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Applying

The observant reader has noticed a change in the title of this blog. Do you see the change? I have changed it because I want to emphasize the application of systems thinking even more. Thinking high and lofty thoughts are not enough. I am interested in changing the way things are to the better.

One reader asked me: what do you offer? I gave it a thought. I like to solve problems and find new ways. As a consultant I have many years of experience of building IT-systems to solve problems. But there is a bigger perspective. Information technology can produce a lot of “waste”; information that does not add real value.  They can also just reinforce bad ways of doing things. It is better to do right things than to do less of wrong things.

You are in a situation and you are not satisfied. There is a problem, an undesired behaviour or you want to move on and find new ways of doing things.  How can you proceed?

System behaviour

When we are looking for solutions, we have a tendency to single out one or two possible causes and attempt to correct them. We fail to see the big perspective and because of this, our solution does not lead to long-term change. It is as if what we trying to change have an inherent resistance to change. After a while things revert to the old conditions or get worse. We fail to see that material and immaterial things around us: habits, machines, people, programs, attitudes and culture are connected to each other and form a system. Different parts of this system depend on each other and interact. It is the system that probably produces the undesired behaviour and not a single part, a single process or a single person. I can help you to identify the relevant perspective.

We have a tendency to focus on certain details (abstractions) for optimization. This can be negative for other parts and for the whole. What we call side-effects are ordinary effects, just like the effects we desire. The abstraction exists only in our minds. For example, we have focused on transportation and considered pollution a side-effect. But this “side-effect” is biting us badly now.

Time

We need to increase the boundaries of the area we study and take into account the time factor. Systems have inertia and different parts interact through feedback. Changing one part might produce something unexpected in another part. Consequences might take a sudden turn and not behave as nice and calm as we thought.

We should recognize properties of connections and relationships as having real importance, just like the properties of the parts. Some strenghts only exist because of relationships. People are not like a container of competence that you can move around. We often talk about employees as resources. If you reorganize, have you considered what will happen with the relationships of trust within groups of people?

Leverage points

There are places in this mix of parts and connections where you can get the most long term change with minimal effort. These points are sometimes not so obvious and perhaps counter-intuitive. The discipline systems thinking calls these places leverage points. Efficient problem solving is done by studying the whole system and finding the leverage points. I can help you to find these leverage points.

Problem solving can result in a redesign of a system. It can also mean that we learn to navigate more efficiently in a system we cannot change. Actually we can control much less of our environment than we think.

How to do it

There is a practical approach of how to efficiently solve problems. It can be done with a series of meetings or modelling sessions where a group of people together with a facilitator meet. The facilitator guides the group through the process and together they co-create the solution. The outcome might be a process map, a vision statement, an informational model or just a bunch of good ideas. The dialogue during the sessions is very important. The journey is just as valuable as the result. By working together a shared view of the problem and the solution is built. I can help you by guiding you through the problem solving sessions.

Computer model

The system dynamics discipline takes it a step further by attempting to make a computer model of the relevant part of the system. During the modelling sessions we build a flight simulator where different policies that can be tested and evaluated. It may sound strange that is can be useful to build computer models with “soft” variables. But even a limited model is of great value, since during the work hidden assumptions are made visible. A shared “live” graphical model says more than thousands words and can be of great help in to learn to think systemic in a situation.

So what do I offer? I offer you help in solving problems and finding new ways by applying systems thinking.

Creative conversations

A few days ago I had a very nice talk with a friend. It was an inspiring and energizing talk and some ideas were born inside me. Actually some thoughts went off like bombs on the inside of me. It was what I call a “creative conversation”. They happen every now and then and are very precious. I am sure you have recognized that some thoughts passing through you mind are light and some thoughts are heavy, dense and full of substance. Some talking we do is just like chatter, it passes unnoticed and some talking creates things in a powerful way. I have noticed that together with some people under the right circumstances there is like a magic in the middle. Things are born. Ideas are created. Creative conversations cannot be controlled, but they occur in an atmosphere with certain ingredients. We can try to arrange an environment that invites it.

Plenty of un-thougt ideas

I believe there are many ideas that wait to be thought, to be spoken and acted upon. Inventions are waiting to be discovered. I don’t necessarily mean world-revolutionary inventions, but unique solutions in your business and in your situation. More often we should start expectantly with a blank paper when we try to solve problems. We should learn to think outside the usual ways. Man has an unique ability to be creative and we should deliberatively harness that capacity. We need creativity in this time, don’t we?

Coming together – a key

I believe one of the reasons of the lack of ideas is that we don’t come together and think together. Some ideas can only be birthed in a group or community. There can really be a magic in the middle. What do I mean by that? There is a higher level of creativity when a group of people with different backgrounds and experiences joins together and in openness, curiosity and humility work together. We can be creative partners if we listen to each other and build together. An utopia? I don’t think so. It is a cultural question. If we continue to push in this direction of cooperation it will open up. It is a common opinion that competition spurs development, but what about cooperation? What if there is an even higher gear to put in? Let’s explore this ground! The company that manages to build a feeling of community among the employees will likely be prosperous.

