Introducing the Institute For Systems Intelligence (IFSI)
I have been quiet on here lately, as I turned my focus to building my start-up company: the Institute For Systems Intelligence, or IFSI to friends.
Through IFSI, my goal (and hope) is to create a space for a collective new perspective that is grounded in a better understanding of the workings of our world with all its intricacies.
I am a scientist at heart, and by training, and so everything I do starts as a hypothesis, and evolves through experimentation and observation. My working hypothesis is that:
We can all benefit if we make a habit of seeing the big picture, and being aware of how things around us are related, how they impact each other, how they impact us and how our actions impact them in return.
If we take that knowledge and collectively learn to leverage our different perspectives, skills and capabilities, we can make intelligent decisions about where to focus our efforts, how to live better, work better and create positive change.
This, for me is the essence of systems intelligence. It starts with the principles of systems thinking and integrates them into thinking habits, working processes and ways of connecting with others.
For a long time, I pondered how I can make that happen. I spent a lot of time writing and crossing off ideas, feeling frustrated, foolish, arrogant, fed up…I went through a whole range of emotions and concluded that I was being too ambitious, that I could not do it!
Let me re-write that… I cannot do it on my own!
I cannot do it on my own, but I sure can create a space, and build networks for it to emerge! A space to nurture collective intelligence, to bring different people and perspectives together, to build innovative collaborations, to make things happen.
I know I can do it because I have done it my entire life!
I first went to school at the age of five. It took a bit of negotiating from my parents to get me into school because the official age to start school in Algeria was 6. All the negotiations meant that I started about a month later than the other kids in my class.
On my third day at the school, my mum was a few minutes late coming to pick me up. She was running to the school, consumed by the guilt of being late. On her way there, she bumped into me, with other kids from my class. I had figured out who lived near my home and got them to walk home with me. From then on, and for the next six years, we formed a group and always walked home together (those were much safer times!).
Bringing people together has been a recurring theme in my life ever since, both on a personal and professional level. I organised trips, meet ups, created groups, book clubs, museum clubs, design thinking jams, directed projects, collaborations, designed partnerships, etc. etc. I’ve connected people to people, people with ideas, and ideas with ideas.
How can I channel that into a start-up?
Back to IFSI…
I have this mental image of building IFSI brick by brick, with each brick supporting the next one until a full building emerges.
My first brick was to encourage a foundational systems thinking mindset, and to take inspiration from those who use their systems intelligence to create more impact.
My next set of bricks was to create opportunities for people to meet and connect with others. So I created three types of free events. All events are relaxed and informal and they all aim to create opportunities to expand one’s ways of thinking and collaborating (including my own).
Story Circle
Story Circle is a small group of individuals sharing stories — from their own experience or imagination — around a common theme. I did not invent the concept, but I tweaked it a little to fit with IFSI’s goals.
In Story Circle, everyone is invited to share what they want, any story that comes to mind. The only rule is that when you are not sharing a story, your only task is to listen. You do not need to add your opinion or critique the story, or fill the silence. You just gift your attention to the storyteller. You just listen. Your turn will come and they will return the favour.
The point of story circle is to slow down and practise careful listening, empathy and connection with others. Simple things that can easily be forgotten in today’s fast-paced world, and that can have a profound impact on how well different people can work together.
An evolution from Story Circle is a workshop that I offer as a service to teams working across different silos or functions. The workshop combines storytelling with classical systems stories -or archetypes- to develop a common understanding of the dynamics at play, and build strategies for better team cohesion, more efficient ways of working and better results. If this piques your curiosity, get in touch, I’ll tell you more.
Systems Thinkers Meet Up
The Systems Thinkers Meet Up has actually been running for a year, way before I launched IFSI. It was through this group that I came across the book: Being Better Better: Living with Systems Intelligence, which eventually led me to launching IFSI.
The group brings together systems thinkers and systems thinking enthusiasts to exchange ideas, experience and learn from one another.
Over the last year, we’ve had conversations, book discussions, and had guests present their work. Some collaborations and many friendships emerged too.
The meet up is open to anyone who wants to join, but you MUST come with an open mind, to show respect and to be willing to contribute some of your knowledge to the group.
The Collaboratory
A collaboratory is a space for joint exploration and experimentation around a certain theme, involving participants from multiple disciplines who may not usually work together.
The aim is to leverage differences in knowledge, expertise and skills to develop a deeper and better understanding of the theme.
The first collaboratory kicks off today, and is the only time I will run it for free.
It will take place via weekly Zoom calls as well as asynchronous discussion on a Google document. I’m lucky to count a brilliant systems modeller, Gene Bellinger, among my friends, and he generously agreed to distil our discussions into Kumu maps to highlight interconnections revealed by our exploration.
We will aim to produce summaries and reports along the way, and everything shared will belong to all participants.
The overarching theme of this exploration is Health in Modern Times. That can mean many things, and can go in many directions.
Where does health begin? Does it begin with you? Your environment? The food you eat? The people that surround you?
Who should be accountable for your health? You? The government? The medical establishment?
How about food producers, farmers, construction companies, industrial polluters, car companies? If their products/outputs impact our health, should they be part of the health ecosystem?
Today we kick off with an eclectic group of specialists working in multiple disciplines, including systems thinking, medicine, wellness, public health, food & agriculture, NGOs, expert patients, science, Ai and leadership.
I think we can still mix things up, and I am looking for participants who are knowledgeable in areas that are not immediately associated with health, like architecture, urban development or city planning, interiors & furniture, fashion, food packaging, climate change, etc.
If you’re interested in taking part, please get in touch (Houda@ifsi.uk) and let me know what perspective you will bring.
If you don’t really want/ have the time to take part but are still curious about the project, or want to follow my brick-laying journey, sign up to IFSI’s monthly newsletter ‘Five minutes…’ and you will receive quick updates and links to summaries and any other outputs.
These are exciting times, wish me luck!
Over to you, now! What have you been up to?
