasn't been a lot of work on specific projects within the Atelier, more on how things might play out for the Atelier over 2024 and beyond.
This week covers the year ahead for the Atelier:
Re-introducing an Atelier of What's Next. A studio for initiatives at the frontier of generating a better future.
What does all that mean? Explaining key terms:
'Studio'. An artists or worker's workroom.
'Initiatives'. A deliberate attempt, usually well-bounded, to generate a better future.
'Frontier'. At the edge of what is possible now.
'Generating'. Creating, forming and otherwise causing the desired outcomes.
'A better future'. A world where there are on-going deep transformations in our societies towards humankind living in ways that align with nature, and where people can choose their own version of the good life.
Why now for the Atelier of What's Next?
Why now for these particular activities?
Why choose the Atelier of What's Next?
The story I want to be able to tell in a year's time
Atelier What's Next 2024 Objectives
How can the Atelier of What's Next be of service to you, and your purposes? We'd love to hear from you. Perhaps you have a challenge or idea to put in the studio. Maybe one of our existing topics appeals to you. What if you love to make new things happen by being part of the studio? Or if you have feedback or comments that would improve this deck. Either click the button below or email davidbent@atelierwhatsnext.org.
The year ahead for the Atelier
Re-introducing an Atelier of What's Next.
The short version:
What? The Atelier of What’s Next is a studio for initiatives at the frontier of generating a better future.
Why? We are living in a time of connected, escalating crises. The normal way of doing things is both a cause of these crises, and a barrier to next steps. We see a big need for frontier initiatives to flourish.
Hence why the Atelier exists, now: to help frontier initiatives contribute to deep transformations where humankind is more aligned with nature, and people are more able to choose their version of a 'good life'. Why us? We have decades of experience helping such initiatives their next step.
How? We bring a 'doing-by-learning' attitude and a 'deep transformation' toolkit (which is developing all the time). We put initiatives 'in' the Atelier, and work together on what is needed, what is ready, what can we do and what next. Operationally, for now, there is one main person and a time-and-materials charge rate. These will evolve over time.
Atelier of What's Next. What's needed? What's ready? What can we do? What next?
The longer version is just below. This unpacks the terms and thinking in more nuance -- including being more explicit about what is firmly-held (much of the 'what' and 'why', like the studio metaphor, the focus on frontier initiatives, the belief that this status quo is exhausted) and what is very much a work-in-progress (most obviously, the operational realities of 'how').
If that is too much detail, skip to section 'What does success look like?'.
What does all that mean?
Unpacking the key terms:
'Studio'.
An artists or worker's workroom. 'Atelier' carries an association with creativity (through fashion or design).
Imagine a film studio, with a number of projects at various stages of development, production and release. Or, imagine a venture builder (which create, launch and scale high-growth businesses) but creating, launching and scaling frontier, for-change initiatives.
Not a 'lab'. Many for-change organisations call themselves labs, but I think that is a misnomer. My view is that a lab is a stand-alone, simplified space where experiments can be safely conducted, and then the insights applied later in the complex real world. The Atelier is not operating in controlled environment. It is operating in the world as it currently is: Brittle, Anxious, Nonlinear, and Incomprehensible.
Not just a consultancy service. Admittedly this distinction can be a bit fuzzy, especially as I also do consulting (in my own name, and as part of other groups like Skating Panda). What I'm trying to avoid here is executives outsourcing some planning or research activity which they can't do because of time, capability, or fear of a backlash. The Atelier is about working together on frontier, high-potential initiatives (see below) through stages of development.
'Initiatives'.
A deliberate attempt, usually well-bounded, to generate a better future. This could come in many forms, including being unclear on what form it should take.
Some possibilities:
Starting a commercially hard-nosed business idea. Example of my experience: a small part of setting up what is now Downforce Technologies; mentoring climate start-ups at Undaunted's Greenhouse.
Developing a not-for-profit change initiative. Using Time Well, my follow-on to my late wife's work on using time in child and adolescent psychotherapy.
