New thinking is emerging around systems working, platform strategies and eco-systems as many organisational leaders and designers struggle to help organisations connect and collaborate in an increasingly fast-moving and complex world. In this X-Course, we will explore together how we can design for our organisations and, at the same time, for their wider ecosystems, in fact evolving the very concept of strategy-making.

How can we find the sweet spot at the intersection between self-interest and a broader ecosystemic interest? Organisations are inherently part of non-linear networks of value-flows in an ecosystem with complex patterns of exponential dynamics and feedback. How can we shape and equip our organisations in a way that puts them in that sweet spot?

Beyond a limited org-centred perspective, design and strategy need to evolve to embrace a broader ecosystemic perspective. Through it, impact and performance evolve in meaning and practice. Focus evolves beyond customer-centricity. A new attention to ‘ecosystemic resonance’ arises as a form of both purpose and feedback at the same time.

This X-Course will use an experiential design cycle to draw from the experience and insights of participants working in and with ecosystems. We will explore and co-learn about the following aspects:

• Understanding and awareness of what is an ecosystem and what sustains a thriving ecosystem. Learning how to craft your org’s ‘eco-model’ using the EcoSight Framework.
• Developing your eco-strategy in accordance with your evolving organizational identity so to obtain exponential returns from the ecosystem.
• Exploring how we can allow for knowledge, relationships, and resources to flow freely through organisations in a breathing exchange with the ecosystem.
• Reflecting on how we can systematically design for volatile contexts and the unknown unknowns.
• Understanding what ‘ecosystemic resonance’ is, and how to use it both as a powerful impact indicator and a deep feedback source.