Emergent Systems Can’t Be Changed
Life doesn’t change the way we want it to. Our costly attempts at organizational and social change have mostly failed because we made two mistakes. We tried to change individual behaviors, and we used linear approaches of goal setting, measurement and accountability. Logically, it all made good sense. Individual behaviors caused problems. Complex problems needed to be broken into chunks and then designated as tasks to specific individuals or teams. If everyone knew they would be held accountable for results, they’d be motivated to do the work. And change would happen.
This still seems like a reasonable strategy and is still the predominant approach, now assisted with project planning software and an amazing
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