Connections and High Performance

You know about systems of government, circulatory systems, systems of thought, the educational system….  On and on it goes.

When someone or some group maximizes the potential of one or many systems in concert to create amazing results, they are synergizing their systems for high performance.

The Synergy in Life System and the central concepts of GreenSeed Consulting have come to be as a result of my experience, training, observation, and thought in several diverse areas. These are: systems of team play used in sport; systems of thought from both psychology and philosophy; systems of individual human performance from the study of physiology; systems of education; physical and mental systems from martial arts… and systems of management and leadership. 

It was the study of systems of management that started me looking closely at the profound connections within and between systems.  I knew from experience that all systems have aims or objectives and that creating synergy within and between systems is where high performance is born.  When you look at it in a general sense, everyone knows this but just might not use the same vocabulary to explain high performance.  For me, it was when I started to study the area of Systems Thinking — interestingly, it has roots in electrical engineering — that the power of finding and creating connections within and between systems began to establish as at first a thought and now as a FACT in my mind.

For example, there are connections between systems of play in sport and the systems of physiological training used with the athletes on a team; they also require systems of thought that are geared to performance… and this requires a vision or a system of philosophy.  That same team requires training and learning derived from and brought forth through systems of education…. On it goes. It’s all connected.

How about your group or team?  Are there connections within and between systems?  How about you?  Do you have a system of thought that creates a state of high performance? 

What lays at the base of all the systems that exist in our world?  What is the connection that underlies all things?  Energy.  That is a statement of scientific fact.  Energy is our one substance.  Create a philosophy or psychology that is hopeful and has an aim, and you will create a resonant physiology of health — based on your use of and direction of energy.  Create a system of education that is natural, flowing, and in concert with psychology, physiology, social systems tendencies etc. and you will have a recipe for potential high performance because of the use of and direction of energy.  Everything is connected in energy, through aims and objectives, and most importantly through our ability to synergize individual and corporate systems to meet those aims and objectives.  That’s high performance!  This is fascinating.

Want to read more?  click here.

Beyond Ego-centrism !

Big word — ego-centrism.  It explains young kids.  They believe themselves to be the center of their own worlds.  Their egos are central to their experience.  Somewhere during the toddler years, almost every child has a profound experience of realization.  They realize that they are not in fact the center of the universe.  That they and others share a larger system in a dynamic dance.  Mankind had a similar – albeit slow — realization when the theories of Copernicus in the 1500’s were supported by Galileo in the 1600’s hundreds through the use of the telescope and mathematics.  It was at this time that mankind slowly began to accept that the earth is NOT the center of the universe.  An interesting parallel. 

A funny thing happens when children realize that there are in fact other people that have needs and wants that might conflict with or compete with their own.  They start to group.  A new phase starts and this new phase is punctuated by the coming together with others in ways that allow groups to identify themselves.  It is an extension of ego-centrism that I call social ego-centrism.  The structure of singular ego doesn’t go away, but is largely consumed by and morphed into a group ego.  This group then thinks that they — their likes and dislikes, their drama, triumph, and difficulty — are the center of the universe.  It is from this construct that we see prejudice, distrust of others that are unlike ourselves, stereotypes, and many other less than helpful mindsets that impede growth, development, and performance. 

The question that arises from this discourse is: “in your family, social group, or work-group do you transcend social ego-centrism and discover the liberated capacity for high performance, or do you live within your universe center, unable to see the systems you exist within?”    Gaining objectivity is the gaining of perspective that leads to the ability to change, adapt, leverage for power, and design systems for positive gain.  Living in the center of social ego-centrism is living lost in a tiny yet encompassing universe that generates, feeds upon, and supports itself in impotent ways.

Can your group see itself?

Finding ‘UP’ through Systems Thinking

If you are sick, you really don’t have to do anything… at the very least, people don’t expect much of you.  That’s fair because most people feel a little low now and then and getting cut a little slack can go a long way to recovery.

BUT

What if there is no direction for a recovery?  To recover, you are returning to a state of balance and if you don’t know what or where that balance is you don’t know what direction to head for an optimal state of being. Kind of like jumping from a height into a lake and losing the ‘UP’direction for a moment.  That’s a bad moment.  It feels very out of control.   Now, what about organizations?  What if they are ’sick’ and no one expects much of them because they don’t have the talent, the funding, the facilities, the management team, the support, the recognition….  What if your organization is sick and you are floating along with no where to recover to?  No ‘up’.

What if?

You have to know where you are going in order to get there…. That’s what forecasting is all about and planning.  Do they work?  If the road you are driving on leads to a cliff, then all the planning in the world, all the best talent on board, the best equipment etcetera will not mean much by the time you reach the end of the journey!  Forecasts and planning must be made in health and plan for health.  A sick organization is not the best planner.  Its like a sick person.  It just wants to get better and lays low and does its best to recover.  Luckily for individuals, we are — most of us — able to return to relative health after being ill.  Thankfully, gratefully, we return to health.  An organziation doesn’t have such sophisticated organizing power as does the magnificent human body… so, it needs to see itself as a system — and within the system that it inhabits — before it can find its up.

