complexity intro course

8/7/2019 Complexity Intro Course

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/complexity-intro-course 1/19

Simplicity on the Other Side of Complexity

An Introduction toComplexity

Science and Management



I. Introductions and

Purpose

Introductions Faculty

Staff

Special Guests



Our Purpose To build understanding of

& confidence in usingcomplexity principles andpractices



Who Is In The Room?Connection Before Content

Find a “strange attractor”

“Exercise or Exorcism?”



II. How This Workshop Will Be

Different

Structured Improvisation Many activities may seem paradoxical: structured

with simple rules that draw out insight; familiar andfundamentally different

We will rely on emergence as well as formalmethods

We intend to have serious fun (and surprises) as welearn!

We will work at three levels throughout the day:transferring information, skill building, and mental

model shifting



D i s t r i b u t i o nT e c h n o l o g i e s

I n t e r a c t i v eT e c h n o l o g i e s

C o l l a b o r a t i v eT e c h n o l o g i e s

L e a r n i n g O b j e c t i v e s

D e l i v e r y A p p r o a c h

I n s t r u c t o r / E x p e r tC e n t e r e d

L e a r n e r C e n t e r e d

T e a m , P a r tn e r s h i p o r

C o m m u n i t y C e n t e r e d

I n f o r m a t i o n

T r a n s f e r

S k i l l o r

C o m p e t e n c yB u i l d i n g

M e n t a l M o d e lS h i f t &

K n o w l e d g e

C r e a t i o n

L e a r n i n g A t T h r e e L e v e l s

D e g r e e

o f C o m

p l e x i t y

A d a p t e d f r o m L o t u s I n s t i t u t e



The Illuminating, Profound

Poetry of Complexity Language can be used for poetry or prose. In a poem, the meaning

of words is far more dense. That is, each word may carry severalmeanings; and a sentence as a whole may carry an enormousdensity of interlocking meanings… together they illuminate the

whole from multiple perspectives. The more dense and embedded -- the more breadth and depth --

the more profound a poem can become.

Like poetry, this complexity course strings together many patternsin words, images & experience. Within the embedded patterns orfractals, we hope you will find simplicity illuminated… andlinked directly to multiple levels of your experience.

We hope for illumination both in the larger patterns in which yourwork is embedded (our ecology & economy) and the smallerpatterns that are embedded in it (day-to-day activities).



Creative Illumination

The poet’s eye, in a fine frenzy rolling,

Doth glance from heaven to earth, fromearth to heaven,

And, as imagination bodies forth

The forms of things unknown, the poet’s pen

Turns them into shapes, and gives to airynothing

A local habitation and name.

William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream



Bridging PolaritiesWe will move from Either/Or to “Yes, And”

ThinkingComplexity

Clockware

Design

Simplicity

Swarmware

Emergence

Integrate

Operate

Include

Reduce Variation

Differentiate

Innovate

Transcend

Let go of control

Paradox frames the door to life. Charles Johnson



Workshop Agenda & Rules See Agenda for details Lunch & break times will be set as we go

Take responsibility for your own learning; votewith your feet during interactive sessions Expect to be provoked, challenged and

surprised -- complexity turns convention on itshead

Please turn off cellular phone and beepers Try to keep your “stuff” collected. We will be

moving about the room Phones and bathrooms are...



Relationship

Deepening

Purpose

Shifting

Information

Flowing

How We Will Measure

Success

See Handout



III. Seeing Through A

Complexity Lens



Inspiration from

Complex Adaptive Systems Definition: A collection of individual agents,

who have the freedom to act in unpredictable

ways, and whose actions are interconnected such that one agent’s actions changes thecontext for other agents.

Examples: termite colonies, stock markets, theInternet, gardens, human beings, groups of people



Defining

Complex Adaptive Systems Alternative CAS definition by Ralph Stacey:

CASs consist of a network of agents that

interact with each other according to a set of rules that require them to examine and respond to each other’s behavior toimprove their behavior and thus thebehavior of the system they comprise.



Attributes of Complex

Adaptive Systems Elements of the system change themselves (they adapt)

Complex behaviors can emerge from a few simple rulesthat are applied locally

Emergence of novelty & creativity is a natural state

Order emerges without central control Non-linearity: small changes can have BIG effects

Systems are embedded in systems & theirinterdependency matters

Not predictable in detail: forecasting is an inexact, yetboundable, art

Co-evolution of life proceeds through constant tension& balance

Adapted from Paul Plsek



Interdependent AttributesAdaptableElements

EmbeddedSystems

Co-Evolution

Non-Linearity

SimpleRules

Not Predicablein Detail

Order w/oCentralControl

NaturalEmergence &Creativity



Why Now? More of our world is connected, complex and

interdependent than ever before Entities that embrace these principles and practices seem

to adapt and grow; and, institutions that don’t, are notfunctioning well at all

New complexity science directly challenges pervasiveNewtonian “machine-age” thinking

Advances in biology & CASs are informing science &technology advances in other fields

Time and space have been compressed (the lags &

gaps have disappeared)



Complexity Lens

Reflection We are finely tuned “complex adaptive

systems,” especially when we are working atour highest intelligence & purpose. Describe a time or experience when a collaborative

effort created or encouraged something surprising. Itshould be something you are proud to have been a partof… a difference that made a difference. It can be avery small, subtle thing. It could be from your current

workplace or a past effort of any kind. See the Workbook Handout



When Complexity Practices Are Useful

When you are frustrated with current andpast approaches

When challenges are wicked and messy When you want to start something new

When there is little agreement orcertainty about how to respond *

* See the Zone of Complexity in Ralph Stacey’s diagram

complexity intro course

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