Dialogic Design represents a 30+ year tradition of strategic and futures-planning design practice grounded firmly in the systems theory school of Christakis and Warfield. DDI inherits the legacy of Interactive Management (the school of dialogic management originated at Battelle Labs, Wharton, and George Mason University), a school of thought that has seen continual development as verified by our recent books and publications. DDI respects the pressing need for disciplined, research-based approaches to address the escalating complexity in all aspects of society, policy, and business. Our services develop internal capacity to firms and leaders investigating new organizational models, coordinating action across diverse stakeholder networks, and leading institutional change. We currently offer three tiers of service and support for consulting and training based on Structured Dialogic Design and convening and reporting on strategic dialogue.
Tier 1 services include complete consulting engagements for management and stakeholder groups. DDI supports local teams and organizational leadership in the design, planning, and coordinated processes for participatory stakeholder design workshops and related research, using SDD for strategic dialogue and other processes appropriate for the problem or organization. Typical services include:
- Scoping: Collaborative analysis and definition of problem system
- Visioning: Formulating shared vision and strategy with problem owners / core team
- Organizational coordination, team and stakeholder selection, recruiting, and orientation
- Local and remote process training, coordination with management and broker
- Convening SDD workshops, orchestrated by Cognisystem process
- Design and integration of local organizational workshops or training sessions
- Program and problem evaluation research, Preparation and presentation of summary research
- Convening series or interrelated multi-stakeholder workshops and advisory sessions
Tier 2 provides services necessary to convene organizational workshops using SDD and Cognisystem.
- Scoping: Collaborative definition of problem system and approach
- Visioning: Shared vision and strategy established with problem owner / core team
- Coordination for team and stakeholder selection and orientation
- Organizational consulting and coordination related to the problem area
- Convening SDD workshops, orchestrated by Cognisystem process
- Preparation and presentation of any summary research
Tier 3 supports services associated with convening SDD sessions using Cognisystem.
- Scoping: Collaborative definition of problem system and approach
- Visioning: Shared vision and strategy established with problem owner / core team
- Convening SDD workshops, orchestrated by Cognisystem
Structured Dialogic Design training: Additionally, DDI provides training in dedicated organizational settings for SDD practice and the Cognisystem.