Resources

Be conscious. Make choices. These practices are the essence of human systems dynamics. They are the heart, the core, the center, the distillation, the cause and effect, the input and outcome, the seed and the fruit of our work.

Working in conflict resolution, I get to hear a lot of stories about why some individual or group is worthy of being hated. Without a doubt, these stories are often bolstered by pulse-raising examples with the potential to provoke even the most skilled facilitative mediators into an evaluative stance. At the same time, beyond these stories lay patterns, many of which shed light on the dynamics of why we hate. In my observations, there are three main reasons we hate others.

I have been thinking about power recently. Of course, it has risks and benefits. The risks are not always experienced by the powerless, and the benefits are not always reserved for the powerful. I am quite happy when my physician exercises the power of her position and expertise to write a prescription for my sore throat. I am glad to have a young friend with the power to manage my technology. In these cases, I am happy to give my power to another. In other situations, though, I guard my power jealously and will not release it without a fight.

There are many kinds of tension that play out inside any human system. In this blog post, Royce uses the HSD-based definition of tension to 1) identify four particular types of tension; 2) describe their sources and potential impacts; and 3) suggest ways leaders can use Pattern Logic and Adaptive Action to leverage tension for the greater good.

Change is always present, so building resilience is crucial. Stagnation is death, change is necessary for life. So then, too, developing resilience is necessary for life.

When we work in schools, we work to explain how complex systems work, and we engage in dialogue with people in the system to identify the patterns coherent with their shared identity, tasks, priorities, and practices. As a result of this deep dive into exploring their patterns, educators then identify options for action to generate and sustain the patterns they want to see.

The Landscape Diagram uses agreement and certainty as measures which create a landscape of different zones of system stability; HSD suggests ways we can shift the stability if we want to change how the system behaves.