Welcome to the Complex Mess Community

The Complex Mess community is a diverse group of people who are interested in engaging in new and fresh ways with complex problems.

The focus of this community is developing our practice of working in complex situations. We do this through reflective and generative conversations in which we practice different ways of being and connecting that have application beyond the group.

We meet in person in Melbourne, Australia, and online to develop and deepen our Complex Mess work practice.

Membership is free!

how we gather

Group agreements

Keep personal material confidential.
Listen with curiosity and compassion, withholding judgment.
Ask for what you need and offer what you can.
Inclusion - making sure everyone has the opportunity to speak.
Practice the pause - calling for the need for a stretch break, signalling that something significant has been spoken, or calling the group to mindfulness of time and shared contributions.

Adapted from the Circle Way

Group practices

Group agreements

Listen with attention means focusing clearly on what is being said by someone else.
Speak with intention means contributing what has relevance, heart, and meaning to the topic and situation of the moment.
Contribute to the wellbeing of the group means considering the impact of our words and actions before, during, and after we interact.

Thanks to the Circle Way

Online group agreements

We try to attend the gatherings as regularly as we can to build connection and a sense of community, whilst recognising that life gets busy for all of us.
We let the group know whether we are able to attend each time or not by RSVPing at least one week before gatherings.
We give the group as much notice as we can if our plans change, aiming to give at least 48 hours’ notice whenever possible.
When gathering we stay present in the conversation by keeping our cameras and mics on unless we have a specific reason to turn them off.
We use the meeting chat to record things people say that strike us as worth capturing for future reflection, rather than as a separate parallel conversation.

fundamental beliefs for a healthy group process

Source: "Who do we choose to be?", Margaret Wheatley

Certainty is the source of positional conflicts; curiosity creates possibilities and new relationships.
All perspectives are essential but not sufficient - no one person or group understands the problem sufficiently.
Every perspective, prejudice, and opinion offers information.
Everybody is an expert about their own experience.
Respectful listening creates space for both relationships and insights.
People support what they create; engagement creates ownership.
Diversity is a life-saving blessing, not a problem.

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."

Complex Mess

the collective practice of hope

Welcome to the Complex Mess Community

how we gather

Group agreements

Group agreements

Group agreements

Group practices

Group agreements

Group agreements

Online group agreements

fundamental beliefs for a healthy group process

Source: "Who do we choose to be?", Margaret Wheatley

Listen to our Futurepod conversation

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