systems *doing* and complexity *doing*
Here is what systems *doing* and complexity *doing* looks like:
Bringing together people who don’t normally interact, or who typically only interact transactionally, in an environment that is playful and inspires novel connections. Doing anything that invites different perspectives (or “lenses”) to the table.
“Why don’t we give it a try and see what happens?” Encouraging action while also leaving space for reflection. Important: you must follow through on the “see what happens,” or this becomes a version of “can’t we just do what I want so we can move forward, but let’s call it an experiment.”
Resist the urge to react immediately—doing by not doing. Sometimes it is better to let things play out a bit and be ready to amplify the “good” (or seemingly good, not harmful, or even ‘hmmm, interesting’) things that emerge.
Suspend judgment, and let multiple (even competing) narratives and perspectives emerge before prematurely converging on a path forward. Sit with that ambiguity for a while. Resist the urge to “synthesize” data; instead, invite people to lean into their stories, experiences, and perceptions of the challenge.
Agree to hold one thing constant temporarily and use that constraint to “enable” more fruitful discussions, better awareness, more introspection, etc. Lean into the polarity of “simplifying for now” and “let’s use this temporary narrowing as a spark for future action.”
The ability to sit with two competing narratives in your head for a while before condensing it into one and slipping into the narrative fallacy. Sometimes this is described as being comfortable in the “liminal space.”
Many people think systems thinking is about breaking things into parts and imagining they can influence the parts. They see the “population-level” effects and imagine they can control what is happening. There is a place for this approach (it suits certain types of problems), but it isn’t always applicable and can lead to hubris. Practice resisting the impulse to “break the whole into parts,” analyze the parts, and see the whole as a “system of moving parts.” Easier said than done.
Leave a path back to the mess. At work, there’s often pressure to simplify things into three simple bullets. That’s OK, but remember not to discard the messy data. Be able to move back and forth between the simplification and the “source.” B below....