the bi- monthly newsletter of Strategenis a change facilitation consultancy.

Genesis  is intended to provide a forum for exploration of complexity, leadership, and group dynamics within human systems. It will provide a means to making sense of the emerging understanding about complexity and the practical challenges faced by leaders, teams and communities as they attempt to sustain the capacity to succeed in a dynamic environment.

The name genesis was chosen to the reflect the sense of beginning and emergence from initial conditions. Just as Lorenz explored how the flap of a butterfly wing in Brazil could lead to a tornado in Texas, our goal is that Genesis will start some great conversations.

Elevator Conversations and Butterfly Wings- by Paul Mackey © Strategenis        Print Friendly?

For me, the whole daily ritual of riding an elevator has changed dramatically since I started to ponder how complexity science metaphors can inform our understandings of self organization in human systems. Not that long ago I didn't think much about elevators. I trusted the mechanics and didn't worry much about gravity. To me an elevator was merely a “vertical transportation device” which made it easy to move from one floor in a building to another. However my understanding of elevators and of transformation in organizations has changed.

Now, I see emerging patterns. As people enter or leave the “container” they interact with others and I see riders as adaptive agents. One person riding an elevator stands centered facing the door. As a second enters, the riders split the territory. As a third and fourth enter, they adjust so that each occupies a corner spot, and so on. The impact of the physical container seems paramount. Even without verbal communication, as people enter an elevator a dance begins. Somewhat reminiscent of the “synchronized blinking of fireflies described by Strogatz in his book “Sync, The Emerging Spontaneous Order”^1., the elevator riders need only two capacities to start their dance pattern. First, they have a capacity to perceive a signal( i.e. someone is within my personal space), and secondly they have the capacity to adapt behavior (i.e. I will move ) These “simple rules” and capacities can drive self organization.

However, in contrast to fireflies, human interaction includes the element of anticipation. In the elevator ride , the human capacity to anticipate the future, manifests in how the riders adjust position as their floor approaches. This also underlines the need to observe the interaction over time, to better understand the emergent patterns. Another way of looking at this is that the adaptive agents' perceptions of their own interaction is influenced by how they anticipate the future. For example, the riders might be described as a loosely connected group, yet when the elevator stalls, they become a team.

If this were all there was to it, you might be asking “so what?” What relevance does this have to our understanding of organizational change? Glenda Eoyang's CDE model,^2. describes three interdependent elements which influence behavior in human dynamics within complex adaptive systems: Container, Differences, and transforming Exchanges. In her model, a container creates the space within which a pattern can emerge over time. The container can be physical, such as the elevator, a regional office, or it can be non physical, such as common values or goals, commitment to a leader or a principle, a sense of safety etc. The container, holds the system together. Differences between people in a systems are important, as they tend to encourage or discourage relationships and can provide focal points for action. We don't need to adapt to the similarities we have, but to the significant differences between us. Exchanges of time, attention, information, energy, both within the system and its environment transform the interactions within the system. From a complexity science perspective, a minute change in an initial condition can lead to dramatic change over time. In Eoyang's model a change in any one of these three elements can change the whole system. Simple repositioning of people in the elevator is not likely to change the organization- an yet it might. It might put people in a better position to initiate conversation, to exchange information , to recognize significant differences or even to carry the conversation out of the elevator into the organization.

Going back to the elevator metaphor, I recognize that it is part of a larger whole. The riders, may not be a team, but they are members of multiple communities. Some are members of professional communities, some ride the same bus, some live in the same neighborhood. They may also belong to the same corporate organization accommodated within the building. A different dynamic happens when people who work closely together, perhaps on the same floor, get on the elevator in the middle of a conversation. Not only are they bringing a new behavior (talking) into the elevator, but they transform the other riders into observer/listeners. Information is exchanged. Where the information is about something in common such as a discussion of the weather, not a great deal of transformation is likely to take place. Each listener leaves with confirmation of their own experience of current weather conditions. However, if, for example, the conversation is about a significant organizational restructuring initiative, in which different work units are implicated, the overheard conversation in the elevator may influence the messages that are passed informally throughout the organization. The elevator conversation can transform the individual , the whole, and the greater whole. The conversation may have greater impact if it happens amongst a core group, or those who already have significant influence in the organization.

Now, imagine the building within which the elevator is located, not merely as a building, but as a portal, a physical website, in which hundreds, perhaps thousands of people visit each day. During their navigation via elevators and hallways, they exchange information, spend time and energy, form opinions, share learning etc. Imagine the building as website, the elevators as browsers,and the interaction of people in transition. Now think of the city as the office, - the restaurant down the block as the conference room, the public library as a documentation center, public transportation as super browsers. The words about the organizational change, overheard in the elevator travel far and can impact many. How did the simple elevator ride become so complex? The elevator ride hasn't changed that much- but my perception has!

1. Strogatz, Steven SYNC, The Emerging Science of Spontaneous Order, Hyperion Books, 2003<

2. Olsen, Edwin E., Eoyang, Glenda H., Facilitating Organization Change, Lessons from Complexity Science Jossey-Bass/Pfeifer, San Francisco, 2001

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