Systems and Stories

Human systems are human creations. Human creations are based on stories we tell ourselves and others. Human systems are complex because we humans are multi-dimensional complex beings. You pull a thread and there is an immediate effect now, but also after, here but also there.

We started talking about symptoms, because they are the expression of something happening in the system, so then we go to the system and want to make a systemic change; but maybe the most effective intervention as mentioned by Kees Klomp in this talk of "how to change the world" during Summercamp 2024 is "literally starting with a better story in ourselves". This idea reminded me of the basic message shared in the podcast of "The Way Out is In" that I found while reading a post from Otto Scharmer a year ago.

When we are tackling an issue in our teams and our "team of teams" (organisations) what are the underlying assumptions or stories behind them? When we have a problem of cashflow in the company, what is our money story? When we have an issue of performance, what is our story of work? When we have certain #organisationalclimate at this moment, what is our story about culture?

When I say "our story" it is us as individuals (leaders, founders, sources), but also of our (you and me) common understanding around a basic assumption or principle that guides our work together.

So maybe, the first step to solve a tension, problem or symptom in a complex human system is to ask: what are the stories we tell ourselves about these issues?