Healthy change to system paradigms

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed individuals can change the world. In fact, it’s the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead

What is change? It’s our only constant in life, but what exactly is it? The dictionary definition is: to exchange one thing for another thing, especially of a similar type to make or become different. This may sound easy, but we humans hate change, yet must contend with it all the time, particularly in today’s environment. So how can it be healthy? And how can we get used to it?

I vividly remember that everyone always seemed daunted and worried by change – and I felt weird, because I didn’t! I always used to feel excited about change – finally, something different, a chance to change what I was doing and thinking (but I was not conscious of that then). This curiosity and excitement were often dampened by everyone feeling that they had to warn me how hard it may be, the risks I would encounter, and how I may find myself on my own in the middle of the unknown. This may sound unsettling to some, but not to everyone. I found this taste for uncertainty early in life, and society reflected back to me why it wasn’t safe. However, it has been one of the best-ever trainings for today’s environment and the complexity in which we all find ourselves.

I think the difference is breaking things down into bite-sized chunks. “Small is beautiful” has always been my motto for transformation – we always have agency to action it wherever we sit in an organisation, and when change is imposed, we can influence our reactions and agency to act. People and systems both need to be aware and active when it comes to preparing systems for change.

Making sense of the system

Sensemaking is a skill that often gets overlooked in favour of concrete actions and deliverables. However, it is one of the most important parts of a leader’s job. How does all this come together? Why are we doing it? What does it mean for you, and for us collectively?

This focus on the bigger quest, to connect with something bigger than you, is vital to understanding and driving transformational change. Apparently, I would always choose the most complicated and difficult option – I would often get this feedback from my bosses – but my challenge for myself was to simplify it enough to take people with me on my quest. This is what drove me, and still drives me, to simplify complexity so that others can see it – breadcrumbing to help people navigate change and systems change, and making this understanding accessible to people, wherever they are in a system. Democratising access to the necessary skills for navigating the (human) complexity of today’s world is absolutely key for building more regenerative systems in which people can grow and thrive.

Image credit Lilia Daffi : Human Systems Practitioner programme

Organisations are no exception to this – quite the opposite in fact. We learnt that conflict was wrong, and that conflict avoidance or people pleasing was the better option. It may well be easier, but it is not healthier, nor is it conducive to well-being either. I spend a lot of time working with leaders and people in communities on understanding their reactions to conflict and the human dimension underlying this. John Marks, in his book From Vision to Action, gives us a great approach in his eighth principle of social entrepreneurship with his ‘aikido strategy’ (listen to the podcast here). Patience is required for long-term systems change, and if we combine this with the aikido strategy of not reacting adversarially, we can divert the opponent’s energy for the benefit of both parties, read the commonalities, and look for win-win results or ‘yes-able propositions’. His point about the importance and transformative nature of defining yourself not by what you are against but what you are working for, is even more important in the context of systems and organisations, where every part can create positive or negative ripples of emotion and change.

Healthy systems

What makes a healthy system? A healthy system is one that can adapt and regenerate, whether it be a biological system, a natural system or an organisational system. It is a system in which people and business can thrive, one that is prepared for enduring shocks, stress and change whilst continuing to thrive, and one that builds the resilience, adaptability and curiosity muscles into the system memory so that it can respond to disruption. So, with all these buzzwords in one sentence, what does it mean for organisations and leaders?

If I apply an organisational transformation lens, we can see various different elements that are foundational to creating a healthy system:

  • Embrace systems thinking: viewing an organisation as a collection of interconnected parts, a living and evolving system as opposed to a static org chart

–  Understand interconnections and how each part influences the others and the whole system

–  Focus on feedback loops that may be created by change and have ripple effects (positive and negative) and use them to reinforce and balance the system

–  Understand the human systems of your organisation

  • Cultivate adaptive leadership: equipping and encouraging leaders to tackle tough challenges through both a technical and an adaptive lens for people to be able to collectively adapt

–  Foster a culture of learning by encouraging curiosity, humility and the sharing of new ideas – constantly; if it doesn’t work, go back and try something different

–  Distribute leadership by empowering leaders at all levels of the system to take responsibility for change, to own their agency to act and help build collective resilience

–   Encourage leaders to use empathy and curiosity to build the conditions for learning in their teams

  • Make agile and lean thinking a reality: this is a mindset and a way of being and doing that is the foundation for any sustainable innovation or change

–  Prioritise the value created or delivered

–  Eliminate waste through understanding the end-to-end ‘flow’ (of information, products, relationships, finance, energy)

–  Use short cycles or iteration and learning on what works and what doesn’t

–  Encourage working across organisational boundaries to achieve effective collaboration

  • Cultivate collective resilience: building diversity and flexibility into systems design, operations and ways of working

–  Build in multiple pathways for achieving goals so that the system can handle shocks and failures without collapsing

–  Encourage diversity to understand different ideas, approaches and ways of doing and being to strengthen the system’s capacity to adapt

–  Build on commonalities for a secure and safe foundation for tough times

  • Build inclusive models: healthy change needs buy-in from all levels of a system, particularly those most affected by the transformation

–  Engage stakeholders early and consistently in the decision-making process

–  Value the input of all voices at all levels

–  Create space for open dialogue, healthy challenge and feedback

  • Design collaborative and networked ecosystems

We all know that ecosystems work across boundaries (they have to) and that we need different, more networked organisational models, yet we remain in a silo-ed way of doing, being and thinking. There is, however, positive action that can be taken to change this, such as:

–  Engaging leaders in more distributed and decentralised decision-making

–  Educating yourself on all the different connections that make up your system and challenge what doesn’t bring value

–  Using the digitally connected networks and platforms to enable cross-functional human connection as much as possible.

Systems are healthier when people feel supported, seen, heard and valued. As Dr Stephen Porges states: “We don’t solve problems when we’re frightened. We solve problems when we’re safe with others.” Stepping away from cultures of fear and blame, and creating environments that support emotional, psychological and physical well-being and encourage dialogue in your teams and communities is the key to retaining and gaining competitive advantage in today’s world.

Thank you for reading.

If this resonates with you please share your thoughts in the comments, and subscribe for more thoughts on human systems.

You can also find more subjects like this in my podcast, Let’s talk Transformation, available on Apple Podcast, Spotify, and Google Podcast.

If you’re looking to build and lead agile ecosystems differently, check out our Human Systems Practitioner course : https://bit.ly/HSP_TFV

Suzie Lewis

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