Our story
We have built a professional body of practical knowledge over 60 years
This has been tried and tested in many countries, cultures and sectors and applied by a broad range of clients and organisations.
1970-1980
Work started at Brunel University UK in the1970s, developed through action research working in partnership with organisations
The work began in the public sector; Health, Social Services and Mental Health in the Brunel Institute of Organisation and Social Studies (‘BIOSS’) led by Professor Elliott Jaques using a collaborative methodology called Social Analysis.
Staff at BIOSS including Ian Macdonald developed practical models and theories concerning the nature of effective organisations and the capability of people.
These models were always based on the importance of understanding the nature of human work and its role in creativity and good working relationships. The ideas were developed and tested in practice with those working and/or living in organisations. There were books published during this time summarising the ideas and the impact of those ideas.
The work developed internationally especially in the USA and Europe.
Ian Macdonald led projects that resulted in a new approach to understanding the capability of people with Learning Difficulties. Helped develop multidisciplinary services to support the closure of large mental hospitals in London and South Wales. He also helped redesign the assessment centres for the UK Civil Service and the US Army in Washington.
1980-2000
In the 1990s Ian Macdonald completed his doctorate and left Brunel to establish Macdonald Associates Consultancy (‘MAC’) with associates from several countries
This work was mainly centred around a major transformation of an international mining company in Australia. The work fundamentally changed the nature of work relationships in Australia and has been written up in several publications. At the same time work was developed in Aboriginal/Indigenous communities that was unique in its approach.
This period of time saw the major development of ideas that now form the body of knowledge known as Systems Leadership. With co-authors Karl Stewart and Catie Burke all these ideas were tested in practice and led to major (30-40%) improvements in productivity as well as significant improvement in the quality of working relationship.
The ideas concerning Culture, Values, Mythos, System Design, the Tools of Leadership, models of Team Leadership and Membership all were developed and tested. At the same time we refined existing models of Complexity of Work and Capability.
The close working relationship between Ian, Karl and Catie has been a consistent contributor to the material; especially the publications. Karl was the first to test the entire model in an organisation and fully demonstrate its effectiveness.
However, Systems Leadership is not the product of one or even three minds. Many consultants and members of the organisations have also made significant contributions to these ideas and their practical application.
Ian Macdonald, Catie Burke and Karl Stewart
The Present and Future
We work with a wide range of organisations in many different counties and sectors
We continue to test, refine and develop ideas and increase the number of accredited consultants. Work continues in Europe, Africa, Canada, USA as well as the UK.
Probably the major development in the last decade or so has been the application and development of ideas in Education. We worked on a major project in Far North Queensland with two of our Accredited practitioners, Clive Dixon and Tony Tiplady. That work resulted in a major publication showing improvements in student outcomes especially those from an Aboriginal and Torres Straits background. Work is also progressing in England and Wales.
We also studied and published the effects of the Pandemic on a wide range of organisations worldwide. The other major development has the establishment of the Systems Leadership Community Interest Company. This not-for-profit company provides consultancy to organisations that otherwise would not be able to afford it. It is partly funded by donations and all revenues from Intellectual Property licences.
