Unleashing Tacit and

Latent Talent

Keith McCandless & Diane Magrane

Complex Adaptive Systems A collection of many individual agents, who

have the freedom to act in unpredictable ways, and whose actions are interconnected such that one agent’s actions changes the context for other agents. Order emerges from interaction, not predetermined History is irreversible Future is often unpredictable

Examples: termite colonies, stock markets, the Internet, gardens, human beings, groups of people

Types of Challenges

CertaintyClear Evidence

Ag

reem

en

tA

mong

Part

icip

ants

Close to Far from

Far

from

Clo

se to Simple

Chaotic

Complex

Complicated

Simple, Complicated, & Complex

Following a Recipe Sending a Rocket to the Moon

Raising a Child

The recipe is essential Formulae are critical and necessary

Formulae have a limited application

Recipes are tested to assure easy replication of success

Sending one rocket increases assurance of future success

Raising one child provides experience but no assurance of future success

No particular expertise is required (cooking skill can improve the success rate)

High levels of expertise in a variety of fields are necessary for success

Expertise can contribute but is neither necessary nor sufficient to assure success

Recipes produce standardized, predictable results every time

Rockets are similar and there is a high degree of outcome predictability

Every child is a unique individual with unpredictable “outcomes”

Adapted from Brenda Zimmerman, PhD. 2002

Matching Approach & Challenge

CertaintyClear Evidence

Ag

reem

en

tA

mong

Part

icip

ants

Close to Far from

Far

from

Clo

se to Simpl

eJust do it!

ChaoticSeek Patterns;

Go FishComplex

Explore, Invent & Build On What Is Working

ComplicatedPlan, Align,

Control, Optimize

Liberating Structures for Complex Challenges

CertaintyClear Evidence

Ag

reem

en

tA

mong

Part

icip

ants

Close to Far from

Far

from

Clo

se to

Simple

Chaotic

Complex

Complicated

Chaordic ™ Design Process

Conversation Café Dialogue

Positive Deviance

Appreciative Inquiry

Communities of Practice

Wicked Questions

Open Space Technology

Rapid PrototypingBricolage

Minimum Specs

15% Solutions

HRO Collective Mindfulness

Creative DestructionTRIZ

Leadership and Teaching Tasks

In A Professional Bureaucracy

role defining – job and task descriptions tight structuring – use chain of command simplifying – prioritize or limit simple actions socializing – seek homogeneous values &

ideas decision making – find the “best” choice knowing – decide & tell others what to do controlling – tightly managed execution planning via forecasting – plan & then roll out staying the course – align & maintain focus

Adapted from Ruth Anderson & Reuben McDaniel, JR.

Leadership and Teaching Tasks

Complex Adaptive System

relationship building – work with patterns of interaction

loose coupling – informal communities of practice complicating – add more degrees of freedom diversifying – draw out & exploit difference sense making – collective interpretation/meaning learning – act/learn/plan at the same time improvising – intuition guiding action w/min specs thinking about the future – imagine surprises noticing emergent direction – build on what works

Adapted from Ruth Anderson & Reuben McDaniel, JR.

A Paradoxical, Complementary PairProfessional Bureaucracy

Complex Adaptive System

role defining tight structuring simplifying socializing decision making knowing controlling (w/ max specs) planning via forecasting stay the course

relationship building loose coupling complicating diversifying sense making learning improvising (w/ min specs) thinking about the future noticing emergent direction

Adapted from Ruth Anderson & Reuben McDaniel, JR.

Sources of Knowledge, Learning & Talent

Explicit Tacit LatentASK

What your students or

patients tell you they need when

you ask (e.g., focus groups)

OBSERVEWhat behaviors you

see in their local context (e.g., ethnographic

studies)

CREATE & EXPERIENCEWhat you jointly

develop with your students/patients (e.g.,

rapid prototyping efforts)

++

+++++

Telling

Adapted from Alan Duncan, MD (Mayo Clinic)

Continuum of Theories

INNOVATION IS: Unpredictable,

emergent, socially constructed adaptation

to challenges

INNOVATION IS: Socially-enabled

progress, facilitated through negotiation &

influence

INNOVATION IS: Managerial, planned process of design,

validation & dissemination

SPREAD STRATEGYSupport unit-based sense-making &

reinvention as goals emerge & co-evolve

SPREAD STRATEGYEngage change agents, early adopters & social networks in “vetting” as evidence unfolds

SPREAD STRATEGYDrive awareness of

evidence & agreement “buy-in” with individuals

Facilitate learning & alertness that informs

ongoing innovation

WHAT IS POSSIBLE NOW?

Provide ongoing feedback regarding

strengths & weaknesses

IS IT PROGRESSING?

Render evidence and definitive judgments of

success or failure

DOES IT WORK?