Generosity

I believe we don’t have to be afraid that someone will steal our idea, because there are more ideas to be found. When we jealously hold on to our ideas we stagnate, but when we share we get more. I believe that generosity and creativity goes hand in hand. Let’s cooperate. Let’s create opportunities for creative conversations.

What is your comment? How have you experienced creative conversations? How can we make room for them? Is it naive to think business can thrive by generosity in today’s world?

Other posts about this subject you might want to read:
Being touched deeply
Humanness and conversation
Green world café
Cross-cultural conversations

I am back home again after yet another green world café. We might not have been a huge crowd, but for me to experience the connections and conversations that emerge among diverse people, young and old, businessmen and students, environmentalists and just “ordinary” people are so inspiring. As I have written before, diversity is really powerful. Facilitation dialogue is the most exciting (and challenging) thing I have done for a long time. If you haven’t heard of conversations like the World Café, read about it at theworldcafe.com.

On-line cafés

Afterwards a few of us discussed the possibilities to include people from other countries in the conversations through video-conferencing systems. Imagine discussing sustainability issues with people from Greenland, Malaysia or Borneo, or having “joint-cafés” happening at the same time at different places.

We need mirrors

We have ways of thinking and solving problems in Europe that we believe is right. Many people are not aware of that their way of thinking is just a way of thinking. Do you follow me? We have one perspective, but there are more. We try to be “objective”, but in a fact we have blind spots that become visible to us only through meeting people from other cultures. These people are gifts to us! This is an alternative way to look at immigrants. They are gifts, not problems. We are often so eager to export our thoughts and solutions. We have good ideas, yes, but do we know it all? People from other cultures are in a way like mirrors. Through conversation and friendship with them, we can see ourselves in new light and we change to the better.

On-line conversations

We have people with different ethnicity close by, in our own city, but wouldn’t it be a fascinating to utilize new technology to connect across cultures? You might read this and live in New Zealand, Kenya or Singapore. You are a gift to the Swedish culture and I am a gift to yours. Would you say yes to a cross-cultural conversation?

There is a blog called “Conversation as a co-evolutionary force” hosted by the Word Café that recently had an interesting post: “Maturana and humanness” written by Juanita Brown, one of the originators of The World Café. After a visit to the Institute of Professor Humberto Maturana in Chile, she wrote some reflections.

Maturana explains (in Juanita’s words):

“Humanness is not a genetic mutation. It is a manner of living where there is pleasure in each other’s company, sharing food, nearness, caressing and tenderness – nor is the capacity for language a genetic mutation – it is an evolutionary drift emerging from the intimacy of human community and the coordination of actions in language together.  It is in the intimate community where humanness arises as a network of conversations that is conserved over generations as a lineage through the raising of children over hundreds of generations in manners of living that are conserved in that lineage.  Humanness did not arise in competition, struggle etc.  It arose in intimate family/community co-existence.”

Inside images

Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela have done some interesting scientific work on cognitive systems, in plain language: how our mind works. Their research has shown that we as humans live inside the images we hold of the world. This is true even for how we perceive colours. We think our individual understanding of the world is absolute and correct, a representation of what is out there, but it is not. We live very much in our thoughts about the world and in our thoughts about the people around us. Our culture has favoured conceptualization for a long time and as a result we get stuck in preconceived ideas of reality.

Conversations

Maturana also says that we as humans “live in our language” and through the networks our conversations, we bring forth a world.  We shape our culture. Dialogue is our human way of creating and sustaining the realities in which we live.  We think and coordinate our actions together through conversation. We create through our talking, for good or for bad, we know that. What a responsibility!

Networks of intimate conversations are true humanness. Mindful conversations, an evolutionary force, that shapes the future, how about that?

Create opportunities

What if we designed our lives and communities according to these (scientific) truths? What if we let go of our own stiff ideas and began to listen deeply to each other? What if our future on earth depends on that we on purpose create opportunities for conversations?

We believe that if we inform people enough, they will choose the right things. No, it doesn’t work as we think, because it is one-way communication. There is no cooperation and involvement. It is someone telling others what to do.

In the family

Think about it in a family setting. We ought to create opportunities for intimate conversations with our mate. That’s not always easy and automatic. As time goes by in a relationship and, since we often live a busy life, we develop separate worlds. Instead of living in two worlds, you and your mate could create a world together. Living with each other is listening deeply to each other. What if love is not something that suddenly comes and one day just disappears, but something that grows and is nurtured in close conversations.

Think about your children. What if intimate and personal conversations are the main ingredient in bringing up children. Taking the time. Listening. It is better to create a shared understanding, interest and involvement than commanding them what to do and what not to do. As your children grow up and become teenagers their world of thoughts change and you can be left behind. You might want them to come to your world,  but I believe there is a fantastic possibility in respectfully growing together with your teenagers.

