We have treated organisations as mechanisms and people as components, regarding their intelligence as located in documents, processes and upper management. ~ We need to recognise that organisations are living systems and fluid ecologies of intelligence from bottom to top. ~ This requires a balance of people-oriented and material-oriented perspectives. ~ Their functionality can only be addressed through the creation of flow and dynamic relationship.
Organisations are more than structures, functional blocks and fixed connectors. Companies, social service providers or government administration alike, are all formed of people, actions, information flows, mindsets, contexts and shared beliefs. ~ The intelligence by which such entities function is present throughout, at all levels, in people and systemics. ~ Previous mindsets may have been solidified in processes New thinking begins with people, but structures must flex for it to sustain.
Meshworks
What can you achieve when you connect everything to everything else, flexibly, fluidly, where functionally required, and only for as long as is necessary?
Systems need to be adaptive to internal shifts and external pressures. Whether you are dealing with companies, cities, public service organisations, all operate best when able to continually adapt to change.
Meshworking / Living Systems Design is a fluid and multi-layered way to connect elements in a system. Agility and responsiveness are built in so that elements are able to change without requiring redesign. Dynamic flexibility is a design principle, like neuroplasticity.
What Value Does This Deliver?
In an increasingly turbulent and unpredictable world, rapid response is essential. Many have tried “hunkering down” and working harder, putting themselves further away from adaptability.
For many, fresh mindsets and a new model are now urgent. It is essential to set the organisation free. Training your leaders is important, but not enough.
Meshed and Relational models offer the next stage, integrating people and structures in flexible ways to release more of the organisation's intelligence.
We have the expertise. Help is available.
For you, this may feel like a leap into the unknown.
For us, the tools for living systems design are known, familiar and proven.
Where is the intelligence that turns a sunflower to face the sun?
Want to know more?
Here are some articles that are relevant to living systems intelligence in organisations.
