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“Me, Myself and I”… and now “Us”—A Living System Organization? By Claire
Knowles Who hasn’t sung with a child, that fun, yet deeply-true song that goes: “Oh, your head bone’s connected to your neck bone, and your neck bone’s connected to your shoulder bone?” Yes, it continues all the way down to one’s toes and back up and around again! Over time, that illustration expands from song to a deep sense of knowing that one’s personal being is ultra connected—body, mind and spirit. Each of us is a whole living system! Within our individual living system, numerous processes are doing their work almost unnoticed, like digestion, respiration, circulation, as well as endocrinic and nerve patterning, among many others. Each understands complex inter-connectedness. Interdependence is vital. Living Systems: Living Systems have the
distinction of being able to adapt and co-create changes in their environment.
Complex chemical and neurological communication systems provide feedback, each
to the others. As living systems, we consciously learn and reflect via our
experiences. We can visualize possibilities for the future, and prepare for
them. We communicate in many ways, and because we are also social, we
communicate through conversation. We each have a sense of who we are, and of
relationships with others, with the external world. We learn. We grow. We
change. We adapt. We co-create. We seek coherence through patterns and
processes. We continually sense the
environment, capable of transformative change. We have the capacities for
inquiring, finding and trying solutions, reflecting, learning and growing. Our
personal being, without even realizing it, is
self-organizing. It is self-organizing all the time. To add
even more interest, we are not alone; we are in relationship to everyone and
everything else!
An organization is like a
pliable, porous container that has a perceived inside and an outside, that is
constantly in motion and that is constantly integrating complex and dynamic
relationships. (Without people, and without people relating to other people, an
organization would not exist!) An organization then, made up of people living,
working and relating in that particular environment is likewise capable of transformative change and
can be seen as if it is a Living
System—it is self-organizing
too. It self-organizes all the time as it inherently responds to the
changing environment. As you think of
your organization as a Living System, examine its vital signs for congruency
and coherence: q
Is it healthy? Does it have
positive energy? q
Is it easily adaptable to change? q
Are feedback and communications
open and flowing? q
Is learning happening? Is it renewing? q
Is it growing? Is it progressive? q
Has it visualized the future? Made
ready for it? q
Is the organization clear on its
identity, purpose and intentions? q
Is there clarity and coherence
among the functions of the parts? q
Is there cognition of existing
patterns, and processes? q
Are underlying issues lifted up
and addressed? q
Are differing views invited,
discussed and measured against clear principles? Synchronized to advance the purpose &
goals of the organization? q
Is quality conversation happening
up, down and across? q
Does everyone know what is going
on and why? q
Are new ideas supported? Encouraged?
Integrated? q
Is it leaderful? Do leaders
lead? With integrity? With clarity? q
Do the ground rules for
interacting together support the organization’s intentions? Are they
principle-based? Are they clear, simple rules?
Are they co-created? Looking at organizations as if they are living systems is important. Congruence or lack-of-congruence is quickly visible. Organizations that are congruent, and that exude coherence and clarity are more effective, sustainable, and healthy. The many kinds of organizations, around the world, that have adopted Self-Organizing Leadership© as a way of being, are able to consciously address their problems, challenges and issues, and are more able to work interdependently to do the important things first. They succeed because the people understand and can see what is happening within the inter-connections of their organization. The organization has leaders skilled in continuously lifting up and addressing what otherwise might go unseen, underground, or un-addressed—only to resurface or be recycled another time. These leaders consciously support the organization’s development and evolution. With this keen awareness, organizations can spontaneously self-organize around their work to do it as effectively, as possible. With this foundation, aware organizations (through their people) are able to accomplish their work more efficiently than any one imagined. Extraordinary results have been achieved by many different kinds of organizations when this way of working together is embraced. That is, being cognizant of behaving as if the organization is a living system—mindful of connections, holding clear intentions, being collaborative, caring, relational—yet clear on welcoming the tough conversations, sharing information, and holding to principle-based and collectively-enforced accountability standards. This way of working and this way of leading is called Self-Organizing Leadership©. It is about leaders, about learning to lead, about seeing and sensing with keen antennae that are interconnected to many others. It is about sensing and taking responsible actions on the organization’s vital signs together; being conscious of the whole and the various parts. It is about cultivating the specific seeds that support emergent leadership. (Just like a living system!) Resources: Knowles, Richard N.
The Leadership Dance…Pathways to
Extraordinary Organizational Effectiveness.
Stacey, Ralph D.
Complex Responsive Processes in
Organizations. Maturana, Humberto R. and Varela,
Francisco J. The Tree of Knowledge, Eoyang, Glenda, H & Olson, Edwin
E. “Simple Rules” from Facilitating Organizational Change, Josie-Bass, Zien, Karen Anne coined the phrase “leaderful” in a
Margaret Wheatley, Berkana Dialogue in 1994. Scott, Susan, Fierce Conversations: Achieving Success at Work & in Life, One
Conversation at a Time, Berkeley Publishing Group, California 2004. Knowles, Richard N. “The Process Enneagram©
2001”—A specific
framework and tool for holding the space open to see an organization in its
thematic wholeness and for leading organizational transformative change. See above
resource note ref: The Leadership Dance ©2002, Chapters 3, 7 & 8. Claire Knowles
retired as a corporate Human Resources Manager after a career spanning 33
years, and presently is an independent leadership consultant and writer. She is
on the Board of Directors of The Center for Self-Organizing Leadership, Inc.™,
a not-for-profit Educational Center. www.centerforselforganizingleadership.com Claire is also the creator and presenter of “Lights On! Workshop©”, a workshop which assists women to face and embrace life situations. www.lightsonworkshop.com Claire, together
with her husband and partner, Richard N. Knowles, and two other consulting
firms skilled in the work of Self-Organizing Leadership©, do business as The
SOLiance Group USA and The SOLiance Group Canada. www.SOLianceGroup.com
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© 2002 Center for Self-Organizing Leadership