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DIPLOMA OF SYSTEMIC
DISCOVERY

See the system before you try to change it.

Learn to map the real shape of a complex challenge, the stakeholders, the constraints, the patterns nobody named in the brief, before you commit to a direction.

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Most change initiatives start with a brief. And almost every brief carries the same hidden assumption, that the problem is roughly what it appears to be, that the key people are roughly aligned, and that the system is roughly ready to be worked on.

That’s rarely true. Complex systems hide their real shape from the people inside them. The misalignments between sponsors, the structural conditions that make certain outcomes nearly impossible, the beliefs that make the current situation feel inevitable, are almost never visible from where you’re standing. They’re almost never in the brief either.

The Diploma of Systemic Discovery teaches you to find them anyway, and to leave with something concrete to show for it.

Over three in-person days, you’ll work through the same process we use with our own consulting clients, building three real outputs you can take straight back into your own organisation.
Most of the three days go into your Innovation Deck, the work of properly understanding your problem as a system, finding the North Star everyone can actually align behind, and arriving at a root definition of the problem rather than the symptom everyone’s been arguing about. This is where most of the depth sits, and where most of what people think they already understand about their challenge tends to shift.
You’ll also build a Mission Brief, which exists for one reason: to make sure the team taking the work forward knows why they’re doing it clearly enough to act with real agility, the requisite variety to respond to whatever the system actually throws at them, rather than working through a task list someone handed them.

And you’ll leave with a Pitch Deck, the working tool for building what we call a Sensemaking Coalition, recruiting the people you’ll genuinely need around the table as things move into prototyping and testing, the fast touchstones who help you check you’re still reading the system correctly as you go.

Alongside all three, you’ll learn to spot the cognitive biases that quietly convince smart, experienced people the system is simpler than it actually is.

This course is about how to understand a complex situation and equip the people around it to act on that understanding before anyone reaches for a solution.

If you’d rather we did this work directly with your organisation, reach for Systemic Discovery in our consulting portfolio. This diploma is for when you want the skill in your own hands.

Who it is for:

Leaders, facilitators, consultants and change agents who keep being asked to fix things that turn out more complicated than they first appeared, and want a repeatable way of seeing that complexity clearly before they act.
No prior systems thinking experience needed. What matters is that you’re facing, or regularly face, a real, complex challenge you can bring into the room.
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DATES, LOCATIONS, AND PRICES

Course
Location
Dates
Price
Certification
Actions

Diploma of Systemic Discovery

London

12–14 October 2026

£1,450 + VAT

Practitioner Certificate

Book
More Information

Diploma of Systemic Discovery

London

12–14 October 2026

£1,450 + VAT

Practitioner Certificate

Book
More Information

DATES, LOCATIONS, AND PRICES

Course
Location
Dates
Price
Certification
Actions

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Neil has been running discovery work with leaders and organisations for over 25 years. This diploma teaches the same process, so what you’re learning is grounded in years of practical implementation and innovation.
If you’d like to talk through whether this is the right starting point for you, there are a few ways to begin.
Chat with our AI
Talk to us
e-mail Neil directly
Not ready for three days yet? Start with our free course

CLIENT TESTIMONIALS

Real people. Real organisations. Real change.

Senior leaders reflecting honestly on what it’s actually like to work with us.

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“I chose systemic innovation because the statistic that 70% of innovation fails was not one I wanted to be on the end of.”

Sam Catley

People Services and Innovation Director, EDF

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“I see it like my little toolbox. It’s something that’s stuck with me and has fundamentally changed how I approach challenges on a personal and business level.”

Sarah Harvey

Global Director Customer Success, Vertex Inc

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“Bringing Neil into my clients is something I don’t hesitate to do. He will come in and quickly understand the most complex and most critical issues for an organisation and very quickly navigate his way around with diplomacy and humour to help them reach their goals.”

Julia Days

Talent Acquisition Transformation Consultant and Strategy Advisor, RL100 UK 2026

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“We’ve now had 1,500 women go through our programme, and we’ve eliminated attrition from that population, which is extraordinary. We have stopped women leaving our organisation once we invest in them in that way.”

Rachel Higham

MD of IT, BT

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“When Neil tips up in an organisation, I think he’s tipping up as a colleague, as someone who wants to collaborate and who genuinely wants to leave a legacy.”

David Beales

People innovation Hub, EDF

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Systems Thinking for Leaders:
Innovation & Change.

The clearest introduction we know to why complexity changes everything about how you lead change and innovation. Normally £69.99.

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