The Direct Path
Balachandhiran Sankaran
Systems Coach and Story Listener- Connecting to Simplicity through Compelling Narratives | Member of NDLCA | Innovation Choice Architect | AI Agility | Open Banking- FinTech | Google Cloud Native Explorer
In the second part of this series, we will be exploring Human Systems Dynamics and how the four insights of Selfless Leadership help to build the adaptive capacity of people.
Truth is a Pathless land ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti
Complexity:
The common pitfall in Systems Thinking is that the systems can be controlled if we understand them thoroughly. This approach works for closed systems but not for open ones where the complexity increases due to more degrees of freedom. There are no best practices or paths in the world of complexity. Instead of institutionalizing the system with more norms and policies, we have to create a culture to embrace uncertainty with openness and adore the emergence.
Human System Dynamics (HSD) is an emerging field of research and practice that applies principles of complexity, nonlinear dynamics, and chaos theory to the study of individuals and groups of humans as they live and work in teams, organizations, and communities. Dr Glenda Eoyang , a pioneer in the field of HSD, explained that in Complex Adaptive Systems(CAS), the agents interact at one scale and generate patterns at another scale which constrain the degrees of freedom for the agents in future cycles.
A deeper understanding of time is needed in order to navigate the complexity. In one of her community conversations, Glenda mentioned wonderfully about time -
"Time is not a line. It is a manifold and we're in it"
Instead of following one after another as a line, in this high-dimension world, time is a manifold - an n-dimensional space within which there can be an infinite number of positions or possibilities. So, rather we try to predict or control, focus on this moment with a sense of humility. In a complex system, even if the current moment looks under control, it might shift at any moment. The control is imaginary and the symptom of arrogance.
Taming the Complexity:
Inquiry is the practice of seeking what is both true and useful. HSD defines inquiry as the ability and will to:
Adaptive Action is an iterative decision-making and problem-solving process that addresses the underlying dynamics of a system. As described by Eoyang and Holladay, it includes three steps:
Pattern Logic (CDE Model) - The CDE Model explains the three system conditions that influence the speed, path, and direction of self-organizing systems. The conditions shape the patterns that make up the reality of our world.
To sense the patterns and dance with the flow, Adaptive Capacity - the ability for an agent (individual, group, organization, etc .) to engage in Adaptive Action over time and in unknown and unpredictable situations to see, understand, and influence patterns in the system", plays the vital role.
But, how to build the Adaptive Capacity which primarily needs the intelligence to live in humility and see reality as is without getting blindfolded by our own illusions?
Humility comes when we understand there is no illusory self to separate us from the system. The four insights of Selfless Leadership build that intelligence to be with wholeness.
Selfless Leadership:
The Four Insights:
Contrary to what we've been taught and everyone believes, we're not the controllers, choosers or doers of our lives. As with the rest of nature, life lives us. We can stop the futile attempts to impose our personal agenda and requirements onto reality, enabling us to flow with what naturally emerges. We quite easily drop the striving and pushing against others and the system.
In the Complex domain, there are more unknowns than knowns. Only if we let go of our control and surrender to the present moment, we can sense the patterns and take meaningful action.
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We are not the beliefs, judgments, or stories we've been conditioned to believe about ourselves and even identify with. Neither is anyone else. We see the absurdity of judgment (believing beliefs) and it easily drops away. Everyone is free to be exactly as they are. We can work with others outside the cage of our identity. Nothing is personal anymore.
Diversity is the key to complex product development. Innovation thrives when we respect everyone's perspectives and celebrate their uniqueness. We start to realize people are whole, naturally creative and resourceful. It builds a space for psychological safety where there is no judgement and comparison.
We are not essentially separate individuals. We are connected, aware, knowing reality – experiencing an apparently individual body-mind. Separation is false.
As there is no real separate self, connection – Oneness – is all there is. So no need to protect or promote ourselves. "Me vs. you" falls away. We can collaborate with authentic compassion.
To be’ is to interbe. You cannot just be by yourself alone. You have to inter-be with every other thing.?~ Thich Nhat Hanh
Interactions are an integral part of Complex Adaptive systems. Each agent interacts with and influences the other. In an organization, we are all engaging players in a dynamic whole within and building a shared mental model by active participation in nurturing relationships.
If we're not a separate self, we're not limited to our identity, and there is only Connection, then our true nature is naturally self-less: without an ego/self. What is left if is an effortless desire to act in service to others and the greater whole. It's what flows through us authentically when ego/self is out of the way.
A true leader is a great coach who helps people to stop thinking about how to be servant leaders and stop believing their limiting stories. They start to realize their true nature is service and it naturally flows through them. Selfless Service is the path of love where there is no bondage due to illusory self.
Kat (Katrijn) van Oudheusden also shared the 16 practical exercises in her book to gain these four insights.
The Direct path:
Human System Dynamics(HSD) is grounded in Inquiry. A good question can last for a long time than an answer in a complex system.
Selfless Leadership is "The Direct path" - It is the "path of Self-inquiry" where we adopt a hypothesis about reality and look to direct, observable experience for evidence. It shows us that we are the awareness in which a "self" appears and that self is a mirage.
On this path, we use both our
Heads to understand how the self-illusion works, with insights from cognitive science, physics, and theory of consciousness for example.???
??????????s to engage in the practice of direct non-dual self-inquiry, which shows us experientially beyond doubt that there is no separate self.
Selfless Leadership helps to remove the sense of separation and fosters humility to realize "We are the System". And, it unleashes the intelligence within and grows our collective adaptive capacity to express ourselves as an authentic service!
Both Human System Dynamics and Selfless Leadership are deep oceans with wonderful pearls of wisdom. I have explored only a drop of those oceans and shared my thoughts here. A lot of love and respect to Glenda Eoyang and Kat (Katrijn) van Oudheusden for their phenomenal service - a guiding beacon to the complex world of duality.
References:
Links to know more about Selfless Leadership,
LinkedIn:?https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/katrijnvo/
Website:?https://selflessleadership.life/
Link to know more about Human System Dynamics
Thanks to Benjamin P. Taylor for helping me to explore more about Systems Thinking and thanks to Mohammad Umar Farooq (Umar) Dr.Viswanatha Sivam Krishnamurthy Gab Ciminelli John Sambrook Piers Thurston Sairam V Naresh Datta HP for the continuous support!
Our true nature is self-less | Join our community of self-less coaches at NDLCA | The Art & Business of Self-Less Coaching | Author of 3 books on self-lessness on Amazon.
1 年What a deep dive Balachandhiran Sankaran. I'm learning a lot from the connections you're making to systems thinking and Human Systems Dynamics.