Training Courses
One-Day Courses for all levels
Each course is a one day course with a two hour on-line follow-up mentoring session that takes place one month later. Courses are normally provided face-to-face but may also be delivered online.
Companies that have previously used PrOH Modelling in applied action research to create positive impact.
Beginner Level
The beginners’ course will teach delegates how to gather data for a PrOH Model, build a single model and present it in a storyboard within an action research context. This will cover the basics of systems thinking, the difference between ‘hard systems thinking’ and ‘soft systems thinking’, knowing what a ‘holon’, ‘holarchy’ is, understanding reductionism versus enrichment, and recognizing ‘abstraction’ versus ‘aggregation’. You will be taught how to define a model and pitch a model within a wider systems context. You will learn how to structure qualitative data and convert this into a diagram that can be verified. You will have a chance to build a PrOH Model, present it and defend it to your cohort. If you base your exercise on a work based system you will leave with a model that can be used and validated in your workplace for change and hence you will also learn about action research. A follow-up tuition can be provided.
Intermediate Level
To attend the intermediate level course you must have successfully completed the beginners’ level course. At the intermediate level delegates will be taught how to extend a single model across a single pitch of thinking: this will be done serially for long processes in separate process phases or in parallel process phases for an organization that has quasi-autonomous units or groups. You will scope a short action research project that will bring about change in your organization using models that you have developed. Delegates will develop the ability to be able to think about bigger systems with more wide-ranging impact for a chosen organization. You will prepare set of models with improvement recommendations. This course will have a follow-up mentoring session with delegates and their work colleagues.
Advanced Level
To attend the advanced level you must have successfully completed beginners and intermediate levels. The advanced level will teach delegates to think about big multi-level systems that require more than one model and a more than one pitch level. Delegates will learn about how to define and build a holarchy of models using top-down and bottom-up approaches. Delegates will learn about how holistic thinking works in abstraction and enrichment. During this, often revelatory experience, delegates will realize the limitation of conventional thinking that uses hierarchical thinking, linear logic and reject these in favour of more holistic thinking with greater systemicity. You will benefit from having learned a methodology that reveals hidden and emergent properties of organizational systems and hence have increased systems thinking capabilities that encourage more innovative actions and developments to improve organizations performance. You will leave this session with a mature level of systems thinking capability and be able to start rethinking organizational strategies and structures in an action research project. Further mentoring sessions will be provided. Successful delegates will be expected to lead a small action research group in their organization and report back on its outcomes in other training sessions as a guest.
Delegates should be educated to degree level and have at least three years responsible experience working in organisations.