RedQuadrant
Public service transformation consultancy, working with councils and other public bodies on difficult organisational and service challenges.
antlerboy
Benjamin P Taylor
systems | cybernetics | complexity
public | service | transformation
I help people work through complex issues: seeing what is really happening, making useful distinctions, and finding practical ways to act and learn.
This photograph has opinions.
Work
Public services, transformation and systems practice
Most of my work sits where public service practice meets organisation, change, systems, cybernetics and complexity.
Public Service Transformation Academy
Learning, development and practical support to build public services' own capability to transform themselves.
SCiO
The professional body for systems practice. I am on the board and contribute to systems practice development and events.
Systems Community of Inquiry
I curate SysCoI: an open stream of systems | complexity | cybernetics material, events, papers, oddities and useful rabbit holes.
The Necessary Tangle
A living, evidence-backed atlas of systems, complexity and cybernetics: ideas, people, methods, lineages, practices and the different kinds of connection between them.
Latest news and social media
Three things worth a look
Selected for relevance, not simply whatever was posted last.
Benjamin on LinkedIn
LGR success depends on day-two planning
Simon Higgins on why getting safely to vesting day is only the start: capacity, operating model, culture, and what the new council must be able to do next.
Read it ↗Public Service Transformation Academy
National Commissioning Academy: November 2026
The next flagship cohort is forming now, for commissioners and change-makers working on live public-service challenges across whole systems.
Read it ↗chosen path
The walls come back: why relational public services fail after they work
What relational pilots reveal, and why the host system must change what it funds, counts, authorises, and protects if the new pattern is to survive.
Read it ↗Thinking and writing
Where the longer thoughts and public work live
Systems, public services, organisation, power, learning, operational practice and whatever else has got stuck in my head.
Public work library
Things I've put into the world
Talks, tools, papers, models, videos, reports and recordings, organised by theme and form. Browse the bodies of work or search across talks, publications, surveys, podcasts, videos and communities.
chosen path
My main blog and archive of essays, working notes and arguments.
Medium
Many older pieces are also available on Medium.
Transduction / Transformation
My LinkedIn newsletter on systems, transformation and public services.
Rabbit hole
Show me something unexpected
A random piece from the writing, systems archive, recordings, diagrams and workshop material.
Groups and communities
Some places I own, support or recommend
Groups and communities I convene, support or recommend.
- Public servicesSupported by PSTA and RedQuadrant.
- Lean Six SigmaI co-own this group.
- Organisational developmentSupported by RedQuadrant.
- PwC employees and alumniUnofficial group.
- Community engagementSupported by RedQuadrant.
- Customer Transformation ClubSupported by RedQuadrant.
- Systems Thinking NetworkI own this on behalf of the collective.
- The ecology of systems thinkingFacebook group, owned collectively.
- Systems sciencesFacebook group.
- SCiO eventsSystems and Complexity in Organisation.
- Systems Community of InquiryOpen curation and discussion stream.
- model.report archiveThe static archive of the earlier repository.
- Worldwide systems-thinking events mapThe worldwide systems events map, continuing Nick Ananin’s work.
- All groups and communitiesThe full linked list.
Useful now
Direct routes
- Public work librarySearchable catalogue of talks, tools, papers, models and recordings.
- Podcasts and conversationsHosted shows, guest appearances and programme archives.
- Groups and communitiesNetworks, groups and events routes.
- RedQuadrant's local government reorganisation hubCurrent support and material on LGR and devolution.
- PSTA events and offersLearning, development and public service transformation activity.
- SCiO eventsSystems practice events and community activity.
- Systems | complexity | cybernetics readingThe live route and main published reading lists.
- Relational public servicesRelationships, outcomes and the organisational conditions relational practice requires.
- The Operational Excellence SocietyI am on its advisory board.
- Why @antlerboy?The origin story.
Meet the living field
Find systems events worldwide on The Necessary Tangle’s events map, and follow the discussion through the Systems Community of Inquiry.
Practice and connections
Ways into the work
The Tool Shed and Leading Transformation
Small practitioner cohorts, co-coaching, mentoring, and the 24-module Leading Transformation programme.
Breaking the Shell
A practical exercise for surfacing barriers, examining assumptions, and choosing action.
Greebling
Writing on greebling and a map of the connected public work.