The systems thinking exercise in objectivity is done through symbolic conversation.  Using symbols to ‘tell the story’ of the organization helps everyone first SEE what the parts make and then realize — collectively — just WHAT the organization is.  After this, purpose and direction are determined.  And THEN strategies can be implemented — but ONLY those that make sense in terms of the system’s organization, structure and capacity.  And, all along the way the tools of systems — the symbolic language of organizing — are used for deep conversation and clarification.  They are used to CREATE the organization’s picture and its story.  Complete a systems thinking exercise in objectivity and you are ready to apply energy and find the correct times and places to influence for gain, for good, for improvement.  Its the only way that works.  It is the way.

Douglas Leadbetter M.Ed.

Systems Thinking in Daily Life: A to B

Proactive systems thinking is the best kind of systems thinking.  If you can make a change in a process or situation or system so that you don’t have to ‘react’ later on, then you are using systems thinking to your best advantage.  Sure, systems thinking can be used to ferret out problems and solve problems, but its that ‘problem’ word that we would like to get rid of because if you are not dealing with problems, then you are able to focus more of your energy on opportunities.

In the diagram above a simple visual aids in explaining the benefit of understanding your system and using that knowledge to apply change effort strategically.  Here’s the basic idea:  you want to move the line from 1 to 8 over time.  The angle of change that you can employ is limited to one grid of ascension per grid of time.  So for you math types, its a rise and run equation.  For every cell moved along the ‘x’ axis you are able to move one grid upwards on the ‘y’ axis.  This is really simple but powerful.  Look.

 In instance ‘A’ they waited until the fourth unit of time before implementing the change at the prescribed angle.

In instance ‘B’ the change was made in the second unit of time to impliment the change at the prescribed angle.

Look at the difference!  In ‘B’, using the EXACT same angle of change as in ‘A’ you finish at 6 rather than 4!  Simple?  Yes.  So simple that people forget about the power of proactive change?  In way too many instances people do not examine their systems and find areas of influence.  Far too often, people wait until a problem occurs, thus using vital energy that COULD be used for increasing positive possibility.  All the best. 

Douglas Leadbetter  M.Ed.

Systems Thinking in Daily Life: variation

You must read this post! It contains important information about your application of simple systems concepts to daily living both as an individual and as a member of a group. The assumption made throughout this post is that you would like to increase the occurrence of positive moments, actions, and directions for yourself and for your group(s). If this statement rings true for you, then have a look at how understanding variation gives you power.

Everything in our world is subject to variation. This is easiest to see in organic organisms in cycles such as sleep, growth, decay, times of high energy and times of low energy. The variation of inorganic organisms with the rhythms of electron orbits and string vibration is not as important to this topic, so we’ll leave that for another time. We are living organisms that have variation in our daily cycles of life. The key question to this post is “can we affect these variations to lessen the bad and increase the good?” YES!

Let’s first look at a hypothetical variation graph. This one will represent the variation we see in ourselves and groups with highs and lows in our states of mind, our peak functioning, our effectiveness, success… etc.

In this simple representation of variation, the vertical or ‘y’ axis represents highs and lows. The upper peak of each of the curves represent positive, and the lower peaks represent less positive or negative. The horizontal or ‘x’ axis represents time. So, in a simple analysis of this particular graph we can see that the curved line represents movement between positive and negative states over time. The constant horizontal arrow represents the midline or base state.

So, how do we get more of the ‘good’ and less of the ‘bad’?  One secret for both individuals and for groups lies in the arrow.  The arrow is the midline of contentment… or simply, being.  Think about the diagram and think about yourself.  When you are on a ‘high’ it feels pretty good.  You are elated, full of energy, electric.  When you are on a low, it doesn’t feel good; lows are just low and not any fun at all.  The midline though… it’s quiet contentment.  Just being is a nice place to be.

Think about this in a group.  Have you ever been in a group where a member is trying to hard to ‘make’ something happen?  They are trying to make things fun or they are trying to show themselves off… or, or, or.  You know what this feels like.  It’s tense.  Maybe you are lucky enough to have been or be part of a team or a work-group where everyone is content… wow!  That’s the place where things get done!  A contented person will work harder, longer, care more, and do more for the company or group and for their co-workers.  Read the studies on successful corporations, and you will see that this has been proved as truth over and over again. 

So, the question now remains, “how do we get to the arrow?”  Or a question like that would do.  Well, as individuals we try to simply ‘be’.  I explain this in great detail in my book.  There’s a bit of letting go and there’s a bit of constructing thought.  There’s a dynamic tension, but its attainable and in quite practical ways.  In groups, you need to define what a simple contentment looks and feels like.  Everyone wants to come to work to do a good job, feel good about their work, and go home feeling they have done a good day of work.  The problem is in the systems we set up around us.  There are things that frustrate and confound in every organization and without a good or even a professional facilitator to help you address your situation objectively,  you are often doomed to steep in your own self-created mess.

