Organized Reasoning

‘Organized Reasoning’ is a collection of ideas and tools which GB assembled from a variety of sources. The goal is to help professionals organize their thinking about complex subjects and better present them in written form. There is a particular focus on making effective arguments, where ‘argument’ means organizing reasoning to lead to a specific conclusion intended for a particular audience. A great deal of professional communication and writing contains argument, in this sense.

Ideas about Organized Reasoning were first collected into a university course in a Master’s program in Environmental and Management. Research has been done on the effectiveness of significance determinations as arguments in impact assessments. It turns out they are often quite weak arguments. Steps have been taken, or are underway, to apply Organized Reasoning in a variety of contexts, and to share the ideas in different ways, as described below.

GB at a seminar in Hong Kong, speaking about a particular application of Organized Reasoning (photo by Simon Cheung)

Organized Reasoning Workshops

To make the ideas of Organized Reasoning available to working professionals, some key points were summarized into a two-day workshop, which has been modified into four half-day sessions for an online audience. The most popular Organized Reasoning workshop is the one customized for practitioners and regulators who work with Environmental Impact Assessments. The Introductory workshop, the most commonly presented, is titled More Effective IA: Tools for Stronger Argument and Clearer Writing. Some customized advanced workshops have been created for organizations which have already completed introductory workshops.

Online Workshops in 2024

Live workshops unlikely in the foreseeable future. This year introductory workshops will be provided via three different organizations. A variety of workshops, both introductory and customized, will be provided to several government and business organizations. Some details now available follow:

Environment Institute of Australia and New Zealand (EIANZ).  There were nine introductory online workshops in 2023 and there will be perhaps a similar number in 2024.   Check for details of the next one on their Events page: https://www.eianz.org/events. Details will be posted when appropriate concerning advanced workshops and the Community of Practice.

International Association for Impact Assessment. There are always live training courses at the annual conferences, but in the last two years some of them have been offered online as well.  The Organized Reasoning workshop has been offered at different times to be available to people in different timezones around the world. It was offered four times online in 2022-23 and several are currently scheduled for February 2024. Plans are evolving.  For details check their online training page: https://www.iaia.org/training-online.php. The workshop will also be offered live at the annual conference in Dublin Ireland in April 2024. Registration information is available here (course #3): https://2024.iaia.org/iaia24-training/.

International Association for Impact Assessment- Western and Northern Canada Affiliate. The series of workshops previously offered in multiple cities  moved online in 2021. The next will be in February 2024. Others will be added as needed. When they are posted, the registration page is: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/iaia-western-and-northern-canada-9015562244.

Live Workshops Completed in 2023 in Australia

Live workshops are now uncommon. But because Australia is close to the Malaysian location of the 2023 annual IAIA conference, a series of live workshops, coordinated by EIANZ,  were delivered across the country after the conference. Introductory courses were offered in Perth, Canberra, Sydney and Hobart, and advanced courses were given in Perth and Adelaide.

Online Workshops Completed 2020 to 2023

Environment Institute of Australia and New Zealand.                           Introductory                                                                                                                     31 Advanced                                                                                                                               2

International Association for Impact Assessment.                                     4

IAIA, Western and Northern  Canada Affiliate.                                            6

Institutional Clients 2020 to 2023

Several organizations conducted introductory or advanced workshops for their staff in recent years or are working with coaching to implement OR tools on specific projects.

Community Insights Group: Netherlands  

Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water, Canberra, Australia

Department for Energy and Mining, Adelaide, Australia

Department of Planning and Environment, Sydney, Australia        

Eco Logical Australia Pty Ltd: Several locations, Australia.

Government of Northwest Territories: Yellowknife, Canada.

Government of Yukon: Several locations, Yukon Territory, Canada.

Indigenous Advisory Monitoring Committee: Alberta & British   Columbia, Canada.

Mackenzie Valley Highway Project: Yellowknife, Canada

Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board: Yellowknife, Canada.

North Barker Consultants, Hobart, Australia

Port of Vancouver, Vancouver, Canada

Treasury Board Secretariat: Ottawa, Canada. 

