SYSTEMS

1. SYSTEMS

2. OBJECTIVES • Understand how structure leads to predictable patterns of behavior in a system • Understand processes common to all systems • Understand the importance of maintaining balance in these processes • Understand what you can do to bring the system into balance

3. WHAT SYSTEMS DO(Oshry) • Individuate and Integrate • Individuation—Members operate independently of one another • Integration—Members interact with one another acting as components of an integrated whole • Differentiate and Homogenize • Differentiation—The whole develops variety in form and function with form and function becoming increasingly different • Homogenization—System knowledge and capacity are spread throughout the system so that these differentiated forms and functions maintain their commonality • Stabilize and Change • Stabilization—Maintain continuity in form and function over time • Change—Systems also change form and function over time

4. SOME CLARIFICATIONS(Oshry) • Differentiation is not about the number of people; it refers to the variety of processes, whether done by few or many • One person in a room might be a highly differentiated entity, performing many different functions: writing, finishing furniture, preparing dinner, making phone calls, balancing the checkbook • Fifty persons in a room might still be a relatively undifferentiated system if all of them are performing the same or similar functions—making phone calls, for example. • A highly individuated (and undifferentiated) basketball team would be one in which all players were highly skilled offensive shooters with each operating independently of the others • A differentiated basketball team has a variety of processes: passing, shooting, and a vast repertoire of offensive and defensive plays

5. MORE CLARIFICATIONS(Oshry) • Homogenization is an experience of oneness: differences fade into the background, melt away, or are not present, e.g., religion. • Integration has to do with oneness of function or mission, yet the components can be highly differentiated, e.g., organs in the body. • At a sports event, teams are highly integrated, the players feeding and supporting one another. When a spectacular play occurs and fans from all walks of life stand up and cheer, they are homogenized, e.g., differences disappear.

6. IMBALANCES IN THE SYSTEM(Oshry) • Individuated, Under-Integrated • Systems members “do their own things” • Coordinated systems efforts are weak • There is duplication, missed opportunities for synergy • Members compete or are indifferent to one another’s concerns • Integrated, Under-Individuated • The focus is on the system’s mission at the expense of the individual missions of members • There are pressures to conform • Members feel suppressed by the system • There is apathy • Members feel like they are not using themselves fully, expressing their voices.

7. IMBALANCES IN THE SYSTEM(Oshry) • Differentiated, Under-Homogenized • The system is over-specialized • Parts are out of touch with one another • There is little sense of commonality • There is much misunderstanding among system parts, leading to turf warfare, culture wars, gender battles, racial and ethnic strife • Homogenized, Under-Differentiated • The system is too simple • It fails to take advantage of opportunities • It fails to protect itself against dangers • In its sameness, the system lacks richness • It is unstimulating for its members

8. IMBALANCES IN THE SYSTEM(Oshry) • Stable, Unchanging • The system is rigid • It continues to do what it has always done even when what it has always done is no longer relevant • It fails to take into account current realities • It fails to speak to the changing needs of its members and the changing conditions of its environment • Changing, Under-Stabilized • The system is rootless • There is no enduring sense of mission or purpose • It floats from fad to fad • There is no history or accumulated wisdom to draw from • The system is sterile with no rites, rituals, celebrations

9. EXTREME PERSONAL PREFERENCES (Oshry) • Individuators • Loners, free marketeers, competitors • Feel constrained by the group • Do best work alone • Feel that too much integration deprives them of freedom and stifles individualism • Believe best results are produced by turning people loose • Integrators • Team players, cooperators, socialists • Energized by group interaction • They work less well alone • Feel best work comes from group interaction • Feel too much individuation breeds destructive competition

10. EXTREME PERSONAL PREFERENCES (Oshry) • Differentiators • Prefer being with their own kind • They understand their own kind easily • Being with their own kind allows them to deepen important parts of themselves • They see homogenization as watering things down, taking the richness away • Homogenizers • Uncomfortable with difference • They see difference as divisive and destructive • They point to destructive turf and territorial battles • Seek to tear down barriers and focus on our commonalities rather than our differences

