REWRITINS THE CODE

REWRITIN G THE ystems thinking teaches that there are two types of complexity— the "detail complexity" of many variables and the "dynamic complexity" when "cause and effect" are not c

REWRITIN

G THE

ystems thinking teaches that there are two types of complexity— the

"detail complexity" of many variables and the "dynamic

complexity" when "cause and effect" are not close in time and

space and obvious interventions do not produce expected outcomes

The tools for systems thinking introduced in this book are especially

designed for understanding dynamic complexity They help in seeing

underlying structures and patterns of behavior that are obscured in the

fury of daily events and the incessant activity that characterizes the

manager's life They help in understanding why conventional solutions

are failing and where higher leverage actions may be found

But what about detail complexity? What about the hundreds,

per-haps thousands, of feedback processes in any real managerial situation,

all operating simultaneously? How can we possibly cope with such

complexity? What good is systems thinking, anyhow, if it only teaches

us to identify a few feedback processes amid this welter of activity?

In Chapter 13,1 suggested that one of the subtler lessons of the

S

systems perspective is that this enormous detail complexity renders all

rational explanations inherently incomplete Human systems are

infinitely complex "You can never figure it out," I suggested—

because it's "un-figure-out-able." Nonetheless, we can enhance our

mastery of complexity

Evidence is overwhelming that human beings have "cognitive

lim-itations." Cognitive scientists have shown that we can deal only with a

very small number of separate variables simultaneously Our conscious

information processing circuits get easily overloaded by detail

complexity, forcing us to invoke simplifying heuristics to figure

things out

But then how can we explain driving an automobile at sixty miles per

hour in heavy traffic—or playing tennis, or playing a Mozart sonata?

All of these tasks are enormously complex, involving hundreds of

variables and rapid changes that must be recognized and responded to

immediately Moreover, to the extent that we are masterful in these

tasks, they are accomplished with little or no "conscious attention."

We drive through traffic while carrying on a conversation with the

person next to us The tennis professional focuses entirely on the

strategy of the match and the point being played The concert pianist

thinks only of the aesthetics of the performance, not the mechanics

Clearly there is an aspect of our minds that deals quite well with

detail complexity—in fact, which is designed for the task In the

chapter on personal mastery, we called this "the subconscious" to

suggest an aspect of mind that lies "below" or "behind" our normal

conscious mental processes Other labels are possible, such as

What is important is recognizing that we have enormous capacities to

deal with detail complexity at the subconscious level that we do not

have at the conscious level

It is also important to recognize that the subconscious can be

"trained." In fact, all learning involves an interplay of the conscious

mind and the subconscious that results in training the subconscious

We did not start off driving in heavy traffic; we practiced driving very

slowly in a parking lot or on a quiet street because the subconscious

was not yet trained to the task of driving Gradually, more and more

of the task is "taken over" by the subconscious—shifting gears

becomes "automatic," "natural." This frees our conscious mind

(with its limited information processing ability) to focus on the next

stage of learning.3

There are many ways by which the subconscious gets

pro-grammed Cultures program the subconscious If you grow up in a

society that discriminates sharply between certain races or castes, you

will literally see and interact with people differently from the way you

will if you grow up in a culture that is less race or caste-conscious

Beliefs also program the subconscious It is well established, for

example, that beliefs affect perception: if you believe that people are

untrustworthy, you will continually "see" double-dealing and chicanery

that others without this belief would not see

Perhaps most subtly, language programs the subconscious The

effects of language are especially subtle because language appears not

so much to affect the content of the subconscious but the way the

subconscious organizes and structures the content it holds If this is

true, how, then, have we been teaching the subconscious to organize

information?

As shown in Chapter 5, it is extremely awkward in normal verbal

language to describe circular feedback processes So, by and large, we

give up and just say, in effect, "A caused B, which caused C." But this

convenient shorthand suggests to the subconscious mind that "A did

cause B." Subconsciously, we tend to forget that "B also caused A."

If all we have is linear language, then we think in linear ways, and we

perceive the world linearly—that is, as a chain of events It is

impossible for us to grasp the scope of the consequences, but we

know they are sweeping

However, if we begin to master a systemic language, all this starts to

change The subconscious is subtly retrained to structure data in

circles instead of straight lines We find that we "see" feedback

processes and systems archetypes everywhere A new framework for

thinking becomes embedded A switch is thrown, much like what

happens in mastering a foreign language We begin to dream in the new

language, or to think spontaneously in its terms and constructs When

this happens with systems thinking, we become, as one manager puts

it, "looped for life."

As organizational theorist Charles Kiefer puts it, "When this

switch is thrown subconsciously, you become a systems thinker ever

thereafter Reality is automatically seen systemically as well as linearly

(there still are lots of problems for which a linear perspective is

perfectly adequate) Alternatives that are impossible to see linearly are

surfaced by the subconscious as proposed solutions Solutions that

were outside of our 'feasible set' become part of our feasible set

'Systemic' becomes a way of thinking (almost a way of being) and

not just a problem solving methodology."

Rewriting the Code

The subconscious is not limited by the number of feedback

pro-cesses it can consider Just as it deals with far more details than our

conscious mind, it can also deal with far more intricate dynamic

complexity Significantly, as it assimilates hundreds of feedback

re-lationships simultaneously, it integrates detail and dynamic complexity

together

This is why practice is so important For any meaningful interplay of

conscious and subconscious, practice is essential Conceptual learning

is not enough, any more than it would be for learning a foreign

language or for learning to ride a bicycle In this context, tools like

microworlds come into their own—as cultural media, as places to

practice thinking and acting systemically

The value of systems thinking also goes beyond that derived by any

institution To explain, let me take a step back

There is a certain irony to mankind's present situation, viewed

from an evolutionary perspective The human being is exquisitely

adapted to recognize and respond to threats to survival that come in

the form of sudden, dramatic events Clap your hands and people

jump, calling forth some genetically encoded memory of

saber-toothed tigers springing from the bush

Yet today the primary threats to our collective survival are slow,

gradual developments arising from processes that are complex both in

detail and in dynamics The spread of nuclear arms is not an event, nor

is the "greenhouse effect," the depletion of the ozone layer,

malnutrition and underdevelopment in the Third World, the

eco-nomic cycles that determine our quality of life, and most of the other

large-scale problems in our world

Learning organizations themselves may be a form of leverage on the

complex system of human endeavors Building learning organizations

involves developing people who learn to see as systems thinkers see,

who develop their own personal mastery, and who learn how to

surface and restructure mental models, collaboratively Given the

influence of organizations in today's world, this may be one of the

most powerful steps toward helping us "rewrite the code," altering

not just what we think but our predominant ways of thinking In this

sense, learning organizations may be a tool not just for the evolution of

organizations, but for the evolution of intelligence