Dialogue: The Language of Complex

Systems

Mary Stacey MA & Scott Comber PhD

Inspired Thinking. Practical Results. www.cma.ca/pmi

Dialogue: The Language of Complex SystemsIntro

Introductions

Intro

Learning Outcomes

– Understand complexity as it relates to healthcare leadership, collaboration, and innovative change

– Practice systems thinking and inquiry skills to bridge diverse perspectives, strengthen relationships, and collaboration across disciplines

– Use dialogue to navigate complex, ambiguous and rapidly changing environments with less stress

– Explore a real challenge with peers, leaving the program with fresh ideas and practical next steps for building partnerships and leveraging change

Intro

Guiding Principles

• Appreciative

• Workshop approach

• Balance reflection and action

• Applied and practical

Intro

6

Agenda

Day 1• Introduction & Context Setting• A Systems View of Healthcare• Navigating Complex Systems• Systems Thinking in Action• Change Challenge l• Change in Complex Systems• Introduction to Dialogue• Reflection & Summary

Day 2• Opening Reflection• Developing Dialogue & Inquiry Skills• Using Dialogue in Pivotal Conversations• Beyond Expert and Silo’s Thinking• Change Challenge ll• Project Sharing and Planning Next Steps• Summary & Evaluation

Intro

A Systems View of Healthcare

Navigating Complex Systems

9

An Increasingly Complex World

Danish political scientist Bjorn Lomborg heads the Copenhagen Consensus, which has prioritized the world's greatest problems -- global warming, world poverty, disease -- based on how effective our solutions might be. It's a thought-provoking, even provocative list.

A campaign to change the course of history. Really. It’s time to make a choice. We can let present trends continue and risk almost certain breakdown and collapse.

Four years is enough time to build that will, to change our direction, even to transform ourselves. And Go because we must start now.

2

The machine paradigm

Organisation is: Structures Roles Processes Balance sheetsPeople are: rational, role-oriented, willing to be a ‘cog’ within a managed system (‘levers’, ‘engagement’, ‘performance maximisation’, ‘human capital’)

A paradigm so prevalent it is largely invisible

Machines are predictable, controllable and can be reduced to parts – problems can be solved by taking them apart and looking at the ‘pieces’

The complexity paradigm

Organisation is made of :Relationships and feedback loopsPower interactions, loyalties and rivalriesInfluence systems, in groups and out groups

Paradigm assumes that reality is complex and that key issues are in relationships, not the parts

This requires :a holistic approach (the system cannot be studied by breaking it down into parts) an appreciation of different perspectives (there is no single objective viewpoint)

Qualities of Complex Challenges

• Difficult to frame, not predictable in detail• Multiple root causes, non-linear• Multiple stakeholders• Emergent• Novel• Difficult to Eliminate• Long Term Nature

– Relational complexity - Relationships are more important than parts– Dynamic complexity - feedback loops rather than linear cause and effect

2

The impact of complexity on people

These basic characteristics of complex systems lead to:–Ambiguity, uncertainty about what is occurring, what

others require–Rapid change: change in information, in events and

context –Unpredictability that is inherent in the situation–Strong interdependence to other systems that are also

complex–And for individuals, a sense of being overloaded, not in

control.

What sort of challenge have you got?

Near AGREEMENT Far

Far

C E R T A I N T Y

Simple

Complicated

Chaotic

Zone of Complexity

Brenda Zimmerman, Professor of Policy/Strategic Management , Schulich School of Business

Mechanistic Worldview

Complexity Worldview

The Stacey Matrix

What sort of challenge have you got ?

16

2

Some problems are so complex that you have to be highly intelligentand well informed just to be undecided about them.~ Laurence J. Peter

What can you do about it?

Systems Thinking in Action

Systems thinking is an organised way of shifting your way of thinking so as to escape from mental traps generated by the ‘machine’ paradigm:

Linear cause and effect thinkingSearch for ‘objectivity’‘Locking in’ of starting assumptions

All systems thinking tools provide ways of: stepping back and seeing a bigger pictureincluding multiple perspectivesrepresenting complex feedback mechanisms

19

Systems Thinking in Action

What kinds of questions do systems thinkers ask?

