How simple rules act as a compass for navigating complex change

Implementing a new ICT system that delivers much-needed benefits can be complex.

I learned this firsthand as the Senior Responsible Owner (SRO) implementing a new system to support the management of government social investment processes from beginning to end.

The early scoping work identified system specifications consisting of hundreds of requirements. However, stakeholders had different priorities, and there was a real risk of critical features and benefits being lost in the urgency to go to market and choose a successful vendor—and that was before the implementation process even started.

We had a project board, a project team, and leads for different areas of responsibility. As the SRO I was focused on keeping everyone’s actions and decisions aligned and ensuring nothing was lost from what was critical to realising benefits.

The project board developed a simple list that informed everything that was done, whether it was exploring a problem or deciding what to do. That list reflected what had to be delivered and how we could realise a successful implementation. It wasn't long, it fit on one PowerPoint slide in 28-point font.

While I was the SRO, we constantly referred to it, so we stayed aligned and on track despite the many emergent problems and challenges.

The idea of following a set of simple rules is not new. The concept comes from complexity science. The priorities slide was an adaptation. In their purer form, simple rules are what you may refer to as principles for people to follow.

Principles that guide people’s behaviour and interactions either consciously or by unspoken agreement. They create the dominant patterns in the system in which you operate.

The Human Systems Dynamics Institute provides four simple rules for developing a set of effective simple rules. They must be:

1. Few
2. Generalisable
3. Positive
4. Active

Helen Bevan and Goran Henriks, leaders in transformation, learning and innovation in the United Kingdom and Sweden, collaborated to develop their own set of simple rules for leaders of health and care who are leading transformations intending to achieve system improvements for large numbers of people. Their seven simple rules for leaders are:

1. Define our shared purpose
2. Root our transformation in a sense of belonging
3. Predict and prevent
4. Support people to build their agency (power) at every level of the system
5. Embrace contradictions and tensions
6. Unleash learning as a transformational power
7. Action small-scale change in a large scale framework.

These simple rules act like a compass in what can sometimes feel like a storm of changes converging to create a perfect storm. They provide direction without dictating every step and enable tactical agility when unexpected challenges and changes arise.

I wholeheartedly agree with Bevan and Henriks, who believe that “the more we mobilise people around the potential for a radically different future, the better we prepare for the future.”

So, if you want to develop a compass for your complex change, what simple rules could you co-develop with the others involved in leading that change?

Or, what simple rules are you already following that should be codified and shared so you can move towards more purposeful and intentional leadership of the change?

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