EL DIRECTOR GENERAL DE SEGURIDAD PRIVADA DISPONE:

In chapter 2 it was concluded that the Transition Management (TM) approach provides a general framework for developing and managing a portfolio of transition experiments, but lacks specifi c theoretical and practice-oriented concepts on how to manage transi- tion experiments at the operational level. This section develops a managerial perspective on transition experiments, which is further illustrated and elaborated in the case studies (mainly Chapters 5, 6 and 7).

First it should be noted that the term ‘management’ does not refer to classical command-and-control, top-down management, but builds upon notions from Transi- tion Management. Within TM literature, managing is interpreted as searching, learning and experimenting (Rotmans and Loorbach, 2006; Loorbach, 2007), creating space for frontrunners and fi rst movers and empowering them gradually (Rotmans et al., 2007), refl exive governance (Grin, 2006, Voß et al., 2006) and infl uencing the process of change of a complex system in a certain (sustainable) direction (Smith et al., 2005, Loorbach and Rotmans, 2010). To be able to manage a transition experiment successfully, it is important to defi ne what a successful transition experiment is. Explicit success criteria can support the selection, execution and monitoring of transition experiments. Based on initial experiences with applying criteria in practice19_{, two types of criteria for success}

18. It the case studies in Chapter 5 the transitioning framework was only tested to refl ect on ongoing projects; follow-up research should test to what extent the framework supports developing concrete

actions.

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can be distinguished: (i) process criteria for the quality of the project management and (ii) substance criteria for the quality of the explored solutions (Box 3.2).

The fi rst type of criteria is mainly about conventional ‘good’ project (and process) management, such as having suffi cient room in the project budget and planning, stimulating a high quality learning process, developing adequate incentives / account- ability mechanisms that support the project and selecting project participants with high motivation, resources and competences. Even though these general process criteria are also applied in conventional project management, in a successful transition experiment the specifi c way in which these criteria are applied is diff erent. For example, in conven- tional project management the ‘supportive incentives / accountability mechanisms’ are focused on realising short-term results and mainly fi nancial impacts, while in the management of a transition experiment, similar accountability mechanisms (such as contractual agreements or monitoring indicators) are focused on stimulating learning and a broad societal impact.

Moreover, ‘good’ project management in transition experiments diff ers from classical project management in several ways. The fi rst diff erence is that in transition experiments Transition to Sustainable Mobility Programme (Chapter 5) and within the Transition Programme in Long- term Care (Chapter 6). More research is necessary to test if these criteria can be generalised to transition experiments in diff erent contexts (such as diff erent sectors).

20. The process criteria were developed and tested in a KSI research project (Emmert et al., 2006) aimed at

supporting project and programme managers with transforming existing innovation projects into transi- tion experiments with a high potential to contribute to transitions (described in Chapter 5).

21. The substance criteria have been partly applied during the selection of transition experiments for the Transi- tion Programme in Long-term Care (Chapter 6).

Process criteria20

– room in budget and planning – space in the process – quality of learning process

– supportive incentives / accountability mechanisms

– motivation, resources and competences of project participants (transition competences) – strategic management

Substance criteria21

– connection to societal challenge (how the project goals fi t with societal ‘transition’ goals) – connection to promising paths of development (transition paths)

– innovativeness (in terms of deviating from dominant structure, culture and practices)

– sustainability of explored solutions (in terms of a balance between economic, social and ecological development)

it is important to create enough space in the process for learning, refl ection and diff erent ways of thinking, doing and organising. In the literature on Strategic Niche Management (Kemp et al., 1998, Weber et al., 1999, Hoogma et al., 2002) this is conceptualised as creat- ing a partially protected space, in which an innovation is protected from the mainstream selection environment. The diff erent types of space that can be provided to a transition experiment include fi nancial space, organisational space, (transition) management space, mental space, juridical and geographical space (illustrated in Chapter 7).

Another important diff erence is that the successful management of a transition ex- periment requires specifi c competences. Apart from conventional programme and proj- ect management capabilities, ‘programme managers’ and ‘project managers’ involved in managing a transition experiment also need several additional competences (illustrated in Chapters 6 and 7).

A third diff erence is that in transition experiments the project managers should con- nect the project results to the societal challenge. This requires strategic management targeted at connecting the project with a strategic level and linking up with other projects and developments that are oriented towards the same societal challenge.

The second type of criteria addresses the substance of a transition experiment, re- ferring to the quality of the solutions that are explored. These criteria are about how innovative the experiment is in terms of deviating from dominant structure, culture and practices, how sustainable the explored solutions are, how the project goals fi t with societal ‘transition’ goals, and how the experiment fi ts within promising paths of development (transition paths). All these substance criteria are related to the Transition Management approach and are therefore characteristic for the management of transi- tion experiments.

Management strategies and guidelines

Based on the mechanisms deepening, broadening and scaling-up (section 3.3), the transitioning framework (section 3.4) and the identifi ed process criteria and substance criteria for successful transition experiments, this section develops management strate- gies and guidelines for transition experiments.

It should be noted that this section is not aimed at providing a ‘cook book’ for how to manage transition experiments in a successful way, but is aimed at presenting general management strategies and guidelines for ‘guiding’ transition experiments that provide practitioners with a guide along their own path. Because every transition experiment is unique, the implementation of the developed strategies and guidelines should be sensitive to the specifi c character and context of each experiment.