Wek’èezhìi Land and Water Board: Yellowknife, Canada

Live Workshops Completed in 2019 and early 2020

Department of Planning & Environment: Sydney, Australia.

Government of Northwest Territories: Yellowknife, Canada.

International Association for Impact Assessment Annual Conference: Brisbane, Australia.   

IAIA-Western & Northern Canada: Vancouver & Yellowknife, Canada. 

JBS & G Consultants: Brisbane, Australia.

Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board:                  Yellowknife, Canada.

May-July 2019                                                                                                                 Environmental Institute of Australia and New Zealand (EIANZ) offered the workshops in eleven cities, below, for members and other practitioners.

AUSTRALIA                                                                                                                 13/14 May          Brisbane                                                                                            16, 22 May          Sydney                                                                                         27/28 May          Canberra                                                                                    30/31 May         Melbourne                                                                                         3-5 June               Sydney                                                                                               6/7 June               Hobart                                                                                               11-15 June         Perth                                                                                             17/18 June         Adelaide

NEW ZEALAND                                                                                                        24/25 June          Dunedin                                                                                         27/28 June          Christchurch                                                                                 1/2 July                  Wellington                                                                                       8/9 July                  Auckland

Comments from Participants for their Colleagues:

This was quite revolutionary & well worth the 3.5 hour drive it took to get here!!

Provides a different perspective to approaching traditional EIA writing, and provides good info for writing in general.

It has generated a number of thoughts on the improvements I can implement immediately.

Really well organized, very practical.

A generally helpful workshop for organizing your thinking & writing.

I really enjoyed this workshop. It is useful for anyone needing to make and communicate complex arguments.

Useful at all levels within an organization.

It is a good workshop for either government or consultant employees and decision makers.

Well worth it to question current approach to writing approvals documentation; this gives an alternative approach to large, complex docs that can get lost in their own complexity.

Great course to take to better understand how to write more concisely! Applies to academia, grants, and consulting!

This workshop is the most important thing you will learn about EIA.

Would highly recommend to others.

Earlier Workshops offered for practitioners by:

International Association for Impact Assessment
Western and Northern Canada Affiliate
     Vancouver, Victoria, Yellowknife, Whitehorse, Calgary, Edmonton.

International Association for Impact Assessment                                  Annual Conference Training Courses
     Florence, Italy; Durban, South Africa

British Columbia Institute of Agrologists
      Vancouver, British Columbia

Canadian Land Reclamation Association                                                     Conference Training Course
       Red Deer, Alberta

Hong Kong Institute of Environmental Impact Assessment
      Hong Kong, China

Earlier Workshops offered to their staff by:

Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency
          Headquarters: Ottawa, and in
          Offices: Vancouver, Edmonton, Quebec City, Toronto, Halifax

Landsvirkjun, The National Power Company of Iceland
          Reykjavik, Iceland

Skipulagsstofnun, The National Planning Agency of Iceland
          Reykjavik, Iceland

National Energy Board of Canada
         Calgary, Alberta

Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Board
          Whitehorse, Yukon

Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Assessment Board
          Yellowknife, Northwest Territories

Government of Yukon, Major Projects Office
          Whitehorse, Yukon

Government of the Northwest Territories, Department of Lands
          Yellowknife, Northwest Territories

Natural Resources Canada
          Ottawa, Ontario

Current Projects in Organized Reasoning

At the moment, GB is working with several government agencies to provide training for staff to provide practice and additional skills that build upon introductory workshops. A book about OR is in draft and is (gradually!) approaching completion. Targetted for completion in 2024, it will be available from this website. A flowchart describing how Organized Reasoning can be added at particular points in the impact assessment process is available at the link below. Steps to document applications of OR in reducing project risk are underway. More information about these efforts will be available in future.

More Information

There are downloadable documents, PowerPoint presentations and videos available about Organized Reasoning in the materials posted on this website in the Menu Item: Information Access > International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA) Conference Materials http://www.glennbrown.ca/international-association-for-impact-assessment-iaia-conference-materials/