CRACKING COMPLEXITY
- ecmadore2
- Mar 27
- 2 min read
As change agents Social Entrepreneurs confront complexity in many forms. The following material will assist you in tackling complex problems.
“In their book "Cracking Complexity", David Benjamin and David Komlos provide a practical approach to improving organizations leveraging insights from complexity science and years working in the trenches as executive consultants.
All the steps in the Formula are complementary and build one upon the next to deliver rapid leaps on complex issues.
The first five steps set things up. Steps six through nine are where a requisite-variety of people can spend a short amount of time—typically two days—to sense, absorb, think, decide, and then in Step ten to act on the complex problem.
The mnemonic, ACT, LEAP, ACT is spelled out by the first letter in each step.”
Excerpts
Acknowledge the Complexity
The first step is to determine exactly what kind of problem you are faced with. A complicated problem or a problem that is truly complex……….
Construct A Really, Really Good Question
Frame the issue with a good question……….
Target A Requisite Variety of Solvers
Involve the right people. Identify the requisite variety of people needed to match and absorb the complexity. “
Localize the Solvers
Get everyone together face-to-face. It allows for neural synchronization.
Eliminate the Noise
Noise takes all forms: “too much information all at once; too much wrong or inaccurate information; and too much missing, ambiguous, unreliable, or fragmented information……
Agree on the Right Agenda
Do not preset the agenda. Once you get everyone together, begin by deciding what to talk about. ……..
Put people On A Collision Course
A highly engineered conversation—engineered serendipity. “Serendipity often happens where people, domains, and/or systems collide……….
Advance Iteratively and Emergently
You must trust that the answers will emerge. “Your requisite variety group needs to operate with energy and an expectation that the right answers will arise from the right kinds of interactions together………
Change How People Interact
Nothing will happen if the interactions between your group members are not productive ones. To be effective, they need to be “candid, incisive, unconstrained, unguarded, transparent, fierce, and focused…………..
Translate Clarity and Insights into Action
“The actions that result from the use of the Complexity Formula fall into three categories: Things to do, things to try, and the newly revealed complexities. The job in step ten is to categorize the solutions in the three categories and then to attack…………………….
The following schematic is taken from their book:
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