writing

Protecting your innovative work

/ Pauline Roberts / 3 Comments
Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay

As a systems thinking practitioner who has developed original ideas and work, the notion of Intellectual Property (IP) has often been at the forefront of my mind. I have fallen down some ‘holes’ in the past where I have overshared work and am now suffering the consequences. I have, however, been savvy enough to register my work with UK copyright services at multiple stages of its development. For example, the development of Creating the Conditions for Change© was registered right back from when it was in the early stages of ‘Situation problem structuring using a blended systems thinking approach’. This includes the development of my systemic inquiry framework, which is the most downloaded document from my website, closely followed by the Creating the Conditions for Change© booklet and Creating the Conditions for Change© progress update booklet. My narratives are registered, as are my diagrams and my workshop designs. A wise person, back in 2016 when I started my business, told me to log them at various stages of development to demonstrate how the work has progressed, which I did.

I would like to give newer practitioners some advice about protecting your own original ideas and work. You are surrounded by people who can benefit from your ideas, so you need to be as savvy as them about the value your work holds.

A useful blog

Firstly, I would recommend this blog by Professor Inger Mewburn (2022) that I have recently come across. It is about PhD students, but the precautions are somewhat relevant to systems practitioners creating original work/ ideas: https://thesiswhisperer.com/2022/04/05/defending-the-originality-of-your-phd-research/

Originality

As a practitioner, it is entirely feasible for you to independently create original work. In the world of academia, people would be worried about someone taking the ideas and publishing them first, therefore taking away the claim of originality. As a practitioner, you must also consider this. Practitioners are generally not affiliated with a university. Therefore, publishing your ideas is more difficult, particularly if you want them to be open access. This can have huge costs which render this option not feasible. Therefore, it is entirely possible for you to create original work and ideas, share them (because you want people to benefit from them) and then someone write up a version of them academically. The barrier to writing up officially for practitioners is something I had not contemplated when I first started out, so this is something practitioners should be aware of.

Sharing your ideas

So, does this mean that we should not share our ideas? No, it doesn’t mean that. It just means that you need to be careful if you want to protect your work. As stated in the blog above, ‘You can’t protect an idea under copyright law – you can only protect a form it takes’ (Mewburn, 2022). Even if you write your idea down, it doesn’t stop others from taking it and running with it themselves, but it can help you to evidence copying if you need to do that at any stage.

What if you want to take your ideas into an academic context – i.e. a doctorate?

As stated in the blog, if you have over shared, it would be difficult to then shift your work into a more formal academic form (i.e. a peer reviewed journal) (Mewburn, 2022). As a practitioner, if you do not immediately go down an academic route, prepare to have your ideas used and written up by anyone. Of course, we can choose to share our work openly and ask people to develop our ideas but there is one precaution – many practitioners have asked me about becoming a consultant, as I have. To do this, it is your original ideas that give you your unique selling point. You have to market them but once you have, they are open for anyone to run with. The answer – do not over share. Give only that which is required to spark interest and keep the more developed things to yourself if you aim to use them in consultancy or if you want your ideas recognised. In the past, I have ‘thought out loud’ far too often because I did not know the pitfalls.. Yes, you are stuck in a bind: you want your work to be recognised, so you share, and then you risk losing control of it. Make your choices wisely.

Collaborating with others

Again, as the blog states, in academia there are rules around collaboration so that the creator of the work is recognised as such (Mewburn, 2022). As practitioners, we have no such protection. One of the ways people can be exposed to your work is by claiming to want to collaborate with you (or they want you to do a talk about your work). Once you have let your ideas out, your competitive advantage disappears, especially if others have larger work networks than you. My advice to practitioners is to ‘beware the love bombers!’. When you are a new practitioner, you want to be seen, so are likely to be more willing to fall for the requests for collaboration or for talks and sharing. If you share, do so wisely. Not everyone is your friend.

Summary

This is the start of work I am doing to bring awareness to systems thinking practitioners about the pitfalls of creating original ideas and work. I have made the mistakes so that you do not have to. In short:

  • Write you work up. I took my blogs and turned them into a self-published book to secure my ideas into one place.
  • If you think you want to make money from your ideas, copyright them. In reality, it is unlikely to stop others taking them but it does give you an evidence trail if you should ever need it.
  • Don’t over share. If it is valuable, be wise about who you share it with.
  • If you think you might want to go down an academic route, do so sooner rather than later. Learn about the idea of ‘original work’ and take any precautions you might need to take.
  • Beware of collaborations where the power dynamic is imbalanced. If you cannot keep control of how your own work is used in the collaboration, then the power dynamic is imbalanced.

