Welcome to the Complex Mess Community
In true Complex Mess style, the Complex Mess community is changing!
For the last couple of years a diverse group of people gathered both in Melbourne and online to develop their practice of working in complex situations. We had lots of reflective and generative conversations in which we practiced different ways of being and connecting.
Now we are refocussing.
We are launching 5 new Complex Mess groups in August 2026. These groups are:
- The Complex Mess of Education
- The Complex Mess of Health
- The Complex Mess of Housing
- The Complex Mess of Community Safety
- The Complex Mess of Land Use
These professional practice groups are for people working ‘in’ or ‘on’ one of these Complex Messes, who believe in better futures and want to connect with others to explore possibilities, build hope and see what might emerge from new conversations with different people.
These groups will meet once a month initially for a series of three 2-hour conversations starting in August 2026.
Listen to our Futurepod conversation
It was a joy to be hosted by Peter Hayward on FuturePod to talk about the Complex Mess community (June 2024).
You can listen to the conversation or download the transcript here.
"In a complex world that is probably accelerating in both complexity, weirdness, and messiness. How can decision-makers find enough coherence in the mess to chart a way forward, as they must, while also remaining open and skeptical about any temporary coherence they stumbled into. And how do they also handle the psychic burden of such an intellectual high wire act?
"In episode 193, Peter Hayward hosts Meredith Bowden and Dave Godden to discuss their Complex Mess community and what they have learned about supporting people working in complex spaces."
