John Baxter
Fostering collaborative communities. The complex challenges of an evolving, interconnected world demand collective action.
First - the grassroots collaborative innovation ecosystem in Adelaide
Then - a public sector networked by communities of action
Also learning what it means today to be a good person.
Twitter- LinkedIn
- Professional adventurer (blog)
- Facebook
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Tweets
- RT @mlr_ca: D'oh! Just as was getting used to this coworking thing... "The Future of Coworking is Free and Augmented" http://t.co/KdXhn5BymB
- Thinking people are machines has fooled us into believing our skills and our talents are more relevant than what we care about #doingitwrong
- Crap. Gmail's 'new compose experience'. Typing multiple emails and checking your inbox all at once is a good thing? http://t.co/AbfQvi73qC
- @couldyoujustnot thinking this morning about community-led discussions, engagement, relationships to gov. Hope #CoCreateADL can be an entreMar 28, 13 from web Reply, Retweet, Favorite
- @couldyoujustnot you've heard about #CoCreateADL right? If you can make Sat 13th April would be good to see you there http://t.co/lHIWNz6yzbMar 28, 13 from web Reply, Retweet, Favorite
- RT @KateKendall: There shouldn't be an 'e' in front of anything anymore – let's just say commerce, mail, newsletters, retail etc. #style ...
- @stefdirusso but why try to be science anyway? Physics isn't relevant until you start engineering with it.
- @stefdirusso same as with 'hard' stuff. Engineering isn't science, it's definitely 'hard', but at least we're aware of the boundaries there
- @stefdirusso I think there is science in biology and social science; there is also stuff I wouldn't class as science
- If your goal is to be bought out then you don't really care about the problem you're solving. #justsayin #startup #startupADL
- @lazyballerina @BeckyBHC Chimichurri have been pretty good to deal with for my event. Depends on the menu you want though!
- RT @Lissy_Phillips: Watch. Learn. Apply. @ryanholton @tapnichols - Dan Pallotta: The way we think about charity is dead wrong http://t.c ...
- @JohnAHibble that would be a cool group to hang with... I want to visit next I'm in Melbs : )
- @skewiff that's the first time I've seen #justsayin misapplied. Though you may have just broke the camels back of over use
- @eigenmatt lol wtf (that's a valid expression, right?)
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Info
- Community Cultivator and FacilitatorCivic & Social Organization | Adelaide Area, Australia, AUSummary
I cultivate collaborative communities. I view community as an organising principle, through which people enable one another to achieve what they couldn't alone. Community will be a decisive factor in how well we address the complex challenges of a changing, interconnected world - challenges that demand collective action.
I combine two streams of experience, one with collaborative communities and startups, and the other in public sector performance analysis. I apply a mathematics background to understand human networks and systems. Entrepreneurial experience means I work with people to get things done. These diverse ingredients are a base for leading genuine, systemic impact.
The conditions are right for Adelaide's collaborative innovation ecosystem to flower - I am helping to shape and grow it.
I am establishing a business that combines commercial work with partners who want to work in networked ways, while contributing my skills to the local ecosystem. I am making connections to work collectively to foster a more thriving society.
I moved from Sydney to Victoria to complete the state public service graduate program at the start of 2010, with a substantive position in performance analysis at the audit office. I have since left that position and moved to Adelaide where I see opportunity to contribute most to the flowering of the collaborative ecosystem.
Specialties: performance management, collaborative communities, systems dynamics, governance, networked ways of working, open collaborationExperience- Feb 2012 - PresentFounder, Lead Facilitator and Cultivator / Realise
Cultivating communities that make amazing things happen, facilitating projects and collaborations, and consulting in community and collaboration strategy.
