Topics & Themes

What do a flip chart, a marker and a $36-million-dollar Community Centre construction project have in common? The answer is Simplexity and the power of problem solving in a local government context that finds and break down the barriers to making what seemed impossible for decades possible.

Municipal governments in North America have not changed significantly in their organizational structures or internal functioning since the industrial revolution while the rest of the private sector has been modernizing to reflect new ways of doing business and responding to an increasingly digital world. The Town of Pelham (Ontario, Canada) has responded to these changing and dynamic times by formally adopting Simplexity as part of its everyday operations and has embedded this thinking into their corporate culture.

In this session Mayor Dave Augustyn and Chief Administrative Officer Darren Ottaway will present specific case studies that illustrate the power of Simplexity internal to the organization and externally when dealing with “hot button” issues and the general public. The session will focus on how Simplexity propelled this small town to become an innovation leader and turned the impossible possible.

• How might we harness the power of collaborative thinking to help shape the words we use?
• How might we shape the words we use to change the world we live in?
• How might we have more collective “brain power” to simply, innovate?

Neuroscientists and psychologists know that our brains and how they are designed to be efficient, not rational. Our brains use cognitive shortcuts to further muddy things for us. Last summer’s Yanni and Laurel viral phenomenon showed even more clearly how people can be exposed to the exact same information and hear some very different things. In this session, explore how both spoken and unspoken language can be a driver of change and exploring new possibilities, and even accelerating innovation. Experience how the Basadur Profile  has been applied in shifting language for teams and leaders who want to work more collaboratively.