Thank you Aaron, a very good read. I loved this part:

“The trouble stems from the fact that we still look at organizations as machines. Have a speed problem? Let’s pop the hood and see which part needs replacing. But organizations are not machines. They are complex human systems that require a completely different metaphor. They are more akin to organisms, ecosystems, or networks. Interconnected, dynamic, emergent, and ever-changing.”

I could not agree more. The solution?

“The problem isn’t your leaders or your people. It’s your operating system.”

Wait . . . what happened to organizations as machines being the trouble?? A-ha! Your organization is not a truck, it’s a computer!

I know, I know . . . I saw you response to Lisa Gill. True, “underlying systems are not necessarily human or humanist.” But they are still designed by people who hold metaphors in their minds when designing, often unconsciously. So the design lens — i.e. getting the metaphor right — is super important.

Which brings me to this point: The questions you ask in your instrument will be answered differently depending on the lens/metaphor/paradigm that the designer holds. If you consider for a moment the 5 key organizational paradigms currently in use:

• Bureaucratic (mainly, hierarchy)
• Mechanistic (mainly, separation of thinking and doing, problem-solving, etc.)
• Behavioral (mainly, human behavior is motivated by external means and can be manipulated)
• Human Potential (mainly, humans are driven to self-actualize)
• Living Systems (mainly, system-actualization as evolutionary impulse, serving as context and pull for self-actualization)

Depending on the paradigm the designer/employee holds, the answers to your questions may be very different. I’ll venture out to say that most people are still in the grips of the first three paradigms, with some notions from Human Potential. Unconsciously, I must add! Because that’s the water they swim in and air they breath. Without waking up to a different possibility/paradigm, I’m afraid you’ll get incremental improvement to what-is from them, at best.

With these reservations, I very much appreciated your post. Very well written, as always. Wish I wrote this well :)