Impact Trust • Working glossary
Budget of possibilities (Gregory Bateson)
Deliberately maintaining a wide portfolio of options and slack in an organisation, so you have the flexibility to respond to whatever radical uncertainty throws at you – the opposite of optimising for efficiency.
Details
Context introduced
From Bateson’s cybernetics; Kirsten applied it to institutional design. Counter-intuitive in efficiency-driven organisations: the ‘waste’ of maintaining unused options is actually the source of resilience. Connects to Beth Sawin’s preparedness space.
Source
Gregory Bateson, cybernetics, Kirsten Dunlop / Climate-KIC
Source / First Appears In
Risk & Risk Perception TDT session
Authors
Impact Trust team
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