- Feb 2011 - Feb 2012Performance Analyst (Public Administration) / Victorian Auditor-General's Office
Team member contributing to performance audit projects
Core activities: Background research and audit project scoping; information reviewing and analysis; synthesising information into briefings and reports; project planning and tracking; stakeholder relations
- Oct 2010 - Jan 2011Project Officer / Sport and Recreation Victoria
Secondment/rotation as part of the VPS grad scheme
Core activities: council liaison; ministerial briefings; grant program administration; event coordination
- Jun 2010 - Sept 2010Policy Officer / Skills Victoria
I was involved in a broad range of policy development and ministerial support activities, including doing financial modelling for cabinet briefings, coordinating parliamentary questions and ministerial briefings, contributing to discussion papers and writing correspondence
Education-
2005 - 2008University of SydneyBachelor of Liberal Studies (Advanced) in Mathematics, Australian Literature
Activities: Science Review Society (Treasurer), Motorcycle Club (Treasurer, President) -
1998 - 2003Manly High School
Additional Information-
Websites:
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Interests:Design approaches to systemic change and collaborative problem solving, public administration, learning, being wrong, contributing meaningfully
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Posts
- Apr 18, 13
How do you create a social change initiative? There are a range of models out there for getting things done. The startup model will work for many social enterprises (e.g. Lean Startup and Business Model Canvas). A movement-building approach is great for behaviour-driven social change. Activist and campaign techniques can leverage collective interest to influence the activity of large
- Mar 11, 13
It's been a full on month. I'm in Melbourne at the moment - my projects are on track, I've had some incredibly productive inspiration and reflection about my business, my information streams are under control, and I just need to get down to the necessary low-value administrative crap. Perfect time for a blog post. Some themes are emerging in my life and practice, like a desire for simplicity,
- Jan 27, 13
I've been lucky enough to be involved in some fantastic projects in the last year, like Collaboratory Melbourne, Collaborate to Innovate and Our World Today. I've had great experiences. But a lot of the time, it hasn't felt like I've achieved anything. I have learnt that transformation relies upon the use of potential energy. Enabling people, helping them realise their potential, instead of
- Jan 10, 13
The blog has been fairly quiet the last six months. There are too many different things I could write about, and I have no compelling case to write about any one of them, especially given my modest readership. This blog was initially a way to engage with friends about what I was up, where individual conversations were impractical. Many of my posts have let my friends know I write about things
- Dec 31, 12
It's been too long, too much has happened... even I have struggled to stay in the loop. So instead of a recap - a few quick comments on 2013 ahead. I'm setting up a business. Still in alpha: a mission-driven enterprise to realise the positive potential of changes in the ways we work. Communities, networks, agility and collaboration... all that stuff I do. But more than anything, providing
- Dec 08, 12
This is my take on 'social business'. It refers, in short, to businesses that are social in nature - that are a connected part of society. I'm referring to Australian/UK usage here, so I'm not referring to social enterprise - businesses created for social purpose - which is the meaning of 'social business' in other places. And yes, all businesses are inherently social. Some people think
- Nov 11, 12
We've all experienced stale 'community' environments. Workplaces rife with distrust. Volunteer organisations with a few ardent leaders - and volunteers who arrive passionate and leave disengaged. 'Community' or 'networking' groups where everybody seems to have their own agenda. These spaces either don't have underlying community, or are affected by major pathologies. Nobody is looking
- Nov 07, 12
This is based on the concepts (like 'unfulfilled need' and 'ambition') and community framework from @alexknowshtml's Community Builder Masterclass. Starting a community is like lighting a fire in the dark. Initial stages - light the match Wood is 'unfulfilled need' - burning wood releases energy in the fulfillment of the need. Community is the coming together to address shared
- Oct 29, 12
This is the first cut intro to the vision I'm writing up - which seems to be turning into a manifesto... From here I need to go through references and links, as a first stage of refinement to create something of higher quality. There are some chronic gaps - like what a 'network' is. Let it be for now.... but let me know what you think of the start! We're moving into an increasingly
- Sep 23, 12
I am gradually learning when enough is enough. I hadn't had much experience working in open collaborative ways like I am now... I've had a long way to come - and still a long way to go. This post might be a bit abstract, and it might seem convoluted. But the number of times I'm surprised at people's impractical approach to work and time tells me it's worth writing. By 'enough is enough', I
- Sep 20, 12