Systems thinking practitioners can be leaders in the field but we need to be savvy about the pitfalls that can harm us.

Reference

Mewburn, I (2022) ‘How to stop your ideas from being ‘stolen’’ Available at: https://thesiswhisperer.com/2022/04/05/defending-the-originality-of-your-phd-research/ (Accessed 18/01/25)

Systems thinking practitioners – thinking of writing a book?

/ Pauline Roberts / Leave a comment

In May 2023, I released my book, ‘Crossing the bridge: A practitioner’s learning journey into systems thinking and Creating the Conditions for Change’. It is a clear, non-technical and practical guide to how to start applying systems thinking ideas in an organisational setting, which I self-published through Kindle Direct Publishing.

Putting systems thinking into practice can be like crossing a precarious bridge. We never quite know when it is going to collapse below us. Even our best efforts can see us come up against unexpected challenges and obstacles. We need to practise, iterate, and practise again. It is often a jaunt into the unknown and part of our systems thinking practitioner skillset is to have trust in the journey. On this occasion, the journey I had to trust was the journey towards writing a book. I would like to encourage other practitioners to get their stories heard. As such, I’m going to summarise some insights from the process that might be useful to you.

Why did I decide to write the book?

This is an easy one to answer. I was acutely aware that the extent of my systems practice experience was valuable. My blogs were being viewed by thousands of people across the world. However, not having a PhD meant I had no affiliation with a university (despite working for one) and therefore, no ‘official’ way to share my insights. I was also contacted by someone who alerted me to attempts being made to dampen my voice. They gave me some wise advice which I immediately put into practice. I contemplated that anyone trying to keep me quiet was clearly scared. That meant not only did I have something to say but that it was potentially powerful. Instead of getting angry about what I heard, I decided instead to channel my energy into making sure the story of my deep learning journey was recorded. Hence, I wrote the book. Those who tried to harm me were the catalyst for the energy it took to engage in the writing process. This is my first point for you – writing a book takes sustained energy. If you have passion, use it creatively to encourage yourself to embark on the journey.

Getting started

What are you passionate about? What do you want to say? This is where I started. I was passionate because I was not about to let anyone erase my story or the link between certain insights and my learning. I knew what I wanted to say and immediately made a note of the key messages I wanted to share. I also considered  how I wanted people to feel when they read the book. I made a note of the key ethos of the book and the style of writing I wanted to engage in.

Theory/ practice/ story? What is your book?

This was quite hard to pin down and took a few iterations. I knew I wanted an engaging story. I also wanted people to see where my insights had come from and with that, to experience the learning journey that I had been on. I wrote a short description of the book, then a longer paragraph, then what I wanted it achieve, who my target audience were, what questions I sought to answer and the style and tone I would use.

Giving your book structure

Once I had the key ethos of the book, I started to decide on the structure. I had it in my mind like three acts of a play. Within each act were a series of chapters. I penned out the acts, the chapters, what messages I wanted to give in each chapter. I then decided which stories about my learning journey would give the key messages I wanted to share. Then came the number of pages and wordcount, so I could gauge whether I had enough content.

Using previous writing in the book

If you are self-publishing, as I did, you are in control so you can use what you want. I used a lot of my past blogs. Blogs can give valuable insights away and yet rarely do they get attributed to the author. I wanted to put mine together in a more formalised way. I also included some new content, for those who follow me and would be looking for something new/ additional. Don’t let your thoughts or writing go to waste – turn them into something.

Use an editor/ copywriter/ all-round advisor

I was extremely lucky in this respect. A good friend and ex colleague was now offering this service. We had worked together. She was part of my journey. There really was no better person to guide me. I would advise that even if you are self-publishing, this role is critical. Choose wisely. I got advice on style, making messages clearer, structure and most importantly….where I did not make sense to outside eyes and ears! It is easy to get so wrapped up in your writing that it only makes sense to you. The money this element costs is worth every penny and I would never embark on writing another book without this support.

Getting others to read your work

I also got friends to read the draft book. Friends who were not in my world of work. I didn’t tell them much about the book before they read it. I wanted to know what came across to them. Reconciling their feedback with what I had intended the key insights to be was crucial.

It is a long process

Writing your book is the easy part. Organising it, formatting it, getting it reviewed, making changes, tweaking, changing, repeating the formatting is a long process. You have to be dedicated and not be afraid to deal with the details. I always knew I could write the book (I have been writing short stories for years and love to write). I never thought I could understand the requirements of the self-publishing process. This was where my editor and advisor was an absolute gem. She helped me locate materials to guide me through the process.

Will people buy your book?