What happens when we don’t think systemically?

If you see differently, you think differently. And all your actions start to change. - Peter Senge

If you see differently, you think differently. And all your actions start to change. - Peter Senge

20

Increased Leverage & Opportunity for Learning

& ChangeAssumptions/Patterns

Mental Models/Systemic Forces

Behavior/Events

The "Water Line"

Systems Leverage

Society for Organizational Learning

Systems Archetypes

Quick Fix orSymptomatic Solution

Quick Fix orSymptomatic Solution

Problem SymptomProblem Symptom

Fundamental Solution

Fundamental Solution

Side EffectSide Effect

Quick Fix That Fails

Shifting the Burden

Success to the Successful

Tragedy of the Commons

Accidental Adversaries

Society for Organizational Learning

Tragedy of the Commons

23

Systems Thinking & Dialogue

The system needs to be in the room

Systems thinking needs a space or container for the “thinking together”

The container is conversation, and specifically dialogue

Dialogue aligns us through shared inquiry and a common understanding of the system.

24

What gets in the way?

Ladder of Inference

Observed event, interpretation, generalization

This is the way it is!

Treating initial inferences as facts

I select data

I make assumptions

I draw conclusionsand take action

Pool of observable data:Things I could choose to focus on

This becomes a reinforcing loop as we select the same data to focus on over and over.

William Isaacs Dialogue and the Art of Thinking Together

Change Challenge l

Change in Complex Systems

Types of Change

Simple, Complicated, & Complex Change

Low

High

AG

RE

EM

EN

T

High LowCERTAINTY

Developmental

change

Transitionalchange

Transformational

CHANGE

• Appreciative Inqiury• Kotter• Senge• Heifitz - Adaptive Change

Heifitz - Adaptive Leadership

Identify the Adaptive Challenge

Cook

the conflictCook

the conflict

Create the Holding Environment

• Create the heat• Sequence & pace the work • Regulate the distress

Protect the voices of Leadership from below

• Resume responsibility• Use their knowledge • Support their efforts

Get on the Balcony

Give back

the workGive back

the work

• Work avoidance• Use conflict positively• Keep people focussed

• Ensuring everyone's voice is heard is essential for willingness to experiment and learn• Leaders have to provide cover to staff who point to the internal contradictions of the organisation

• May be a physical space in which adaptive work can be done• The relationship or wider social space in which adaptive work can be accomplished

• A challenge for which there is no ready made technical answer• A challenge which requires the gap between values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviours to be addressed

• A place from which to observe the patterns in the wider environment as well as what is over the horizon

Maintain

Disciplined AttentionMaintain

Disciplined Attention

Introduction to Dialogue

Low Value Conversations….

…..do not contribute to positive change• Telling the history of how we got here• Giving explanations and opinions• Blaming and complaining• Making reports and descriptions• Carefully defining terms and conditions• Retelling your story again and again• Seeking quick action

Most of what we want to see changed has been explained, complained about, reported upon, and defined for decades. Peter Block

Most of what we want to see changed has been explained, complained about, reported upon, and defined for decades. Peter Block

Leadership Conversation

34

ConversationBegins

ConversationBegins

Choice Point:What kind of

conversation does this need to be?

DialogueInquiry

Assumption TestingShared Understanding

Discussion Action

Problem Solving Finding Best Answer

Conviviality Debate

Garmston & Wellman, Cognitive Coaching

35

A Balcony View

ConversationBegins

ConversationBegins

Choice Point:What kind of

conversation does this need to be?

DialogueInquiry

Assumption TestingShared Understanding

Discussion Action

Problem Solving Finding Best Answer

Leadership Conversation: Creative Conflict, Collaboration, Innovation Effective Action

Garmston & Wellman, Cognitive Coaching

36

Dialogue is a way of conversing and thinking together that dissolves barriers, creates collaboration, and builds

partnership.

