Embracing Complexity: A Holistic Approach to Building Self-Organising and Adaptive Organisations

Introduction: Navigating Complexity and Uncertainty

I propose a holistic approach to enabling organisations to operate in increasing complexity and uncertainty, allowing them to be self-organising, self-regulating, and adaptable. This holistic approach looks to develop a synergy between the Viable Systems Model (VSM), the principles of Misson Command and a culture of decentralised decision-making.

Combining these elements will enable an organisation to maintain coherence whilst adapting and absorbing turbulence from changing environmental conditions.

Self-organisation and adaptivity are critical for organisations and teams operating in complex environments. With increasing complexity and uncertainty, organisations must understand how to cultivate robust, flexible, and autonomous systems.

Unlike centralised control systems, self-organising systems distribute control across all components. This leads to redundancy and robustness, allowing the system to function despite local turbulence.

The Need for Self-Organisation and Adaptivity

For organisations to be viable, they need to achieve fit with their external environment. Achieving fit means organisational leaders dealing with great complexity and uncertainty. There will always be unknowns and things that emerge that are not divisible by the sum of their parts.

As much as I encourage foresight, it is impossible to predict every risk or opportunity; this challenges organisations to adopt an approach to finding and maintaining a state of dynamic equilibrium with their external environment.

• How does your organisation currently handle decision-making? Is it centralised or decentralised?

Common Pitfalls in Organisational Structure

Broadly, from experience working with and observing organisations, I see two common pitfalls:

Central control: Organisations try to manage complexity and risk by centrally managing decisions and removing freedom of action and initiative from the people closest to the information. This leads to micromanagement and apathetic employees.

Adams' Third Law states, "A system composed of the lowest risk components available will be a high-risk system." This principle highlights that reducing risk at each individual level can inadvertently increase overall system risk due to interdependencies between components. Organisations with the reluctance to delegate authority and take responsibility for deliverables can make the entire system more fragile.

Organisations that seek excessive control will become too inflexible and break under the pressure of turbulence.

Consensus Madness: Organisations fail to make decisive decisions and temper communication and decision-making to appease every individual. This trap is detrimental to an organisation, particularly concerning complexity, because it stifles innovation and agility by requiring unanimous agreement, leading to prolonged decision-making processes, diluted solutions, and an inability to address multifaceted challenges effectively.

A viable system needs to be able to adapt as quickly as its external environment or its competitors. Failure to adapt in time will lead to its demise. Decisive decision-making and trust across the system are critical.

Neither of these states is helpful for an organisation's viability; we need an approach that balances decentralised decision-making with strategic oversight. This ensures that teams closest to the information can act decisively while aligning with the broader organisational intent.

• How quickly does your organisation adapt to changes in the external environment?

The Triad of Moral, Physical, and Conceptual Components

In order to tackle these challenges, it's essential to consider the triad of moral, physical, and conceptual components. This triad consists of culture and leadership (moral), the viable systems model (physical), and mission command principles (conceptual). It offers a comprehensive framework for establishing self-organising, adaptive, and resilient organisations.

Moral Component: Culture and Leadership

The moral component centres on developing a culture that supports decentralised decision-making and adaptive leadership. The principles of mission command highlight the importance of trust, initiative, and shared understanding among team members. A solid organisational culture fosters these values, enabling teams to respond rapidly and effectively to emerging challenges.

A mission command culture encourages proactive decision-making and initiative, trust-building and empowerment, adaptive leadership, and effective communication. By embedding these behaviours into the organisational culture, leaders can cultivate an environment where employees feel valued and capable of making significant contributions, leading to faster and more effective responses to challenges.

• Does your organisational culture support trust, initiative, and decentralised decision-making?

Physical Component: Viable Systems Model (VSM)

The physical component involves structuring the organisation using the Viable Systems Model (VSM) , which enables self-organisation, self-regulation, and adaptability. Developed by Stafford Beer, VSM provides a comprehensive framework for understanding and optimising organisational internal decision-making and information processes.

VSM ensures that each part of the organisation can adapt to changes while maintaining its identity. It emphasises the importance of vertical and horizontal communication channels to coordinate activities and manage variety. By designing an organisational structure that supports decentralised control and rapid decision-making, VSM helps organisations maintain coherence and resilience in the face of complexity.

• What steps can you take to enhance communication and coordination within your organisation?

Conceptual Component: Principles of Mission Command

The conceptual component involves applying to guide organisational actions. These principles include competence, mutual trust, shared understanding, commander's intent, mission orders, disciplined initiative, and risk acceptance. By integrating these principles into the organisational framework, leaders can empower their teams to take initiative and make decisions aligned with strategic objectives.

Mission command principles emphasise the importance of creating shared understanding and enabling disciplined initiative. This approach allows organisations to respond to changes dynamically and exploit emerging opportunities, thereby maintaining a state of dynamic equilibrium with their environment.

• How can you ensure that there is a shared understanding and trust across all levels of your organisation?

Integrating the Triad for Dynamic Equilibrium

By integrating the moral, physical, and conceptual components, organisations can achieve a state of dynamic equilibrium, where they can adapt to external changes while maintaining internal coherence. This holistic approach ensures that organisations survive and thrive in complex and unpredictable environments.

Traditional hierarchical systems are too rigid to respond effectively. A holistic approach combining the Viable System Model (VSM) and mission command principles offers a robust solution.

VSM structures organisations to handle complexity by promoting adaptability, resilience, and decentralised control. This allows for quick local problem-solving and enhanced agility. It supports autonomous subsystems and continuous learning through real-time feedback.

Mission command principles emphasise decentralised decision-making, empowering individuals to act on situational awareness and fostering a proactive culture where teams adapt without constant oversight. This approach encourages adaptive leadership and empowered decision-making, enhancing overall agility.

VSM builds resilience through built-in redundancy and continuous improvement mechanisms, while mission command fosters a collaborative environment, early issue identification, and proactive problem-solving. They drive innovation by promoting strategic planning, process refinement, and encouraging creativity.

Continuous feedback and coordination ensure the effective implementation of new ideas. Additionally, VSM and mission command improve efficiency by aligning all parts of the organisation with its objectives, optimising resource use, and streamlining processes.

By embracing this holistic approach, organisations can navigate complexity, enhance adaptability, foster innovation, and achieve sustainable success.

Are you ready to embrace this approach and thrive in the face of complexity?

I will break this down further in the comming weeks, to understand the practical steps to achieve this holstic approach.

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