Don’t expect huge sales if you self-publish, especially if you are aiming at a specialist market, as I was.  I got an early influx of sales and then it tailed off to a steady trickle. I don’t think I need to say here that you do not benefit from the full price of the book but instead receive a royalty. Unless you are a well known writer selling thousands of books, it isn’t going to make you money. It is better to be doing your writing for other reasons.

Was it worth it?

100% yes. I felt myself develop and grow during the process in two different ways. Firstly, my systems practice grew and developed as I went through the reflective process and recognised how far I had travelled. Secondly, writing a book itself was new to me and so I develop new skills along the way. For me, it was a life changing experience that I enjoyed and when I have the time and space, further books will emerge.

Why is it important that systems practitioners write books

I believe practitioners are the ones with the great systems thinking insights and in some cases, I know this for sure. They do not, however, have enough recognised outlets to share them. Without an affiliation to a university, academic publishing can be difficult. It is not acceptable, in my perspective, to believe that it is only academics who create, have insights or lead in the field. This is not always the case. They just have more outlets (journals etc) to make it look like the case. In my work and experiences, practitioners are at the cutting edge of systems practice. They are insightful, creative and moving things forwards. They just need the outlets to put their stuff out into the world. Self-publishing was, for me, one of the easiest ways to do it.

My final message

This is a short and direct message: If you are at all interested in writing, do it. Don’t hesitate and enjoy every minute of it.  

We can educate and train but can we employ systems thinkers?

/ Pauline Roberts / 2 Comments

Over the last couple of months I have had a series of discussions with several students about their future as they move forwards with their systems practice. They are keen and eager to step forward in the world as systems thinking practitioners. There is only one problem……where do they get employment or how do they set up as independent businesses?

True, there are more jobs coming through for systems thinking practitioners nowadays, but still nowhere near enough. The field is dominated by gangs and cliques who look after one another and in some respects, systems thinking has gone feral. Generally, those not working in the field cannot tell the difference between  those who look good and those who are good.

There is another issue at play, also. Organisations may say they want to employ systems thinkers but they give less thought about how they will accommodate them in an organisational context. By definition, systems thinkers think differently. They are excited by things others often cannot even see. They sometimes do not conform to the norm, preferring instead to be a bit of a maverick. They might hate routine and norms. If they are anything like me, they hate wasting time on trivialities. There has to be purpose and meaning in what they do. You cannot put them in a box, or you can be assured that they will fight their way out of it in record time.

I have experience of this myself. I don’t fit! Anywhere! I struggle with formal office environments where people tend to spend more time controlling each other (even though they think they don’t) and moulding everyone to a norm. Sometimes, it creeps in, bit by bit and before you know it you are one of the dull hidden gems, bored and despondent, looking for a way out.

This was one reason I went into consultancy and tutoring. For a different slant in my career. I soon, however, came up against the bitter competition in consultancy and witnessed more unethical practice than I ever want to see again.

So, what do we do? We educate and train people in systems thinking and then they don’t fit anywhere. To date, there are not enough employment avenues to accommodate them.

Then people ask how I managed to step into the world of systems thinking. When they hear how hard it was and what it really takes to stay afloat, some think twice about it. It was and is hard. Very hard. No-one sees the 18-20 hours days, 7 days a week, week after week, just to make ends meet. They don’t see the 4am starts and 5.30am trains when they read about your exploits online. They don’t see you leave the house at 4am and not return until midnight. They don’t see your fridge with empty shelves because you haven’t even had time to buy milk and the basic groceries for the last fortnight. I cannot express just how hard it can be and how dedicated you need to be to make it work.

How do we change this? How do we make room and employment for systems thinkers? Personally, I still think it is too soon. The outlets are not generally there. Yes, there are some outlets, but for the amount of practitioners we are educating and training, I hear of a far greater percentage who feel lost when it comes to their career, seemingly with nowhere to go that will accommodate the way we have educated them to think.

I do think the bigger systems thinking organisations who champion the discipline have a part to play here. How can they use their power to make a pathway for others to enter the field? What can they do to support those who want to fully step into it?

Some say that systems thinking is not a profession. It is a way of thinking that you use when doing other things. For example, you may be a health commissioner and you use systems thinking to enhance your commissioning practices.

Is it too early then? Is systems thinking still not in the place of it being a profession in its own right? There is an apprenticeship now but it is still very early days. In years to come it might be easier. People might have generally started to understand who and what systems thinkers are.

In the meantime, what do those of us in the field do? We are paving a way that will be easier for those who take the journey after us. At the moment though, the stories I hear in the field are of frustrated people who can see what they want but cannot quite put their hands on it.