Embracing Emergence: How Nonprofit Leaders Can Solve Complex Problems
Happy Friday!
When you’re trying to solve persistent problems in your organization, try replacing the concept of “problems” with the concept of “emergence.”
You’ve heard the saying, “The whole is greater than the sum of the parts.” Emergence is that “greater” thing. If you have a pile of sand and two funnels on a table, you don’t have much. But if you structure them right, you get several forms of emergence:
Emergence of function: it measures time
Emergence of performance: it is reliable (or not), and accurate (or not), and durable (or not), and elegant (or not), and affordable (or not), and portable (or not), and serviceable (or not), etc.
Emergence of surprise: someone chokes on it, props open a window with it, discovers that it belonged to Napoleon and sells it for beaucoup cash, or uses it to accuse you of wanting to destroy all the beaches
We call some emergent properties good because we wanted them, expected them, or benefit from them. And we call some bad because we didn’t want or expect them, or are harmed by them. But from the perspective of the system (project, team, org, etc.), the outcomes that we call good or bad simply emerge from the unique structure and form of the system.
This week’s tip: stop wasting energy attacking persistent, complex problems. Instead, figure out how to redesign the system that causes them. The better you understand the system, the better you can shape it to improve all three kinds of emergence.
Have a great weekend!
Drew