What sorts of structures do collaborative groups come in? I sat down this morning to write something about models for collaborative communities, and ended up writing a rather long post on communities, collectives and networks. Or, more properly, on a few different stable group types I've noticed reappearing, that seem to form a set of 'archetypes' - as a result of group dynamics, and the
- Sep 16, 12
A set of aspirational goals for 'management'? It's got to be dull right? Not so. This HBR article is more than three years old, but it should continue to be a great reference for some time to come. For me, it will be a great touch stone when thinking and blogging about organisations and management - almost like a universal second opinion. There are lots of 'big lists' on the net, and many
- Sep 16, 12
You've probably heard about Google's 20 percent time. Employees can dedicate a fifth of their working time to their own projects. Often it's brought up as something radical, a sign of how left of field Google is. Or as an indulgence they afford their high quality staff. But it's not radical enough. In a creative, fast-moving industry like online software, it's just good business sense. It
- Sep 16, 12
I have a fetish for building complicated contraptions and I don't think I'm alone www.jsbaxter.com.au @JohnSBaxter
- Sep 14, 12
I feel like I'm living on the edge. I'm not a radical, borderline sociopath or just scraping by. But I am caught between two paradigms. I call the first 'constructionist', and it seems to be our society's predominant mindset. I think perhaps our individualistic society tends to make us think of our roles as controlling, deciding, ones - either that or as powerless, and needing to appeal to
- Aug 24, 12
Yes, cocreation is a sham. Often enough, co-design is no better. Cocreation is a buzzword that implies inclusive, user/community driven creation, but is code for getting input from potential participants during a construction process. Have you ever heard cocreation used for something that's actually community driven? That's not called cocreation, because we already have words for it. It is
- Aug 20, 12
I've just arrived back in Adelaide after a crazy month in Melbourne. Lots of thoughts in the head, so much learnt - I still haven't been able to process it to understand what I've learnt, but so much changed that I'm sure it was a lot.... Over the month with the Collaboratory my approach changed drastically. Initially the plan was to set the wheels in motion, to meet a self-imposed
- Aug 06, 12
I have at least five draft blog posts almost ready to go, and a couple of months of fairly dramatic developments to write about.... I plan to make headway on some of these later this month. In the meantime, I've done a 6 month review of my plans/resolutions for 2012. They are just rough notes, not pretty enough to post here - but if you want to follow through I have posted them elsewhere. The
- Aug 03, 12
Our inhuman paradigm for employment narrows the focus on the value opportunities from work. Our drive for efficiency is inefficient by neglecting the unseen. Working with the Collaboratory in Melbourne, I've been involved in working on (thinking about and designing) collaboration and 'work' relationships that are completely different to the simplistic arrangements I am used to. You know the
- Jun 27, 12
The value and application of a 'Collective Impact' philosophy (or 'theory') was reinforced at the recent Emerging Leaders for Social Change (ELSC) strategy session I attended. It was probably the single biggest take away, and since then examples keep popping up where it is (could be) relevant. Collective Impact is a theory for action articulated by some fine people at FSG, which you can
- Jun 26, 12
I was introduced a few weeks ago to the idea that I'm playing a 'social innovator'. No - not because I'm innovative. It's a vocation. Unlike playing a 'social entrepreneur', I'm not looking to start up a business - perhaps that makes me a fool. But I do want to 'do' things. Identify opportunities to make things better, intervene and contribute how I can, learn from it, and discover ways to
- Jun 17, 12
I've been thinking a lot lately about the formation of networks and communities, but not as much about collective action. A strategy session with Emerging Leaders for Social Change (ELSC) last Saturday brought this back into focus. Over the course of the day, some quite different models for the future of the group were raised, underpinned by some very different philosophies for action. Taking
- May 30, 12
You may have picked up that there are aspects of certain systems that I'm not too fond of. My adventuring is motivated by dissatisfaction with systems of public sector administration. And my experience adventuring is feeding dissatisfaction with aspects of employment systems - mostly because of the contrast I feel with how good it is to be able to manage my own life completely. We're all
- May 20, 12
I've been drawn to a very compelling thread in a few people's philosophies over the last two weeks that I thought I should quickly share. Life is play. Life generates art. Or, what we should be aiming for in social change programs is not safety from hardship, but thriving. These people have very compelling stories for looking at this very similar creative, thriving positive attribute as what
- May 17, 12
I've just had a revelation. In reality, it is putting the two main parts of my life together in the most obvious combination possible. I'm on a mission to find out how I can help make government work better. What I'm occupying my time with is helping to foster collaborative communities to drive innovation. Is it obvious yet? I have been thinking about how to spin a government innovation