A second notion is that the management strategies and guidelines are not focused on regular project management but are specifi cally aimed at increasing the ‘transition potential’ of transition experiments; in other words, at increasing the chance that a tran-

76 Chapter 3

sition experiment is successful and contributes to a transition or that a niche practice becomes a regime practice.

A third notion is that the three central dimensions for guiding transition experiments (deepening, broadening and scaling-up) are not related in a sequential or chronological way, but can act upon a transition experiment simultaneously. For example, during the start of a transition experiment it is essential that the management pays attention to creating the conditions to learn as much as possible in the specifi c context (deepening), while at the same time creating conditions to extent the experiment to broader contexts and functions (broadening) and involving regime players to anticipate scaling-up. When making strategic choices for focusing on deepening, broadening or scaling-up, the tim- ing of actions is crucial (for example, adapting to a sense of urgency), as is being sensi- tive to barriers and opportunities (for example, stress in the regime or developments in the landscape).

Based on Table 3.2, the three guiding dimensions for transition experiments can be distinguished in 6 management strategies, which are interrelated in a non-linear way:  Deepening-process: The essence of this strategy is to transform an innovation project

into a transition experiment, by creating the conditions for an open search-and- learning process in which a societal challenge is a starting point.

 Deepening-substance: Essential in this strategy is formulating explicit learning goals that are connected to societal (transition) goals in order to develop new ways of thinking, doing and organising.

 Broadening-process: This strategy is directed at linking the innovation project to a broader context, by interacting with new domains and partners.

 Broadening-substance: The essence of this strategy is assigning new functions to the innovation and adapting to other contexts.

 Scaling-up-process: Essential is strategic management, which involves key actors (with power and willingness to change) at a strategic level from the outset of the process.

 Scaling-up-substance: This strategy is aimed at changing dominant ways of thinking, doing and organising, by stimulating structural support and resources for the in- novation.

In Table 3.322 _{these management strategies are further specifi ed in concrete manage-} ment guidelines, which build upon the process and substance criteria for successful transition experiments (Box 3.2). The next section presents specifi c examples of how this can be applied in practice, which is further elaborated and illustrated in the case studies.

22. The management guidelines that are presented in Table 3 are an elaboration of the guidelines that were developed by Martin van de Lindt and Suzanne van den Bosch (2007) as part of the transitioning method (Chapter 5).

Table 3.3 Management guidelines for transition experiments (based on Van de Lindt and Van den Bosch, 2007) Guiding dimensions Success criteria Deepening

actions aimed at learning as much as possible from the experiment in the specifi c context

Broadening

actions aimed at repeating the experiment in other contexts or connecting to other functions and domains

Scaling-up

actions aimed at embedding the experiment in dominant ways of thinking, doing and organising

Process Room in budget and planning

allocating resources (time, money, knowledge, etc.) to an open search-and-learning process;

allocating resources to interaction with other domains and partners;

allocating resources to (early) involvement of key actors at a strategic level;

Space in the process

building in space for refl ection on and adjustment of the vision and learning goals;

building in space for refl ection on the connection to the broader context;

building in strategic refl ection on barriers and opportunities in dominant ways of thinking, doing and organising; Quality of

learning process

organising a broad, refl exive and social learning process;

focusing the learning process on how experiments can reinforce each other;

focusing the learning process on how learning experiences can be embedded in dominant ways of thinking, doing and organising; Supportive incentives / accountability mechanisms developing supportive incentives / accountability mechanisms that increase the quality of learning;

developing supportive incentives / accountability mechanisms that stimulate interaction with other domains and partners;

developing supportive incentives / accountability mechanisms that stimulate feeding back results to key actors at a strategic level; Competences

of project participants

selecting project participants with an open mind and willingness to learn;

selecting project participants that are able to look outside the borders of their discipline and are strong ‘connectors’;

selecting project participants that are able to communicate and ‘anchor’ project results at a strategic level;

Strategic management

the management guarantees that project results are related to the societal challenge;

the management guarantees the interaction with other domains and partners;

the management guarantees connection to key actors and developments at strategic level; Substance

Connection to societal challenge

connecting project goals explicitly to societal (transition) goals;

cooperating with partners and developing new partnerships to realise shared societal goals;

adapting to sense of urgency with regard to societal challenge;

Sustainability vision / future perspective

project participants share a long-term sustainability vision;

developing an overarching sustainability vision to provide guidance to diff erent experiments;

drawing attention to the sustainability vision at a strategic level; System analysis (dominant culture, practices, structure in sector)

project participants share per- spective on dominant ways of thinking, doing and organising in the sector (from which the experiment deviates);

identifying similar experiments and potential new partners, application domains and functions;

identifying key actors with power and willingness to infl uence dominant culture, practices and structure;

Learning goals/ desired changes (innovation)

formulating explicit learning goals with regard to desired (interrelated) changes in culture, practices and structure;

repeating the experiment in other contexts and experi- menting with new functions is part of the learning goals;

anticipating and learning about barriers and opportunities in dominant culture, practices and structure is part of the learning goals;

Intended results distinguishing results in generic

and context specifi c;

sharing results with other experiments and potential application domains;

stimulating structural (regime) support and resources for results;

78 Chapter 3