Requisite Variety
Duncan Skelton
Make a list of the boldest futures you dare to dream. I coach Global Leaders | Rock Climber | Endurance Athlete | Ex-Google | Create a Life You Love ??
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How to navigate uncertainty: Lessons from Doctor Who
I was about 6 years old when I first encountered cybernetics.
In truth, this was a sci-fi version and barely related to the science itself. Of course, I'm talking about the evil alien race of Cybermen from the Doctor Who TV show on the BBC (and now with Disney).
My next encounter was a class in my Computer Studies degree in the mid-90s. I have vague memories of abstract ideas about systems operating within the context of an environment and emergent behaviour something or other. It seemed distant and unrelated to learning to write code.
It was both lost on me and intriguing enough that the half-snippets of wisdom took root.
And now 30 years later I'm deep into reading about cybernetics again, coming full circle to ideas of Psycho Cybernetics.
So what do the baddies in a kid's TV show and an abstract computing class have to do with leadership?
Great question.
Everything.
I'll attempt to explain…
A Definition…
"Leadership is... building necessary requisite variety."
An Idea…
Requisite Variety
If you use your car sat-nav to reach your destination, you're already familiar with a cybernetic machine.
The sat-nav is a goal-oriented system.
It has a clear goal state – to direct you to your chosen destination.
It has sensors to gather information about its environment (geospatial position).
As you drive and progress towards your goal the sat-nav constantly uses feedback to check its position relevant to the plan. Deviations are detected and the system updates to correct for the error and bring you back on course to the goal.
Feedback loops are the means of control, to negate deviation/error.
The environment has the potential to generate a variety of deviations
?? road works/closure/diversions
?? out-of-date maps of the road network
?? wrong turns/unannounced stops you take (the driver is part of this environment)
The sat-nav is (mostly) capable of handling and responding to all the deviations the environment can produce that impact the goal state.
The sat-nav (mostly) has the REQUISITE VARIETY to respond to the range of variety the environment can produce to take you off course.
This gives rise to the first law of cybernetics
"When the variety or complexity of the environment exceeds the capacity of a system (natural or artificial) the environment will dominate and ultimately destroy that system. In order to deal properly with the diversity of problems the world throws at you, you need to have a repertoire of responses which are (at least) as nuanced as the problems you face." ( – W. Ross Ashby)
The last part of that is worth repeating.
In order to deal properly with the diversity of problems the world throws at you, you need to have a repertoire of responses which are (at least) as nuanced as the problems you face.
Your repertoire is your requisite variety. It's your sat-nav for navigating uncertainty.
You need to develop the requisite variety to prepare for all the disruptions the world will throw at you.
Uncertain times have the potential to be disruptive and unpredictable. Therefore, the work of leadership is to build and expand the requisite variety of control systems — your people.
Variety is key. Diversity is key. Even as the political pendulum in the West swings away from building diversity.
An Experiment…
?? Take an inventory of your personal requisite variety – your personal repertoire. Where are you spaces to expand…
? Expand Your Skill Set: What can you learn to expand how you respond to problems?
? Improve Adaptability: How might you learn new strategies instead of sticking to one way?
? Embrace Diversity: Who do you surround yourself with? How might you add people who think differently to you?
? Enhance Decision-Making: The more decision options and strategies you have, the better you can respond to uncertainty.
An invitation to explore…
?? Book: Psycho Cybernetics, Maxwell Maltz
?? TEDx: Embrace requisite variety by exploring the diversity of doing | Rick Altizer (12:39)
Leadership needn't be lonely!
Lead when ready!
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