Tag Archives: paradigm

266 – System governance or Smartie sorting?

Posted on by


400 words (5 minutes reading time) by Tim Whistler

Saying that system governance is the key to paradigm change is stating the obvious. Any way of thinking about change requires existing power structures to be understood and for the people controlling those power structures to be given incentives to start thinking and behaving differently. We see it happening every day.

A friend who works as a consultant to various councils was explaining her work to me recently. She was dumbing it down for me and used the analogy of cake decoration. She said her role is the equivalent of helping community to sort out Smarties to pick colours to decorate the council cake. Everyone knows people have favourite Smartie colours, and there will be the ‘right’ colours for the cake. Without knowing exactly who will be eating the cake it can be tricky, and a lot of effort goes into talking to the community about the colour of the Smarties.

Continue reading →

265 – Professor Joseph Drew – Myth Buster and Paradigm Shifter.

Posted on by

Subscribe to continue reading

Subscribe to get access to the rest of this post and other subscriber-only content.

263 – System governance is the key to shifting the local government paradigm

Posted on by

850 words (9 minutes reading time) by Lancing Farrell

The need for a new paradigm in local government in Victoria has been mentioned in a few posts recently (see 241 – Rate capping – the final words (from our future), 253 – Minds Change: My Journey to Transform Local Government Performance, and 261 – Reinventing Local Government). Model collapse, as described by Carole Parkinson and Tim Whistler, signals the end of an existing paradigm. This raises critical questions about the current paradigm in local government and the need for change. A recent podcast in the Reimagining Government series by the Centre for Public Impact, ‘What on earth is a paradigm shift?’, discusses paradigms and provides insights and practical tips for those wanting to bring about transformative change.

Defining Paradigms

The podcast features host Adrian Brown and Professor Toby Lowe from the Centre for Public Impact, Henk-Jan Dekker from the International Centre for Environmental Research and Development, and Jessica Studdert from think tank ‘New Local’. Drawing on the work of Thomas Kuhn and Margaret Masterman, a paradigm was defined as a ‘grand explanatory narrative for how a part of the world works’.  It operates on metaphysical, sociological, and exemplar levels, shaping perceptions of what exists and what should be valued. Understanding how paradigms work is crucial for those seeking systemic change in local government.

Continue reading →