Mental models

The practice

“How might we organize differently if we understood how Life organizes?” (M. Wheatly)

The Art of Hosting approach is based on the observation (backed by overwhelming scientific evidence) that communities and organisations are living systems and behave as such. However, 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.

Not only can a living system not be steered or controlled, it accepts only solutions it has created itself! This has radical implications for leadership, which is then called to put the conditions in place which enable organisations to self-organise their own path ahead.

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 – without “change management”.

Just like a living system, which accepts only its own solutions, we humans – who live in the living systems of society – naturally prefer to support those arrangements we have participated in creating.

Once we begin to see organisations as living systems, we recognise that self-organising and emergence are not only possible there, they are inevitable. The art lies in creating conditions that allow the organisation to harness these properties in ways that benefit both its members, itself and the wider society it was created to serve.

About living systems:

A living system pays attention only to that which is meaningful to it here and now.
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.