Re-Imagining Governance

This book considers what governance could be if we thought about it differently - thought of it less in terms of rules, compliance, and 3rd party regulation; and thought of it more as a system of framing and relating, through which we internalise our purpose. Governance is the way in which we organise ourselves to do and be what we intend. But this cuts both ways - the felt experience of being governed, of being in a governance system and subject to its dynamics, can be both a symptom of the gap between espoused purpose, and an experience of the extent to which it is internalised; yet, the felt experience of a consciously designed governance system can help make sense of a turbulent world, and support innovation. 

Based on 30 years working in a wide range of organisations, in many settings, the author, Andrew Harrison, contends that governance is an under-examined aspect of organisational life and how we organise - for individuals, groups, and society more widely. The book makes six claims about governance systems, and proceeds to explore these through 30 or so conjectures in which experience and theory are brought together to provoke thought, and develop the themes. In this sense, the book invites the reader to join in an inquiry, rather than arguing a case. 

The claims cover the role of governance as a system for internalising purpose; as the way of un-sticking an organisation (but also the place where its stuckness will be most keenly felt); as the design of the way we do things round here; as a particular kind of work, on behalf of the organisation, in particular its system of proprioception, through which an organisation is orientated in the world; as an experience in the here and now of value; and an expression of the 'governing' metaphor of any organisation. As such, governance systems and their design have far reaching consequences - and there is an urgent case for their re-imagining.

The 33 conjectures explore governance as - amongst other things - a somatic system, as metaphor, as a form of immersion, as reverie. We re-imagine the role of the Chair, the nature of regulation, and the function of governance in metabolising differences in value. How might you design a governance system to support innovation? How might a governance system provide a resting place where new possibilities arise? How do we arrive at a settled account of what is good, except through a consciously designed governance system?

Drawing on ideas from frame theory, psychoanalysis, biology, and systems’ theory, the process of re-imagining ranges across a rich variety of perspectives, inviting you to see governance in a new light.

This is the first volume in a series of three books on governance – the second explores the nature of governance in platform enterprises (Platform Governance: how intimacy regulate networks, learning studio forthcoming); the third concentrates on the role of governance in deciding on value (Governance creates value: how we decide what is good, learning studio, forthcoming).