A few moments ago, Ramiya used the term complex adaptive systems, and we think we should probably explain that little bit. That’s not common language or common knowledge. So, that is our one of the ways we can view how teams work and our created an unknown territory. So let’s talk about it this way. There is change, we've had traditional models of change and complex change. In traditional models of change, there are experts. There are people who have knowledge that can be shared. Others can be instructed and we can learn from their experience. But there are times when teams are completely in uncharted waters, new territory. And we have to learn our way forward. In this space, where it's not a transfer of solution, it's a question of devising or discovering a solution, and exploring and discovering. We need to think about the concept of building a container as space, a vehicle that holds significant difference. The different perspectives of the various team members from different knowledge bases or competencies. And always be thinking about including additional differences. And if those differences can be expressed in the container, in the space, face to face, challenging each others way of thinking, and forming each others way of thinking, then we can come out with transformation, new ways of thinking. Now, some examples I think of this, if you think of certainty and uncertainty. In situations where there are a high predictability of outcome, and not many alternatives to choose from, that's a nice controlled situation. Our organizations are very good at this rational, simple, command, and control space. Those are our production spaces, our operations. We want people to be on the same page, but some of our project teams are dealing with problems, or challenges, or opportunities that are quite known. And sometimes, there is a known aspect to it, but many times it's unknown, uncharted waters. So in that situation, we definitely need to think about creating a team, a group of people who come face-to-face to talk about things, express their differences to each other, and exchange those views, so that something new can be uncovered. The thought about this is that this space we're talking about, we'll call emergent. And we'll say that complex adaptive systems are necessary tools, as opposed to traditional tools, because hierarchy isn't going to get us there. It's not the investment bank star on the team who's got the answers, and just has to share his information with the others. We all have to learn our way forward. So we will show you a scenario of a team dealing with unknowns and change. And then we'll debrief that, and then we'll talk more about this concept of complex adaptive systems. So in the diagram you've seen, that's labeled decision making under conditions of certainty and uncertainty. Let's start at the lower left. The lower left is that box that says rational. That's our operating system. That's our production exploitation spaces where everybody's on the same page. We want things to run like clock work, and there's a lot of command and control. An example of learning in that context might be giving a person a new recipe for a cake. They've never baked this cake before. They have baked cakes. And they know how to follow recipes, so there's instructions. And following the instructions, they can come out with success, a delicious cake. Then there's examples where solutions and problems to solve our complicated, not simple maybe not yet complex, but complicated. What are some of those? Well, certainly one that I can think of is building an airplane. That's a complicated piece of equipment. So it's certainly more difficult than baking a cake. And there's laws and things one has to understand about doing that. If you think about building the airplane, if someone has already done that, I would suggest that the first time, or Bill and Wilber Wright made an airplane, it was complex. They were uncovering laws of aerodynamics and things that weren't really documented and known. They worked in the knowledge management repository. They were making it for the first time. Now, once they've made that, we can reproduce what they've done, and that's a complicated solution. I suppose even getting a person to the moon and back is complicated. It's certainly complex the first time you do it. But there's also situations that are socially complex, not just technically, excuse me, socially complicated. Teaching a person how to swim or a parent teaching a child how to swim could very well be this socially complicated. The technical aspects of kicking your feet and holding your breathe is not so complicated but overcoming fear, overcoming the sense of unknown for child in water. That requires trust, respect so this is socially complicated. The instructor has to build a relationship with the child, the parent for them to feel safe in that context. So that's a socially complicated situation versus a technically complicated one. The situation we want to most talk about in terms of complex adaptive systems is the unknown, where we haven't been there before. It is our Bill and Will Wright building the first plane. It is going to the moon the first time. It is all of those things where we're really in unfamiliar, uncharted water and discovery. So there are many things that have to happen there. We need a team in that container space that has different. We can invite all those people into the room. >> Right. >> But we've got to get them to talk to each other. Not just talk over each other or don't agree with what you say because you're not aeronautical engineer or you're not the expertise that I have. We need to exchange our knowledge from all of these different perspectives.
