Seeing the system

How can we act intelligently when things remain fuzzy? Where do we intervene to change something when we can't determine a straightforward cause and effect relationship? Margaret Wheatley suggests the following actions for being able to see a system and its webs of connections:

• Start something, and see who notices it. "It's only after we initiate something in a system that we see the threads that connect."


• Whatever you initiate, expect unintended consequences. "When we're willing to look at unintended consequences, they teach a great deal about how a system operates."


• Reflect, often.


• Seek out different interpretations. Everyone in a complex system has a slightly different interpretation. "The more interpretations we gather, the easier it becomes to gain a sense of the whole."


• Look for insights to emerge out of messiness."...confusion can create the condition for intuitions and insights to appear, often when we least expect them."
  

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