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Individual Membership

An Invitation:

You are cordially invited to become an Associate of Plexus Institute, joining together with others who connect with our mission of fostering the health of individuals, families, communities, organizations and our natural environment by helping people use concepts emerging from the new science of complexity.

Background & Philosophy:

The Plexus Institute is a not-for-profit organization that was formed in 2001 by a small group of people from diverse backgrounds who shared a commitment to the mission. In the years since its inception, Plexus has created and supported a large and growing learning community. Plexus Institute seeks to be inclusive and welcoming, enabling everyone interested in the work of Plexus to become active, engaged participants.

The central value of membership is the many opportunities participants have to interact with other members from diverse backgrounds, share ideas and experiences, and build a network of relationships that generate unforeseen benefits that individuals alone cannot achieve.

Becoming a Plexus Associate means being part of a network of colleagues committed to learning about complexity science and exploring innovative ways to use complexity in our daily lives.

All Associates have the access to Plexus Institute activities, which include:

Participation in PlexusCalls
Participation in existing fractals, or invitation to form new fractals
Connections with other Associates and colleagues; listing in an Associates Directory and opportunity to communicate in a specially designed web space
Notice of Plexus conferences, workshops, events and special gatherings
A growing repository of learning materials including articles, research, and emerging practice patterns
Subscription to the weekly Thursday Complexity Post
Participation in special initiatives and access to our new Deeper Learning publications series that explores complexity-related topics in depth. You will have the opportunity to submit your own work for inclusion in this series.

Plexus membership provides an introduction to complexity science, providing participants with a new way of making sense of each of these and other issues by exploring how other complex adaptive systems behave. This provides participants with the background - a new lens - for revising many of the long-held beliefs that underpin traditional views of how the world works. The practical value of this cannot be overemphasized, since our understanding shapes our behavior and, by extension, our realities.

Plexus members have the ability to influence the activities of the Institute. Members are free and encouraged to shape agendas, create networks, sponsor workshops, start projects and initiate dialogues with other members.

Fees

Individual may join as an Associate for an annual fee of $100, and full-time students may join as Student Associates for $50 a year.

Plexus Partnerships

An Invitation:

You are cordially invited to join us as a Plexus Partner and work together with complexity scientists, scholars and leaders who know complexity and have experience with how its scientific concepts can impact our lives as individuals and members of organizations. Your interactions with these practitioners and theoreticians can develop familiarity with the principles and processes most useful to meeting the challenges your organization confronts right now and in times to come.

Background & Philosophy:

The Plexus mission is to foster the health of individuals, families, communities organizations and our natural environment by helping people use the concepts emerging from the science of complexity. Leaders from a wide range of organizations-corporations, educational institutions, hospitals and government agencies - use complexity-inspired insights for management and organizational change.

We don't offer canned solutions or promises of instant success. We do offer a safe, stimulating environment where participants gain novel insights through interaction with colleagues in addition to practitioners and scholars from the Plexus community. Participants will find support for learning and experimentation and encouragement for the innovations that may develop in their own organizations as a result.

Every Plexus Partnership is unique. We collaborate with you and your team to design a program that supports your priorities. Plexus Partners interact with other partners, share ideas and experiences, and build a network of relationships. New information and often surprising new perspectives can supply background for rethinking conventional beliefs about how organizations work and what moves them forward. Plexus Partners are encouraged to involve teams of executives and staff members in the Institute's learning opportunities to facilitate diffusion of ideas from the bottom up as well as the top down.

AMONG THE ISSUES PLEXUS PARTNERS HAVE EXPLORED:

Uncertainty is reality: How do you plan?
Building a stakeholder network. How to launch and support?
Inverted decision-making: Boon or threat?
Relationships: Their impact on employee enthusiasm and productivity
Collaboration: What helps individuals and groups act in concert?
Creativity and Innovation: What makes it flourish in research and new product design?
Becoming a more nimble, adaptable organization: How?
Leading and organizing: Making new sense of these terms.

Plexus Partnerships can provide an introduction to complexity science that gives your team and potentially your stakeholders an opportunity to explore how complex systems work. Research has shown that complexity inspired management can improve healthcare outcomes in the well being of patients and in worker satisfaction. Research in other fields has identified specific processes that foster emergence and self-organization in businesses and human communities.

Your regular interactions with the leaders of Plexus can help shape the direction and activities of the Institute.

SERVICES and LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES for PLEXUS PARTNERS:

Plexus designed meetings, facilitated workshops, educational conferences or planning sessions on a theme or issue of your choice, can be tailored to the requirements and aspirations of your organization. These offerings can expose leaders to complexity science and complexity-inspired ways of interacting and managing. Faculty can be drawn from the Plexus Science Advisory Board, Plexus trustees and staff.
Participation in Plexus sponsored research or other activities of interest to the organization may develop. For example, several Partners are now involved in a grant funded effort to use Positive Deviance to improve healthcare.
Co-development of proposals and project designs to expand and extend innovative approaches to priority challenges.

Fees for Plexus Partnerships start at $10,000/year. Yearly budgets are developed collaboratively based on the activities and resources chosen by the Partner.

To explore the Plexus Partnership opportunity, please contact Lisa Kimball, at 202.857.9797 or lisa@plexusinstitute.org