Submitted by Brent Sheridan on Thu, 27 Oct 2011, 5:23pm
Have a look at this video. While we are not specifically endorsing the politics or views of the authors, they usefully describe several elements people require to productively and creatively respond to changes in their (social, economic and ecological) environment. A business or an organisation is in most ways analogous to a community. While they generally have different political and power structures, both are 'strategic' systems; they exist for a purpose. Most of the elements that are requirements for creating resiliant communities are also required for robust businesses.
As quoted about 'mother-ship planet earth' in the video, "there are no passengers, only crew"; the same is true for transforming a business. Everyone is required to row. Thinking about the outcomes you need to deliver in your business and the challenges and changes you are facing:
- Where do you think you are in the process of coming to terms with that change? What tells you this? How do you know?
- What is the quality of your personal resilience? How are you attending to this element?
- What support from others is available to you? Are you accesssing it? if not, what are you doing instead?
- What support are you giving to others? How do you do this?
A theme in the 'waves of change' video is that of inter-connected (human and other) systems. Systems thinking is required to solve complex problems. As Einstein stated, you cannot solve a problem at the level of thinking at which it was created. So to solve our complex business issues, we need more complex, adaptive thinking. The second video, 'The Story of Stuff' is an example of systems thinking about a particular perceived problem. While again there is a political perspective in this example of systems thinking, it illustrates well how a linearly conceived model is insufficient to describe the reality of a system. As well, linear modelling does not enable useful predictions of what outcomes a particular action or intervention in that system will produce.
So, there is no time like the present to get started on taking an integrated systems approach. You will probably need to set aside about two hours for the following exercise.
- Pick a pressing and important issue of yours and list all pertinent elements to be taken into considerations
- Now, identify all stakeholders and do the same thing from their point of view as far as you might imagine it to be
- How do you relate each and every points of view? Do you agree? Do you disagree? Can you see multiple points of view?
- What underlying assumptions may be at play here that make it an unresolved issue?
- Why is this issue important to you? How important do you feel it is for the other stakeholders you've identified?
- What prevents you from solving this issue now?
- If the problem were resolved, what would it look like? What would be different? What would you 'notice'? What would the perfect, solved situation look like?
- What part of this perfect, solved situation already is happening, albeit only partly or sometimes?
- What other part of the solution or perfect situation may be happening already that you are not aware of? How could you find out?
What smallest step could you do right now to move to the desired situation? Break that step into at least 3 smaller steps, take the first one, break it in 3 again...
... and do the first one of those three. Now!
After having gone through that amount of systems thinking, take a break; your head might be hurting a bit. Mine usually does...
When you have recovered sufficiently...
- What have you learned from this exercise about yourself?
- About others?
- How have you been already doing this sort of thinking that you might not have noticed?
- How can you make yourself more aware of it in the future?
