Seeing the big picture to be effective in complex environments

Complex environments present a very different situation, where causal relationship is often not clear. This environment however very different from the focused and simplified situations we are familiar with in classical academic, books and teachings. As the result, efforts to improve efficiency in the wrong place lead to reduction in effectiveness. Looking at the big picture and defer judgment can help.

In a previous post, I discussed the examples of when efficiency is the opposite of effectiveness. The most important reason why this happens is broken link between cause and effect. In teaching environments, books and talks, to be able to convey the method and tactics, the background settings are condensed into relevant facts. Frameworks and simulations make it worse by creating an impression that results can be directly identified and related to actions. Meanwhile, people are rarely taught of how to collect the most important facts and link them together in real life. As the result, there is a prevalent misconception that causes and outcomes are obvious and appear close to each other. People tend to fix somewhere close to where the problem becomes evident. When paying attention to short-term events, human is often concluded as the main problem. Many don't know how to find the right "button" distance in time or place in systems to solve the problem. This is also a reason why many MBAs are bad managers in increasingly complex market and corporation environments.

The solution is to look at the big picture, in both scope and time. Here's how one can improve effectiveness in complex systems:

1. Defer judgment during observation to avoid jumping to conclusion too early based on evidence. By doing so, one can break away from the habit to form causal relationship between facts in a small scope with a short-term view.
2. Be tolerant with other people and look into systemic issues before isolating the case. Remember that human tend to perform similarly according to their role in the system.
3. Learn to connect the dots. Collecting and filtering the details, then forming the connections are important skills to form mental models of systems and find the "leverage" to improve effectiveness. Complexity theories, social studies, biology, etc. provide helpful ways to see the connections in complex systems.
4. Put attention to the long-term patterns and participate in bigger trends rather than getting bogged down with short-term events. Seeing trends we are a part of also helps to realize a greater purpose of our own, our society or organization, thereby creating passion and helping adjust actions and behaviors to improve effectiveness of the system as a whole. Here is a related extract from "Giving way to passion" chapter in my most favorite book, "The art of possibility":

"Life flows when we put our attention on the larger patterns of which we are a part, just as the music soars when a performer distinguishes the notes whose impulse carries the music structure from those that are purely decorative. Life takes on shape and meaning when a person is able to transcend the barriers of personal survival and become unique conduit for its vital energy"

Comments

[Lien Do]

Totally agree with you from my exprience. Sometimes the enemy of effectiveness is efficiency :) It's sometimes so tempting to gain effiency, as it sounds like a quick and easy win.

The increasing complexity in business environment and organization structure is also a fact we can't escape from, although sometimes we wish it's the other way :)

However, I think it's a challenge for organizations to get people put more attention on long-term results while the reward system infact focuses more on short-term measures.

[Tien]

Hi Lien,

You're completely right. Systems thinking should be used in designing the organization and be embedded into the organization culture, not only at the individual level. The reason why short-term and individual-oriented incentive systems exist is the one(s) who designed the incentive system failed to see the big picture. Individual KPIs often promote personal efficiency but sacrifice organizational effectiveness as a whole. Short-term market behavior coupled with manage-by-number practice make it challenging for management to change this, though.

Tien.