In the city

Think about it in a wider setting, concerning city planning and administration. We ought to create places and opportunities for intimate conversation all over the city. We should plan our libraries and meeting halls so that they are inviting for small conversations; build cafés acoustically for easy talking. It is especially important to create opportunities for people from different backgrounds, different ages, different interests and different kind of positions and ethnicity to meet and talk. Let’s work on tearing down barriers and fragmentation.  What if small intimate conversations are the key to a thriving city?

Your city

I have a number of friends who are also thinking along these lines and we explore the possibilities together. What can we do for our city? What can you do for your city?

I and my friend Daniel Norman arranged a Green World Café last week at the Red Cross in our town. It was the first in a series of four, with the last one taking place in November at a big sustainable fair in Umeå. We had a great time with every one actively exploring the two questions of the night; they were “what is a sustainable lifestyle?” and “What is our personal responsibility?”. It is all too easy to get paralyzed or passivated concerning environmental issues, believing that it is only experts, politicians and technology that can make a change. No, we can make a change if we are many and if we begin to think together!

What is a World Café, you may ask? It is a way to have conversations in small groups and explore a given theme. It was originally “invented” by Juanita Brown and David Isaacs. They put together a number of proven principles about dialogue, creative thinking, appreciative inquiry and collective intelligence and it has been used successfully, world-wide in different contexts. The conversations in small groups build on each other as people move between groups (tables), ideas are cross-pollinated and people discover new insights into the questions that we choose to discuss. Seeing things from a broader perspective is a key.

We tried to create a relaxed and inviting café-atmosphere. The age-span was wide and we had people from all kinds of backgrounds. It is very exciting to look at diversity as strength. By having these cafés we hope to inspire people and help them to become more active to explore a sustainable lifestyle on their own. I really look forward to the next meeting, Oct 8. We have a swedish site about these meetings. You will find it here.

Last weekend I read The Inner Path of Leadership by Joseph Jaworski. I found the book through recommendations on Amazon and it was surely food for thought. In his book, Jaworski gives a very personal and reflective description of his own journey as a leader. He shares both the good and the bad, both successes and failures. Jaworski was a successful lawyer, but after a divorce and a personal crisis, he took a break and reevaluated his life and began a search for true leadership. He founded the American Leadership Forum and has also worked as leader for the scenario planning for the Royal Dutch Shell Group of companies.

If you play an instrument it is important that you are fully present in what you are doing. There is a state, which we call awareness, in which you can tap into a flow of music. The flow comes from the inside. If you are playing in a group, you can connect together and there is a collective flow in the music. There are of course other important factors also. The flow is sometimes called “the groove”.

In his book, Jaworski talks about a collective flow in a dialogue. A discussion can be shallow, because people hold on to their opinions. Often we unconsciously have assumptions that we defend with great emotion. They block honest heart-to-heart communication. But we can also have a deep dialogue, where people are willing to share, to be changed and to see things from different perspectives. Awareness, listening and empathy are important ingredients. This form of dialogue can be very creative as people connect together. Jaworski shares from his experience about this phenomenon, how his understanding of it was formed and how he began to practice it.

I have a number of friends with which I often have a deep and personal dialogue. Sometimes I marvel over what is happening and what is being said; understanding is enlarged and things unfold in a flow from the heart. I have written about it in a post earlier. This state may seem unexplainable, but I sense that it can be cultivated and nurtured. I really want to learn more. A deep, personal dialogue is very precious in a family, in project teams and between friends. It can also be an indispensible tool when resolving conflicts. Dialogue is one of the cornerstones in ALF, the American Leadership Forum, The organization is intended to be a national network of diverse midcareer professionals. Jaworskis vision is to contribute to a new generation of leadership.

Jaworski believes that through dialogue you can have a collective leadership. He thinks it is possible to go beyond the coalition model where separate individuals have to make various kinds of trade-offs and deals. He believes leaders can think collectively and shape the future, if they choose to serve something beyond themselves.

How wonderful it is to be together with people who really listen to what you are saying, instead of just waiting for their turn to speak. Have you been there, when you exchange ideas, share your feelings and you give and receive back. When we talk to each other it is a good thing to try to understand the meaning of the other persons words and thoughts. To look into his or her’s world. Even to step into their world. You don’t have to accept everything before doing that. Active listening, I call it.

Another important thing is that you are willing to change your ideas and opinions as a result of your conversation. Communication is not persuation. These are key ingredients I have found in relationships with your children, in marriage and even between people of different cultures.

I think of a friend of mine who always pauses after he has said: How are you? He really wants to know. A while ago when we were having lunch, he said: How are you and your wife getting along? Pause. I did not say hastily: It is OK. It was OK, but I had to think for a while and give an honest answer.