Forming a non-profit collaboration. Helping the UK Cabinet Office start the Inclusive Economy Partnership.
Running an initiative or event(s) which themselves create new, ambitious ways forward. Innovation UK Net Zero Heat Innovation Lab; crucial strategy workshops for AI research foundation Earth Species Project and the Climate Group.
Creating a new method or practice for driving change. Transformational pathways for decision-making, being piloted in the State of Sustainable Shipping; Forming frontier consortia (the method in the Net Zero Heat Innovation Lab).
Creating a new policy for a public body. An aborted project with a think tank based in Aotearoa New Zealand.
The list could go on. The point here is that things with high potential at the frontier could be very different from each other. The Atelier is very open here, and has focus by constraining in other dimensions: maturity ('frontier'); and ambition ('generating a better future').
'Frontier'.
At the edge of what is possible now. A pocket of a possible, better future in the present (for those who know Three Horizons, currently existing examples Horizon 2 or 3).
Another way to conceptualise this is via Michael Grubb's Three Domains (explained here (£)). The curve in the diagram below is the Productivity Frontier ('the sum of existing best practice at any given time').
For Grubb, what a company (or organisation, or person; any actor) is doing economically fits into one of three domains:
Saticficing. The actor is behind the frontier, and needs to catch up. Use: behavioural economics.
Optimising. The actor is at the frontier, and needs to find the best spot (given the way its local system is now). Use: neoclassical economics.
Transforming. The actor is moving the frontier by evolving the system around itself. Use: complexity economics.
The Atelier is in that 'transforming' domain: taking ideas that are current at or just beyond the frontier, and developing them in ways that evolve the wider system.
'Generating'.
Creating, forming, and otherwise causing, the desired outcomes. So many of the typical verbs (accelerate, drive, scale) are too narrow, mechanical, aggressive, or arrogant.
Generating carries a sense that the initiative has some kind of inner energy (as in, 'generating electricity') and also that 'success' could either come from the initiative directly, or from what else is induced in the wider world, even if the initiative itself stops.
'A better future'.
A world where there are on-going deep transformations in our societies towards humankind living in ways that align with nature, and where people can choose their own version of the good life.
There's an awful lot to unpack in that sentence. Apart from anything else, it defines 'better' on behalf of the entire humankind, which is just a tiny bit hubristic.
In its defence, the two conditions in that sentence are the prerequisites for everyone to define and enjoy their better future. Aligning with nature is needed so that there can be large-scale, dynamic societies in which people live their lives. Choosing their own version of the good life is about giving people the actual capability to achieve lives they value (not just having a right or freedom to do so -- see capability approach).
Why now for the Atelier of What's Next?
Why now for these particular activities?
Let's imagine we can diagnose our situation in terms of a 3-tiered Multi-Level Perspective: Landscape (macro-, the big picture); Regime (meso-, mainstream for different countries and sectors); and Niche (micro-, the small clusters of people trying out new stuff)
Landscape. We are living in a time of connected, escalating crises. Humankind is living in ways that are overwhelming nature, and causing suffering with lasting injustices. The old ways we are used to will end in the coming decades, either through unmanaged disaster or deliberate change. How we approach what comes next is up to us.
Regime. Nations and sectors find it easy to improve within the existing economic and social status quo. But that is far from enough. Especially as the normal way of doing things is both a cause of these crises, and a barrier to next steps.
Niche. It is hard to explore successfully at the frontier. It is easy to get captured by the status quo.
If all that is true, then these action inquiry questions follow:
Landscape. How can we accelerate deep transformations in our economies and societies towards humankind living in ways that align with nature, and where people can choose their own version of the good life?
Regime. How can we create the innovation ecosystems, political movements and appropriate governance for systemic transformation?
Niches. How can we quickly learn-by-doing, in this moment, on this specific intervention, so that it thrives by accelerating shifts at the regime and landscape levels?
Hence why the Atelier exists, now: to help frontier initiatives contribute to deep transformations where humankind is more aligned with nature, and people are more able to choose their version of a 'good life'.
