Changing... what?
Dr Josie McLean
Changing Human Systems | Facilitating Complex Challenges | Leadership and Org Development | PhD in Organisational Sustainability
I was recently invited to take part in some exciting work where we will be thinking about what community and infrastructure will look like over the next fifty years. I’m thrilled to be involved in this work, which has me thinking deeply about adaptation, and what leadership will be required in the years ahead.
Humankind is at a peculiar place in history – as we stay busy tinkering with our everyday business routines, keeping productivity on track, there is a monumental shift happening beneath our feet. One which will have us falling flat on our collective backsides if we don’t move with it.
Check out this video from Indy Johar.
We persist with changes that fit into our view of “business as usual” in a world in which what we think is “usual” has evaporated. The planet isn’t the same as it was fifty, even twenty years ago, yet we continue to act as though it is.
We continue optimising our systems for a past world without acknowledging that the future isn’t just an extension of the present, but a separate, uncertain, uncharted, and constantly changing reality. Frankly, we know very little about how to navigate it.
What needs to be done cannot be achieved through incremental improvements or adaptive tricks. The tools we’ve relied on up until now won’t suffice. Engaging with this unknown future doesn’t come with a manual for transforming organisations or societies for what comes next.
Waiting for the perfect, confident answer and fully-fledged strategy isn’t an option either. It doesn’t exist.
We need a leap into the unknown, into a future we can’t fully envision. And as we leap, we must raise the awareness of our communities around us. Most people have no idea of how dire the current picture being painted by the science is, and we need as many people on board as possible to create space for this leap.
This is our call to action. We must foster creativity, imagination, and the courage to explore. Not everything we try will work. Things will fail. But if we fail, can we fail forward and learn from it?
We need to step boldly into this future, with the courage and humility to co-create – incorporating all perspectives so that what we generate includes the voices of those on the edges.
It's time to change, not just for survival, but to truly thrive in whatever our new world may become.
What are you trying in this space? What is working for you?
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Retired Sustainability & Post-Growth Optimist at Lean.Earth
1moDr Josie McLean To understand how we got where we are and why it persists, look to Daniel Pauly's shifting baseline syndrome as a primary explanation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shifting_baseline In 1995 Pauly framed the process whereby humans complacently erode their environment. Shifting Baseline Syndrome is working to deliver a lesser future to current and future children. The concept is simple enough, no matter the state of the local environment, it becomes the new normal for the youngest who have not experienced any other – a “creeping disappearance” sets in. John Sterman in Sustaining Sustainability notes: "Eroding goals and shifting baselines...occur for a wide range of environmental issues, particularly those in which the dynamics are slow relative to human lifespan...Because the long-term benefits and harms of current actions are uncertain, delayed, and diffuse, we are often biased toward actions that improve welfare in the short run at the expense of the future."
Visual Design | Sustainability Strategy | Community Outreach | Innovating for Circular Solutions & Systems Change | SEA
1moIt is a very peculiar moment. I feel like everything I thought was stable is shifting beneath my feet -- environmentally, socially, politically. But I hope this offers an opportunity to rebuild with compassion, humanity, and ecologically sound practices.
Founder, Collapse Forward🔸Disrupting despairalysis. Rewilding creativity. Crafting adaptation.🔸Helping collapse-aware leaders seed a collaborative future.🔸Post-doom clients in 20 countries.
1moThis is exactly the challenge we must face, Dr Josie McLean, and without delay. We cannot wait until new regulations are fought for and enforced. We must step forward and take the first step by facilitating an honest, respectful, and meaningful conversation about our colliding crises. There are a lot of possible missteps to be made, but they are avoidable with the right preparation! It requires a safe space with a few select stakeholders willing to listen closely and speak truthfully about our reality. This is how it begins!
Systems Coach | Facilitator | Architect MNAL | Le Muzic Systems Coaching | Co-Founder Empire of Love
1moThank you for this Dr Josie McLean. I would argue, it is the call to action together, in coherent practice that is needed in all levels of leadership; leading self, leading with others, leading others, leading projects, leading organizations and beyond. The skills to function in ´murmuration´ does not fit the skillset from yesterday, and the system intelligence needed to act for the greater good needs to be co-evolved. Fast!