Are We Troglodytes Driving Teslas?

How to Address the Problem of 5th Generation Digital Technology Wreaking Havoc with 2nd Generation Social Systems.

I had the pleasure of participating in the STARLab Consortm, earlier this month, with a great group of companies and professionals.??(If you're interested, you can find more out about that at?https://starlab-alliance.com/ ).?During the great conversation, one of the program leaders summed up the core issue that most of our organizations were struggling with in a digital age when he stated that we are working with “5th generation technology and 2nd generation social systems”.?It was so simple in its accusation, and yet so immediately recognizable, that the words have been floating in my frontal lobes ever since.

It is clear that we continue to invest in technology at an unprecedented pace with exponential impact.?You can see it in the way every aspect of our personal and work lives are changing due to the arrival and application of new technologies.?It is why nearly 90% of CEOs say that their organization is undertaking some sort of digital transformation, according to a recent Gartner study.?What is not changing rapidly is the “socio” side of these?sociotechnical systems .

Why is this??The theory and models of sociotechnical design have been around for decades.?Jay Galbraith’s Star Model ?is a classic, and still very useful, expression of the sociotechnical approach.?Balancing complex infrastructure with human behavior, or more simply, designing for both people and technology is a proven road to success.?So why have we moved so far ahead with the technology side and why are we so far behind on the people side??

I think the simple answer is because we?are?people, not technology.?Technology comprises systems we use, but we are the people system.?That means that the complexity of our relationships is governed by emotion, self-deception, want and needs, hopes and dreams, fear and shame.?These are not the components of technology.?However complex it gets, technology is hardware and software.?And we create the rules of that software, whereas we are still struggling to comprehensively understand the constantly evolving complexity of the “rules” that govern human behavior, not to mention human systems behavior.

But despite the difficulties inherent in understanding and adapting to human systems behavior, it is what we must focus on.?And we must do it with the recognition that we, ourselves, each of us, is an inextricable part of the system.?We must be able to rise to the occasion of our times.?And this means starting with ourselves, our behaviors, and our own self-awareness.

The digital reality of the 21st century requires us to level-up our humanity to meet the demands created by technological systems that are rapidly evolving and expanding to all corners of our world.?The good news in all of this is that deepening our understanding of ourselves and our relationships to others is within the grasp of everyone.?You don’t have to know how to code to improve your own software and how you interact with the system.?All you have to do is begin the work with the multitude of tools and support sources that are all around us.?Find some coaching, engage with a peer group, read a?great book ?and apply the techniques you learn.?But whatever you do, don’t fall farther behind.?It’s up to you to upgrade yourself!