One agreed vision, built by the whole practice

The challenge

Oxera's Data Science Practice needed a robust shared vision of what it contributes to the wider Oxera Group. The workshop objective was simple: "To agree a robust vision of the Data Science Practice key contribution to the wider Oxera Group."

What we did

We designed the process with Oxera, facilitated all five stages of the SeriousWork Systems Thinking Model©, and followed up afterwards.

1. Shared vision. Everyone built a model of "the Data Science Practice as a successful team two years from today". Four table groups combined theirs into shared models, and one person from each table then merged them into a single Meta-Model©: 24 people's vision in one place.
2. Agreement. Each person rated their support for the Meta-Model© with a green, amber or red card and wrote what they appreciated, would improve or found missing.
3. Agents. The team built more than 40 forces that could affect the vision, including AI developments, internal culture, client expectations, recruitment, budgets, data quality and regulation.
4. Organisation and connections. They placed the agents around the vision, paused to ask what biases the group might have, then built the key relationships the practice must attend to.
5. Insight and Re-Vision©. Using the ORID framework, pairs placed flags on the two leverage points where action would matter most. Everyone wrote one change they would make to the vision. Four volunteers then refined the Meta-Model© and recorded its new story for the rest of the team.

What changed

Comparing the two video stories, the refined vision is significantly richer, more detailed, more coherent and more strategically grounded than the first. The team left with an agreed vision, two prioritised leverage points and a record of every model.

"He took a group of 28 smart, diverse, yet also critical data scientists and economists, ranging from junior to board level, and led us to a unified vision for our Data Science practice."
Dr Sebastian Wernicke, Partner, Oxera

What we learned

With more time we would have explored the leverage points further and added reflective dialogue on the assumptions behind the agents. Closing that gap is what became the Systems Synergy.

The full case is told in The Systems Synergy, chapter 11.