About

 .......    Delia P. MacNamara

What has been written about me and is on my LinkedIn profile:

"Consistently ahead of her time, Delia's Enterprise 2.0 training programmes for business began in 2006, and were granted Foundation Award status by the University of Hull soon after. Her consultancy clients include the University of Hull, Hull City Council, NHS, East Riding Business Network, Beverley Chamber of Commerce, Immage Studios and many SME's.

An international career working across several industry sectors encompassing training, business, organisational change management and IT has resulted in a unique overview of how technology impacts on the way we communicate and do business.

With the increasing acceptance of "social media" in the business world, Delia's focus is now researching for her PhD on how these technologies can be optimised for organisational, government and community use using a systems and critical thinking approach.

Specialties

web 2.0, connected creativity, collective innovation, open innovation, internet evolution"

The reality... I am passionate about people, our universe, technology and positive progress.   I'm interested in robotics (particularly AI and the cognitive processes of a robot), space travel, alternative sources of energy and subsequent innovations, nature, neurosciences, the human condition and spirituality.

I am currently doing PhD into 'Systemic Leadership in the Networked World'.   I am learning that there is a vast amount of knowledge (not just information) out there and that each time I read something, it gives me a different way of looking at the same situation - enabling me to see a kaleidoscope of viewpoints.  I have discovered that the research into open innovation, collective intelligence, networks, complexity, systems thinking and leadership points to the inner universe of the 'self' as well as extending this outwards.  At times, what I have found terrifies me as if I 'future think' given our current trajectory and, at the same time, continues to excite and inspire me. 

I have discovered that finding a "digital voice" (ie. being able to publish on the web in terms of a blog) is easy to teach .. it's another thing to practise.  Yet leaders are being asked to do this to inform and engage their staff.   I hope to voice my own experiences, research  and insights during this period (which I'll admit, I'm finding terrifying!) and welcome constructive feedback, ideas and experiences.

What about 'Systemic Leadership'? What does that mean?  It's about applying systems thinking, particularly critical systems thinking, to think holistically, systemically and lead systemically in a climate that seems increasingly "uncertain" and "complex". *** note: this para will probably change over time as the research progresses :-)  ****

The (un)fortunate thing is that I like to keep things practical and simple - even if the detail is quite complex.  I also believe that I am a piece of a puzzle, so I don't have all the answers, only a piece, and that it will take collaboration to create the full picture until the picture morphs into something else.   I fundamentally believe that we already have all the answers we need to the questions we want to answer if we can apply the collective in a positive way -- and that also includes making room for the countless paradigms, the (constructive) conflicts between them -- to move forward, whilst at the same time remaining critical of these choices and developments.

This means that leaders need to, more than ever, need to have a strong sense of 'self' awareness, what impacts their decisions, their interactions, how those decisions and interactions then manifest themselves within their teams, organisations, and society as well as engendering espirit de corp, culture and the bottom line of profit and growth - not much to ask, right? :-)    It's not easy.  Therefore, I hope to create a (relatively) simple construct/model/axiom/theory/formula - mantra? that is easy to remember and apply in any context... so I'm not asking much either :-)