Learnings and insights: part 2
Guest lecturer Jean Boulton, author of Embracing Complexity: Strategic Perspectives for an Age of Turbulence, shared her thoughts around the science of complexity. Here are some of the things I learnt:
Challenge your worldview
A worldview is a set of values, beliefs, assumptions held by an individual, a group of individuals or society. Our worldviews are shaped by our different backgrounds, contexts and experiences. But worldviews themselves can shape expectations, influence decisions that we take and define our interpretations, to create feedback loops, stereotypes and bias.
System change requires us to challenge our worldviews, and expand our mindsets to avoid bias. It is crucial to interrogate our assumptions and ask questions to understand a system from as many perspectives as possible
How change happens according to different worldviews
A traditional scientific worldview says that things act like a machine, change is predictable with clear cause and effect.
Evolutionary science states that things emerge when something changes that suits the local conditions. And that the system or ecology that sustains is the one that is best adapted to the local situation.
Complexity theory sees everything systemically, it states that we can’t understand how things happen by separating parts from each other. This worldview sees how everything is connected by a dance between patterns and events. New characteristics can emerge and new patterns form that are shaped by the particular context and the past. But these patterns and forms are not permanent, they are part of a continuous evolution which can’t be known in advance.
This means that system change has to be flexible and dynamic, to adapt to new situations and patterns that emerge.
Framing, where the boundaries lie
There is a need to take a dynamic view, that is bigger than just measurable factors of the system itself.
It’s important to take a look at a situation, then think about its wider context; what frames the situation? Defining a system from only one angle is limiting.
‘Definition is a form of reduction’ -Ray Ison
By expanding the boundary, taking a step back, taking a broader view, we can see the system and problem from different angles and perspectives. This builds a better understanding and helps to leave bias behind.
We can think about reframing in the sense of both space and time to test and interrogate our assumptions: What is the wider system that this problem exists in? Can I gather more information from a wider network of stakeholders? What’s happened in the past to lead to this moment? What is happening now? What are the signals emerging that might point towards a future?
Understanding complexity and change also requires us to look at the detail as much as the big picture. We must ask for different views to understand what’s happening from different pointsBut beyond this, it is equally important to consider the stories that are not being told. What is happening in the white space and the gaps?
No matter what level we draw a boundary at, it is humbling to know that with each action we take, our values, beliefs and intentions enter a system and shape the future.
Emergence is about creating the conditions for change
You can’t change a system, or create emergence. You can only create the circumstances and the conditions in which it might happen.
Complexity makes it impossible to change a system instantaneously. Instead we have to find flex points where we can start to disrupt and make small ripples and seeds of change, so that the conditions are created and nurtured for change to happen gradually over time.
All models are wrong, but some are useful
Is it possible to distill a system down into a model? Is it possible to capture every perspective of every stakeholder in a model? Probably not, especially if you think about the infinite boundaries you can draw to frame it.
A model is simplifying, therefore reductionist, and therefore not reality. But the challenge is to create a model that is useful, illuminating while still being representative.
We all play our part in a system
Because we can’t be entirely sure of the outcomes of our plans and actions, we know that what we do must become an ingredient of the system. Our behaviours, both individually and collectively, are what the future is made up of, not our future plans.
Personal reflection 15.04.2017
I am beginning to understand what Jean Boulton meant when she said
‘Embracing complexity, dynamism and emergence is a belief system and a way of life’
I am really starting to think in systems. Widening my worldview, always changing my boundary perspective, embracing the unknown, to be adaptive and flexible, in my personal life, but in my thoughts too.