The outcomes of dialogue are:• Greater view of the system• Access diverse perspectives• Break down silos• Collaboration and partnerships that foster shared

responsibility and accountability• Team learning• Leaders talk about what matters - Trust built that surfaces

undiscussibles• Get at root of recurring problems• New insights leading to innovation

Dialogue is a core process in complex systems

Developing Dialogue and Inquiry Skills

38

Move

Voicing

Follow

Listening

Oppose

Respecting

Bystand

Suspending

William Isaacs Dialogue and the Art of Thinking Together

Dialogue Practice

• Suspend certainty

• Bring curiosity rather than answers

• Inquire into your own and other’s reasoning

• Display assumptions rather than defend them

• Allow silence for reflection

• Slow down; Speak from “I”

• Speak to the centre rather than to the person

• Welcome diversity in ideas and thinking

Dialogue Practice

What conversations are happening now in healthcare that are

shaping our practices and changing our lives?

Using Dialogue in Pivotal Conversations

What is a pivotal conversation?

• Potential to change the course of action and consequently the levels of results– Crosses boundaries– Potential for conflict– Power dynamics– Outcome matters

42

Left Hand-Right Hand Column

Conversation Transcript: 4 x4

Conversation Transcript: 4 x4

Unspoken thoughts & FeelingsUnspoken thoughts & Feelings

Chris Argyris, Graduate School of Business, Harvard University

Mental models as barriers to effective communication

Record what you didn’t say but thought, reflect on assumptions and preconceptions - J. Bennecker

Leadership Moves in Pivotal Conversations

Framing(abstract)

Illustrating(concrete)

Advocating(self)

Inquiring(others)

Trio Check-In: Pivotal Conversations

What did you observe about yourself in recent pivotal conversation?

Which parts of speech do you most rely on?

What will increase your effectiveness?

Beyond Expert & Silo’d Thinking

Ellinor & Gerard Dialogue: Creating and Sustaining Collaborative Partnerships at Work

1920’s Piaget research on stages of child development, expanded to include stages of adult development

(Fowler 1981; Kohlberg 1981; Kegan 1982; Loevinger 1976,

Wilber 2000; Torbert, 2004)

Progressive levels of meaning-making, cognitive and emotional growth. As adults evolve through these stages, they develop the capacity for more complex thought and find it easier to understand and empathize with different viewpoints.

Adults do not automatically progress through these stages

as they age.

What are the implications for leadership & leadership development?

We’ve found that the level of personal development of the leader can have a critical impact on the success of organizational change efforts and, in turn, on the company’s ability to thrive in an ever-more complex business environment. ~Torbert & Rooke, Seven Transformations of Leadership (Harvard Business Review, 2005)

Robert KeganIn Over Our Heads

(1995)

Bill TorbertAction Inquiry

The Secret of Timely& Transforming Leadership

(2004)

Joiner & JosephsLeadership Agility

(2007)

McGuire & RhodesTransforming YourLeadership Culture

(2009)

Expert leaders tend to operate within silos; little emphasis on cross functional teamwork; tend to be overly involved in subordinates work, fighting fires and interacting with direct reports one-on-one; little time to approach their own roles strategically. Organizational improvements are mainly technical and incremental.

Achiever leaders articulate strategic objectives; have the right people and processes in place to achieve these objectives; develop effective teams, orchestrating them to achieve important outcomes. This patient/ customer centred culture encourages rewards and customer focused cross-functional teamwork. Change initiatives reflect analysis of the larger environment, and consultation with key stakeholders is a cultural norm.

Strategist leaders animate by a compelling vision that includes high levels of participation, empowerment, and teamwork. Collaboration, decisiveness and candid, constructive conversations are the norm. Senior teams become living labs that create this kind of culture and in the organization. Leaders coach their people, solicit informal feedback and change their behaviors in ways that are beneficial to the organization.

Developing your capacity

to meet complex

conditions

Developmental Transformations

Transcend and

Include

Adapted from Harthill UK

Change Challenge ll

Integration of Learning