Complexity and Change
The new Science of Complexity is grappling with the challenges presented by a phenomenon science calls the 'complex adaptive system". It has important implications for organisation development and human behaviour, both of which exhibit the features of living organic systems described by Complexity Theory. Fractals are opten used to portray what a naturally occuring complex system looks like.

A Nautilus Shell

"Forget the idea of a box with inputs and outputs.
Think in terms of loops" Francisco Varela

I have drawn my inspiration from this new science and combined it with ancient wisdom to explain how organisations really behave and change. Traditional approaches use machine language to describe what is an organic system and this has created many difficulties for the way we treat people and manage organisations in an increasingly complex world.

To move forward the future must be different from the past, but it must evolve slowly if the changes are to be sustained. Change has to be seen as a natural growth process, not something to be feared or resisted. Of course, this is not about change just for the same of it, it must be purposeful and bring a better situation than the one we are in now.

Individuals are the agents of change. Change has to come from the inside-out, often in response to changes impacting on us from the outside-in. To reduce the unpredictability that comes from change, energy must also be applied from the top-down in the form of global rules and principles and from the bottom-up in terms of interpersonal rules and local engagement. See Steve Trivett's Dynamic Change Model

What is a complex system ?
From a new science perspective, a complex adaptive system (CAS) has a number of characteristics.

They are:

An very large number of interacting parts (like we find in the human body and brain or in organisations)
Nonlinear relationships between the parts that are unpredictable (like we find in weather system or the actions of people when they cannot be predicted in precise terms)
Continuous feedback (like we experience through language in mind chatter and conversations with others, or through our senses. Change emerges from the interactions)
Behaviour that appears random (like we observe from the oustide, but has deep, underlying rules and principles driving it. We can only talk about patterns of behaviour)

Patterns of Transformation
What we see in all living systems are patterns of change that provide insights for Change Coaches in how to support interventions designed to stimulate the transformation process in people and organisations. I have found the features of Complex Adaptive Systems to be effective in providing guidance for my work as a Change Coach, especially when clients are looking to transform their language, moods, physical presence or their thinking.

Complexity Science
A complex phenomena demonstrated in systems is characterized by nonlinear interactive components, emergent phenomena, continuous and discontinuous change, and unpredictable outcomes. Although there is at present no one accepted definition of complexity, the term can be applied across a range of different yet related system behaviors such as chaos, self-organized criticality, complex, adaptive systems, neural nets, nonlinear dynamics, far-from-equilibrium conditions, and so on. Complexity characterises complex systems as opposed to simple, linear, and equilibrium-based systems. Measures of complexity include algorithmic complexity; fractal dimensionality; Lyapunov exponents; Gell-mann’s "effective complexity" and Bennett’s "logical depth."

Anti-Reductionism
Reductionism can be defined as the belief that the behaviour of a whole or system is completely determined by the behaviour of the parts, elements or subsystems. In other words, if you know the laws governing the behaviour of the parts, you should be able to deduce the laws governing the behaviour of the whole.

Systems theory has always taken an anti-reductionist stance, noting that the whole is more than the sum of its parts. In other words the whole has emergent properties which cannot be reduced to properties of the parts. See Emergence in the Complexity Index

The whole is to some degree constrained by the part's bottom-up causation, but at the same time the parts are constrained by the whole's top-down causation. Complexity is therefore best understood by working from the bottom-up exploring the emergent properties of living systems than trying to deconstruct or reduce complexity from the top-down. It is culture (bottom-up) that influences thinking and creates meaning. See Principia Cybernetica Web. Meaning requires reflective consciousness in order to observe oneself from the inside-out, and observe others from the outside-in.

"When a man begins to understand himself he begins to live. When he begins to live he begins to understand his fellow men." Norvin McGranahan

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