Seeing systems is half the solution.  Truly.  The other half is in learning how to direct the natural flow of systems.  Not so much trying to control, but working to steer and direct.  Its a soft science kind of like the soft martial arts that would rather redirect the energy of another and not meet it head on.  Why ‘take on’ your systems when you can influence them? 

There’s another place to focus upon for both groups and individuals and that is in the ascending curve just as it passes the midline of the arrow.  At that moment, one should work towards building the next success.  Build on the upswing.  Direct thought and action to the attainment of positive success at the upswing and you can move from one success to the next. Charles Handy, in The Empty Raincoat discusses this with charming alacrity as it applies to business success.  It applies to individuals as well.  Athletes do it all the time.  When they have achieved one level of a training cycle and got that success under control they reach for another, higher level of success.  If an athlete spends too much ‘down time’ they lose all their gains and have to fight twice as hard to train their way out.  No, the smart ones build success upon success.  A jet airliner spends a lot of fuel to get off the ground, but once up they use far less.  Its like that in our understanding of variation.  Think about, construct and direct success as you experience success and continually reach for the next success.  This is a powerful mental model for you to begin using.  Comments?  Tell me about a time you have used any part of these ideas.  Tell everyone about using them successfully in the next few weeks.  It works.  That’s all.

In taking action…

In taking action, do so and believe that you can do so in the following ways: demonstrate fairness, give encouragement, nurture, show patience, stay interested in positive growth, provide quality service, contribute in positive ways, demonstrate honesty and integrity, be concerned with excellence, value human dignity, be accepting, be kind and open, show compassion, be gentle, be teachable, be creative, be loving and demonstrate an abundant character, be receptive, be appreciative, be reflective…. 

Synergy…

Synergy

The true power, true synergy comes when focus is given to the vision of the person or of the group.   It is when a focus is placed on the ideals, values, and beliefs of a person or group that synergy has a possibility of occurring.  In individuals it occurs when focus is complete and not forced.  There are techniques for achieving this state.  For groups, it occurs when shared focus is clearly articulated and communicated, and each person on the team or in the group gives their effort to their individual role – knowing the function of their role and their purpose in achieving the overall vision of the group. 

As an individual, as it is in a group, the vision and purpose must be articulated.  A ship at sea is rather aimless and wastes a great deal of energy if there is not port to sail to.  So it is with individuals and groups.  The trick is in the techniques used to achieve synergy.  The keys to this system is being laid out for you in The Synergy in Life System posts and in the book; the keys to achieving synergy in groups is on the way….

Douglas Leadbetter M.Ed

~ Confront the Elephant ~

This blog post has a special guest from the field of health medicine – Heidi Paul BSN is the manager of Health Promotion and Prevention Services in a major Canadian city.

How to deal with those things you DON’T want at work.

There are things about your work and work environment that you likely do not like.  If these things are commonly disliked throughout your entire corporation or through the group you work with most closely, then they exist as part of a social system.  Thankfully, systems can be influenced.

Systems are collections of interconnected and interrelated parts that we can say have an aim or goal or purpose, and those parts can most certainly be human beings; that is why there is a branch of systems thinking called Human Systems Thinking.  This post starts to deal with Human Systems Thinking in a very practical way that you will want to bring to your work or even to your family. Read the rest of this entry »

You Can’t Inspect Quality into a Process

When influencing the flow of water in a river by say redirecting it, the further upstream that redirection is made, the more dramatic the change of that direction will look when the final destination — in the case of rivers, a lake or the ocean – is reached. If change is introduced in a system ‘further upstream’ greater change ‘downstream’ is the result, and with less effort utilized.  Read the rest of this entry »

Sailing to … where?

An excerpt from the book…  Douglas Leadbetter M.Ed

The Synergy in Life System gives you the ‘rules’ you need to know and the techniques and tools you can use to make your life more abundant and balanced.  Imagine a sports or board game that you may have played in the past.  It is so much easier to begin and so much easier to find the road to success when first you understand the rules of the game!  Read the rest of this entry »

The Village of Best Intentions

I wrote this useful little story just a couple of weeks before it was first published in February 2005 by the British Columbia Principals association in their Adminfo magazine.  It was then reprinted in the in Canadian Association of Principals conference guide for the international Connecting Leaders conference held in April 2007.  I have also used it extensively when speaking to audiences.  It manages to point out how even the most purposeful and most well intentioned groups can thwart one another’s efforts if they are not aligned through knowledge of Systems and Synergy.

Douglas Leadbetter M.Ed

 There was once a remote village nestled up high in a lonely mountain valley surrounded by the peaks of a rugged mountain range. The colorful townspeople there made crafts and tools and various trinkets for essential trade with other villages; Read the rest of this entry »