Through a personal transformational experience, Nancy Southern has come to believe that it's the belief that we are separate individuals that prevents us from successfully changing and adapting to our complex world. Deep inquiry into complexity science awakened her to a sense of herself as a fully relational being in an interconnected world. This fundamental mindshift has led her to new approaches to working with people and organizations.
When Nancy enters an organization, she holds it as a complex adaptive system that cannot be predicted or controlled. In order to help the system make its own shifts, Nancy invites people to consider their interrelationships, and to seek out the relational changes that might lead to breakthroughs.
Nancy offers these questions for anyone who wants to embody systems thinking in their work:
How might I -
- Convene rather than control?
- Change perception to shift behavior?
- Pursue opportunity rather than predictability?
- Influence the whole, not micro-manage the parts?
- Seek variety rather than conformity?
- Place greater focus on relationships?
- Change perception rather than behavior?
How might these questions make a difference to you and your work? Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter - #STIA2014.