11. EXTREME PERSONAL PREFERENCES (Oshry) • Stabilizers • Conservative • Comfortable with what is and are reluctant to change • Resist new fashions in clothes, hairstyles, cuisines, etc. • See Changers as fadist, as blowing in the wind, as lacking substance and depth • Changers • Perpetual modernists • Attracted to what is new, whether it is in fashion, organization theories, cuisine, dance steps, art, architecture, etc. • See stabilizers as stuck in the past, blockers, resistors, anchors on development

12. DIFFERENCES GET POLITICIZED • A system needs all processes, they are not good or bad • We often politicize the differences • Glorify what we prefer and vilify the opposite • Leaders need to avoid politicization and value and support all orientations

13. ELEMENTS OF A SYSTEM(Oshry)

14. STRATEGIES TO ACHIEVE BALANCE (Oshry) • Tops (Homogenization and Integration) • Interchangeability—Walk in one another’s shoes. Spend time performing one another’s functions, directly experiencing one another’s worlds • Share High-Quality Information—Become aware of one another’s conditions, dilemmas, issues, etc. • Mutual Coaching—Use tops meetings for mutual coaching. Must be open about issues and open to being coached by peers • Powerful SharedVision—Ask, “What are we jointly committed to?”

15. STRATEGIES TO ACHIEVE BALANCE (Oshry) • Middles (Integration and Homogenization) • Powerful Shared Vision—Need a collective mission different from their individual missions and that contributes to overall system mission. What is missing in the system? What can we Middles do that has never been done before? • Sacred Commitment to Regular Meetings—For Middles only, no Tops. • Integrative Activities—Sharing information, using that information to diagnose systemwide conditions, problem solving, sharing best practices, mutual coaching.

16. STRATEGIES TO ACHIEVE BALANCE (Oshry) • Bottoms (Individuation and Differentiation) • Encourage Individual Differences—Encourage individuals to use their uniqueness in service of the system’s mission • Pursue Diverse Strategies—Don’t limit yourself to a single strategy, no matter how right it feels. Come at your goal from a variety of directions—soft and hard, straight-laced and zany, rational and intuitive.

17. MUST OVERCOME EMOTIONAL CONSIDERATIONS (Oshry) • Belief • All system members, Top, Middle, and Bottom, need to believe power is a real possibility for their system. • Powerful System Knowledge • Tops, Middle, and Bottom need powerful system knowledge • They need to understand the System Story as they are living it • They need to know how their system affects relationships • They need to know that issues are systemic, not personal • The challenge is not to fight one another but to learn to work together and master the space they are in. • Courage • Must have courage to act • Let go of the past • Risk new ways of doing things • Are we willing to step out of the System story and create a new one.

18. HIGH-OCTANE SYSTEM PROCESSES (Oshry) • High-Octane Individuation • System members use themselves fully • Bring their unique abilities to the system • Put themselves at risk, stretching, growing, learning • High-Octane Integration • System has mission that inspires and gives larger sense of purpose • Members fully committed to mission • Members modulate their behavior and zestfully support one another in service of system’s mission

19. HIGH-OCTANE SYSTEM PROCESSES (Oshry) • High-Octane Differentiation • System zestfully pursues its differences • There are varied spaces and functions where people can sharpen skills, deepen their interests, and pursue their questions • Many strategies for elaborating its mission • Flexibly develop new strategies in response to changing environmental conditions • High-Octane Homogenization • System members actively build bridges for mutual understanding • They develop processes for sharing knowledge and capacity throughout the system • They work at understanding one another’s functions, conditions, experiences, and beliefs

20. HIGH-OCTANE SYSTEM PROCESSES (Oshry) • High-Octane Stabilization • System has history to which members are attached and it enriches their lives • Has an identity and continuing purpose which members are proud of • There is accumulated wisdom that members draw on • There are rituals and celebrations, which add meaning to members existence • The system builds on its past, it deepens itself • High-Octane Change • The system learns actively • It takes in information from the environment • It changes form and function in response to changing environment in order to protect itself from danger and prospect among opportunities