Last Masterclass of 2023 - Designing Institutions for the Age of Polycrisis with Giulio Quaggiotto

We’ve completed our 2023 cycle of Masterclasses with Giulio Quaggiotto, his lecture focused on “Designing Institutions for the Age of Polycrisis” was an eye-opening and thought-provoking session. Quaggiotto highlighted the pressing need to reimagine our institutions to face the new reality of radical uncertainty and permanent crisis, in contrast to the predictability and relative stability of the past.

He noted the importance of distinguishing between risk and uncertainty. Giulio emphasized that risk can be quantified based on past behavior, while uncertainty cannot. Therefore, institutions must be equipped to face uncertainty, which requires a different approach to organizational design and culture.

Giulio also discussed the need to build organizational will for “irreversible” transformation. To achieve this, institutions need to constantly generate new options for action and be better equipped to face the polycrisis. Drawing from emerging practice from across the world, the masterclass provided examples of how organizations in the development and public sector have successfully embraced uncertainty and system transformation.

In the masterclass exercise, participants focused on redesigning institutions for uncertainty, looking at artefacts, rituals, and dimensions. This exercise highlighted the need for a holistic approach to redesigning institutions, which involves rethinking everything from physical spaces to decision-making processes and cultural norms.