ORDER CONTROL

Chaordic DefinedCoined by Dee Hock (founder of VISA)

Chaordic® [kay’ ordic] adj. fr. E chaos and order

1. The behavior of any self-governing organism, organization or system which harmoniously blends characteristics of order and chaos

2. Patterned in a way dominated neither by chaos or order3. Characteristic of the fundamental organizing principles of

evolution and nature

CHAOS

Origins of innovation

DifferencesComplicated

• Plan then act• Create explicit plans• Look for agreement & a clear outcome• Limit type of actions• Drive implementation & set targets

Complex

•“Act-learn-plan” at the same time• Look for divergence• Use multiple actions & min specs• Tune to the edge• Build on what emerges & grows

An Innovator’s Fine Balance

Vertical, Hierarchical Orientation Participants respond

through the chain-of-command

Participants narrow objectives to solve discreet problems & achieve pre-determined outcomes

Information flows through formal channels & disciplines

Individual accountabilities, rank, & job descriptions are emphasized

Variation viewed as waste

Horizontal, Network Orientation Participants seek out

expertise, not rank, in informal social networks

Participants are reluctant to oversimplify complex challenges, seeking outcomes different and better than expected

Information flows freely across “territories” & “silos”

Leaders and followers switch roles easily

Participants rely on each other more than usual

Deviation can be positive

© 2004, Keith McCandless

TRIZ – Leashing Creativity/Talent1. Begin by defining an unwanted result of your work together

2. Specify structures, practices, investments, and roles that would reliably create the unwanted result selected

3. Compose these elements into an ideal, adverse system to create the unwanted result

4. Define how this system creates harm and keeps you stationary

5. Compare the ideal adverse system to the current system

6. Eliminate similarities to your current system.

7. Notice how novel approaches will emerge from “the grass roots up” & “the fringe in” to fill the space

BIRTH CREATIVEDESTRUCTION

MATURITYRENEWAL

Exploring the Ecocycle

BIRTHEntrepreneurial Action

GROWTHStrategic Management

MATURITYConservation & Routinization

Conventional Lifecycle

The Back Loop

CREATIVEDESTRUCTION

Release/Crisis/Confusion

RENEWALExploration/Invention/Reorganization

LEADERSHIPEnvisioning new options

BIRTHEntrepreneurial Action

CREATIVEDESTRUCTION

Release/Crisis/Confusion

MATURITYConservation & Routinization

RENEWALExploration/Invention /Reorganization

All Together Now

Gathering Sifting

BIRTHEntrepreneurial Action

CREATIVEDESTRUCTION

Release/Crisis/Confusion

MATURITYConservation & Routinization

RENEWALExploration/Invention/ Reorganization

--

Pot

enti

al

+

Stor

ed C

apit

al

-- Connectedness + Flexibility or rigidity resulting from loose or tight relatedness

Poverty & Rigidity Traps

Rigidity Trap

Connectedness

Potential

… Resilience

Poverty Trap

Connectedness

Potential

Resilience

“Back Loop” Lessons• Change is continuous

• Renewal requires destruction

• Need for crisis -- root word “to sift”

• Need for firebreaks; don’t burn the entire

forest and damage the soil

• Patch dynamics are key to long term

survival and adaptability

• Create and look for conditions for self-

organization and learning

Chronic Disease Complex

Acute, Uncomplicated Simple

Gradual onset over time Abrupt onset

Multivariate cause, changing over time

Of ten a single cause can be identifi ed

Diagnosis is uncertain and prognosis obscure

Diagnosis and prognosis are commonly accurate

I ndecisive technologies & therapies with adversities

Specifi c therapy or treatment available

No cure, pervasive uncertainty: management, coaching & self -care over time is needed to improve health

Profession & laity must be reciprocally knowledgeable to improve health status

Technological intervention is usually eff ective; cure is likely with return to normal health

Profession is knowledgeable and laity inexperienced

Adapted from: Halstead Holman, MD (Stanford)

Roots Of Complexity

Santa Fe Institute Physics-chaos theory Math-fractal geometry Meteorology-butterfly effect Biology-complex adaptive

systems

From Physics Envy To Biology Envy

Surprising Convergence: We Stand on the Shoulders of Giants

Complex Adaptive Systems

((( Murray Gell-Mann )))The Quark & the Jaguar

((( Stuart Kaufmann )))At Home in the Universe

((( John Holland )))Emergence

((( Brian Arthur )))Increasing Returns

EcologyJames Lovelock, Gaia Hypothesis

MeteorologyEdward Lorenz, The Butterfly Effect

SociologyRobert Axelrod, Complexity of Cooperation

ChemistryIlya Prigogine, Order Out of Chaos

PhysiologyAry Goldberger, Cardiac Research

Socio-BiologyE.O. Wilson Consilience

Computer ScienceChristopher Langton

GeneticsR.C. Lewontin, Biology as Ideology

PhilosophyKen Wilbur, Integral Science & Religion

Physics-EcologyFritjof Capra, Web of Life

MathematicsMandlebrot, Fractals

PhysicsDavid Bohm, Wholeness

& the Implicate Order

More Giants Complexity applied to organizations

Complex Adaptive Systems

People PracticesJeffery Pfeffer

Org DevelopmentDavid Cooperrider

LeadershipGareth Morgan

Market StrategyKevin Kelly

Strategy/LeadershipRalph Stacey

InnovationEverett Rogers

ManagementBrenda Zimmerman

PlanningHenry Mintzberg

StrategyS. Brown & K. Eisenhardt

LeadershipMeg Wheatley

LearningEtienne Wegner

ManagementJeffery Goldstein

IT StrategyReuben McDaniel

SustainabilityPaul Hawken/James Moore

KnowledgeIkujiro NonakaOrg Dynamics

Roger Lewin/Birute Regine

Principles Behind the Methods

N

S

EW

Liberating StructuresThe Art & Science of Self-

Organization

Min Specs: Amplify Freedom &

Responsibility

Engagement, Not Control:

Hold Plans Lightly

Uncertainty, Not Prediction:

Take Multiple Actions

Bricolage & ChunkingWork With What Is At Hand,

Chunk-by-Chunk

Attractors Not Resistance:

Appreciate What Works

Creative Destruction:Make Space for

Innovation

No Clear End: Focus on Purpose

Not Vision

Tune to the Edge: Work with Paradox