What might a book about the Iraq war, written by a US General have that’s relevant to the charity sector? Ten years ago I read the book “Team of Teams”. It made a big impression on me and ten years on I still think about it often.

I valued the insights about the role of a leader in a complex situation where decentralised decision making is essential for success and what it takes to build a team of teams.

 What will it take for us to create a team of teams in in the face of today’s complex challenges?

Recently I found myself in a lot of conversations about system change which got me thinking. How do we know we are making progress when working on something this complex?

More and more funders require a theory of change as part of the bid, setting out the assumptions ‘if we do x then y will happen’. Is a linear theory of change useful in the context of system change where cause and effect are not linear? How can it be adapted to make it more relevant to the complex world we work in?

You might be developing a strategy for your organisation or planning a big project and wondering why you need someone external to help you. After all, you have lots of expertise in the room.

The reason organisations like yours ask for external support is that they get better results.