A Living Systems Approach

Many organisations are designed and managed as if they were machines, consisting of clearly defined parts with clearly defined roles and a predictable output. This tends to curb the creativity and effectiveness of both people and organisations, thereby limiting their potential.

But if you look at them as a living system – made up, as they are of living beings and their constant interactions – you can recognise many of the qualities science has uncovered. Nature is one big web of intertwined living systems – from colonies of bacteria to highly complex ecosystems. It is self-organising, in the sense that all its parts participate in sustaining it; and emergent, in the sense that it often produces innovations that were not intended by any of its participating parts. Any living system is therefore in constant change – and all this without “change management”.

Both self-organising and emergence are as natural in an organisation as they are in nature itself. The art lies in creating the conditions that allow an organisation to harness these properties in ways that benefit its members, itself and the wider society it was created to serve.

Here are some more of what we know about living systems:

A living system pays attention only to that which is meaningful to it, here and now.
It cannot be steered or controlled, it accepts only solutions it has created itself.
A living system self-organises.
Self-organisation can lead to emergence – although this is unpredictable.
Nature seeks diversity. It is not a question of survival of the fittest – in order to survive, we need to fit. Diversity increases our chance of survival.
Nature seeks not perfect solutions, but workable ones.
The answers do not exist ‘out there’ – we may need to experiment.
A system changes when its perception of itself changes.

All of this has radical implications for organisational leadership. The Art of Hosting can help in supporting the conditions for organisational living systems to work at their highest potential.