How we're different

It’s about you and your change agenda

Your change agenda is our agenda. We are catalysts and partners of change and we build your capability to continue the change journey after our engagement has concluded. We don’t have a B team; everyone that works with you brings their A-game. We learn your language and change our methodology so it is fit for you and your context.

We are ‘human design in complex systems’ native

Design thinking and complex systems thinking are in our DNA; we pioneered this practice as organisational leaders and experienced its power first-hand. Human design thinking and systems thinking, used together, enable the design of change from a systems-level, community-level and individual-level perspective, all at once.

Driving new and better futures is our work

When it comes to creating new and better futures, there is a role for all sectors; public, private, business, non-profit and voluntary. We work with a diverse range of organisations and individuals that aspire to bring about change for good, from governments seeking to improve economies and communities, to development agencies seeking to solve the most challenging problems in developing communities, to businesses that are driving profit through purpose and shared value. What matters is that we only work on projects that directly or indirectly make a positive impact on society and the planet.

We connect with people and the real world

We bring the highest orders of thinking and theory to our work – but then, we push beyond this to understand the real-world context of the challenge and the change being made. We express needs, opportunities and outcomes in real human terms — the difference that people experience on the ground and in their everyday lives. This strong link to the world beyond the whiteboards inoculates projects against unintended consequences.

We stick with you through the sticky bits

We are relentlessly optimistic in the pursuit of outcomes that matter. The projects we work on can be sensitive, knotty, and wickedly complex. We push through until we’ve come through into simplicity on the other side of complexity, and never let ourselves be satisfied with a simplistic solution that won’t create real impact.

Globally, we are local

We have deep local knowledge and develop deep local relationships to create change that’s connected to its context. Even when we do work in places where we don’t reside, we form strong connections and take the time to understand the community and create change with them, not for them. Our knowledge and experience may be international, but our work is strongly embedded in the country, the community, the organisation.