SCiO USA

What is SCiO?

SCiO (Systems and Complexity in Organization) is a community of systems thinking practitioners who believe that traditional approaches to running organizations are no longer capable of dealing with the complexity and instability faced by organizations today, and that outdated approaches can often make problems worse. We believe that systems approaches to designing and running organizations offer radically new and better alternatives.

SCiO has three main objectives:

  1. Advance the practice — develop and test systems approaches on real organizational challenges, and curate content to support practitioner learning and development
     
  2. Spread the practice — make systems approaches visible and understandable, and support their adoption by real people dealing with real situations
     
  3. Support practitioners — give new and seasoned practitioners the peer community, development opportunities and recognition that sustain professional practice
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Many systems thinkers, practitioners and educators can feel isolated in their organizations. SCiO provides a way to talk to and get support from a wide range of like-minded people who are addressing similar challenges.

What does SCiO USA do?

SCiO USA exists to cultivate and develop a community of systems learning, practice, and research in the United States through inquiry, dialogue, shared practice, and reflection on lived experience.

We propose to deliver this value through five operational activities:

  • Education & Learning to develop a person's systems literacy and systems practice capability across multiple systems traditions
  • Community Connection & Development to help a person enter, participate in, contribute to and develop within the systems and cybernetics community
  • Systems Community Information & Navigation to improve a person's awareness, participation and connection across the wider community
  • Research–Practice Connection to bring research and practice into productive relationship across the community and in the work of individuals
  • Critical Reflection to support learning from experience in a structured way, so that a person's understanding develops over time

SCiO USA Launch 2026

We're launching the way we mean to continue: by listening first. We're building the SCiO USA community around what practitioners tell us they would value. Get involved:

  • September 2026 — tell us what you'd value. We're surveying members and prospective members about what would make this chapter worth their time. We'll share back what we hear. Take the Survey
  • October 2026 — a founding circle. Individuals interested in the chapter will work through the survey feedback and help shape the chapter's identity and first operational activities.
  • October 2026 — our inaugural event. We kick off the first sessions of what people asked for, starting a regular rhythm of events.

Once we're underway, we'll offer the mix of events SCiO chapters are known for — mostly virtual and mostly free to attend.

A note for Canadian practitioners: There's no Canadian SCiO chapter yet, so we're engaging members and prospective members across both the US and Canada. You're warmly welcome here — help us shape something on this side of the Atlantic.

 

SCiO USA Directors

  • Scott Pochron (Ohio)
  • Tika Rai (Virginia)
  • JJ van de Vyver (District of Columbia)
  • Ben Wood (Florida)
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