Why choose the Atelier of What's Next?
This is one area of active inquiry (under the 'offering-challenge-resourcing fit' priority). We don't want to presume too much, especially as the Atelier is trying to do something unusual and possible rare or at an early stage of development.
One reason have chosen the Atelier in the past is track record: we have decades of experience helping such initiatives their next step.
Another is that people have been frustrated by 'normal' attempts to address a problem. They are realising there are no good ways forward within the status quo. So, some people react positively to the fundamental proposition of the Atelier: let's try something different.
Within the fundamental proposition is a hypothesis: there is a way of acting which gets beyond reforming the status quo, and which is also more generative than protesting or than just adapting. The Atelier is currently calling this space 'Deep Transformation'. This framing does seem to resonate with people.
How does the Atelier of What's Next work?
This is the most open and in development.
We bring a 'doing-by-learning' attitude and a 'deep transformation' toolkit (which is developing all the time). We put initiatives 'in' the Atelier, and work together on what is needed, what is ready, what can we do and what next.
For now, operationally that looks a lot like a one-person consultancy. That's where things are starting. But the intention is to evolve over time:
More proven methods for helping frontier initiatives move forward.
More co-founders, most likely a Managing Director to compliment my Creative Director-like role.
More people who work 'in' the Atelier, though the operating model of that is to be determine.
A legal basis which embeds and embodies the purpose.
All of these are live activities for 2024.
What does success look like?
In the original deck introducing the Atelier, I laid out what success would look like on the short-, medium- and long-terms. The rationale is go through a maturity which starts with learning, and keep building the abilities and assets needed to open up the next phase.
Short-term: Learning by trying.
Medium-term: Thriving by doing-and-learning.
Long-term: Contributing to a better future.
That makes 2024 about learning by trying. Below is a table that lays out the detail of the objectives I will be tracking.
The story I want to be able to tell in a year's time
Put another way, the story I want to be able to tell at the end of 2024 goes something like this:
A year of strong progress and the fundamentals in place. We delivered initiatives at the frontier of generating a better future, and we learnt much more about doing that going forward. The Atelier has the people, methods, and reach to step into the next phase: supporting more frontier initiatives to thrive.
A big highlight was the launch of [a specific project] which is now actively contributing to on-going deep transformation in [this field] by [doing this specific thing]. Additionally, we were able to use the launch of [specific project] to showcase what the Atelier is all about.
The huge theme of the year has been learning-by-doing. The most crucial 'business process' is making sure that insights are generated from experiences, and then integrated into what the Atelier does going forward. The main vehicle for that has been the regular WeekNotes (some 45 in the year), and regularly answering the action inquiry questions on multi-level change. The Atelier has added Cynefin, Design Thinking and using AI to its toolkit. We've also drawn lessons from similar organisations (design studios and venture builders).
As result of our fast learning cycles, we have re-shaped our offer, to suit challenges which have [these features]. We know a lot more about how to bring in what is needed for that kind of challenge, both the resources for an initiative to be impactful, and finance for the Atelier's effort. We have a website, which is acting as a shop window and embodies what the Atelier is all about.
All this is only possible because the Atelier now has [at least 2 part-time] co-founders. [Person X] brings great qualities as a Managing Director, which compliments with David's more Creative Director-like role.
The Atelier is now a legal entity, which ensures the for-change purpose is rigorously purposed, and an operating model of [tbd].
Finally, David has been exploring a doctorate, to see if formal study could support the Atelier to contribute more to on-going change. After exploring in the year, he has decided to [apply to X institution and Y supervisor to use an action research/practice-based method OR not start a doctorate in 2025].
Atelier What's Next 2024 Objectives
How can you help?
I'd love your feedback. Tell me what I've got wrong above. What's missing. What could be better.
I'd love your help. Would you like to be part of the contact / advisory group? Would you like to be a co-founder?
I'd love to help you. Perhaps you have a challenge or idea to put in the studio. Maybe one of our existing topics appeals to you.
Let me know on davidbent@atelierwhatsnext.org.