Kill all the pigs.

This decree was ordered by Cairo’s government officials to prevent a swine flu epidemic. It caused a mess. A big mess.

It was a rational decision based on cause and effect thinking. If pigs cause swine flu, kill the pigs. It failed, however, to consider that the solution itself had unintended consequences in a complex and organic (pardon the pun) system for disposing of garbage. This made the swine flu problem a messy one, as garbage tends to be. “Messy problems” defy traditional linear thinking because they exist within complex systems with lots of interdependent moving parts. When one part moves, it effects the others. Solutions call for systems thinking.

Two Systems

Cairo is a city of two systems.

1. formal – rationally designed, government run, complicated, bureaucratic and inefficient
2. informal – organically emerging, socially derived, based on barter, personal contacts and bribes

Most people use system number two.

Ineffective Garbage

In the formal system employees of large multinational companies pick up the trash from large centralized bins and haul it far away. In this system residents carry their trash to locations some distance from their homes. Being seen carrying trash lowers one’s status.

Effective Garbage

The informal system of trash pickup is convenient, environmentally sound, protects social status, and provides a poor segment of the population with paid work. Zabaleen, a community of Egyptian Christians who live on the cliffs at the edge of the city, have gone door to door collecting trash in Cairo for centuries. They recycle what they can for cash and feed the food waste to their pigs. The animals are eventually slaughtered for food. Cairo’s residents simply leave their trash by the door and the next day it’s gone. It is a perfect system.

And it worked until there were no more pigs such that the Zabaleen had little incentive to keep the informal system going. And then the garbage piled up. And then government officials had both a political mess and an environmental mess to clean.

Garbage without a Plan

Government officials who developed the kill-all-the-pigs solution failed to consider the strength of the informal system that had emerged from and was supported by the socioeconomic structure of the city. They therefor created unintended consequences that disrupted the city’s organic system for trash and garbage removal. The consequences, however, could have been predicted by those who knew and used the informal system. Had this happened people could have been better prepared for change by way of communication and education.

As if the consequences were not bad enough, health officials in Egypt later declared that pigs are not the primary carrier of swine flu.

Changing the Way We Think

Before we laugh at Egyptian officials, let’s consider the thinking that led to the garbage or that was garbage. And let’s remember we all create our own ineffective garbage.

1.  What caused the garbage problem?

Killing the pigs.

2.  What was the problem with the thinking that led to this garbage-like solution?

Using linear cause and effect thinking to solve a problem that called for systems thinking.

3.  What caused the failure to see the situation in terms of a complex  adaptive system or a messy problem that could not be solved with cause and effect thinking?

Officials sitting at the table to solve the problem lacked a diverse socioeconomic perspective. They did not account for the informal system because they did not deal with their own garbage (until of course they created political garbage). Those who understood the informal system were not part of the solution.

The solution?

1. Involve diverse members of the larger system to provide a broader more inclusive context for solving problems.

2. Assume the situation is not as simple as you think it is, particularly if people are involved, and employ systems thinking when appropriate.

To read more about complex adaptive systems and why systems thinking, not linear thinking, must be used to solve the current economic problems read Embracing Complexity in Harvard Business Review.

©2012 Germane Insights. All Rights Reserved.

Pigs and Garbage – A Systems Thinking Tale is an original post from Anne Perschel on Germane Insights - Achieving Leadership Excellence through the Art and Science of Psychology

Get your sunglasses, grab your beach blanket, watch the children at play and please learn along with me.

Seven boys, ages 5-8, are engineering an intricate series of dams and rivers by the water’s edge. They even build a small hot tub and are enjoying their time in this mini-spa when along come the girls – first one, then two. As the third attempts to find a seat in the tub, two boys protest. “No girls allowed.” The girls argue but eventually move along. Minutes later the mothers arrive and demand equal rights for the girls.  The boys protest for a while, but the mothers stand guard and as long as they do girls are begrudgingly allowed in the tub. But clearly everyone is having less fun.  As soon as the guards leave the chanting begins anew, ”No girls allowed.” This scene is repeated several times. We, the observers, are wishing the mother’s would not intervene.  We want to see how things will play out on their own. We get our wish as the mothers become distracted and the girls grow tired of trying.

Then one lone girl starts to dig a short distance from the boys. She is far enough to maintain respect for the rule of separation but close enough for the engineers and construction workers to see her. Other girls join in. They build elaborate scenes creatively using beach flora, fauna and debris to make bridges, houses, trees and people. A curious boy inches his digging project closer to girls’ scene. Within minutes he connects his trench to their landscape. Other boys take note and edge closer.  They build connecting roads as well.  Soon the groups’ combined engineering and creative talents result in a complex and ingenious landscape filled with people, cars, pets, trenches, dams and a bigger co-ed hot tub.

Now please suit up for a visit to my client with whom I share this story. Ms. Julie, the most senior woman in the organization, has been complaining, whining even, that she does not get invited to important all male networking events. She is a damsel in distress waiting to be rescued. I share the beach story with her then ask if she is going to wait for some adult to demand an invitation on Ms. Julie’s behalf or whether like the girls on the beach she is going to construct her own solution.

Next chapter. Ms Julie throws her own tailgating party. She invites the boys and the girls. The food is imaginative and delicious but she is sure to include the more traditional grilled hot dogs, hamburgers and sweet smelling sausages. Tailgates and football games are different now.  The rule of “No girls allowed” has been rescinded despite the absence of mothers standing guard.

The larger lesson: In the long run inspired and organic change works better, lasts longer.

End of commercial.

This is a cute short video called “Leadership Lessons from Dancing Guy,” that gets the point across on film. My corporate clients love it.

©2012 Germane Insights. All Rights Reserved.

Leading Change: Lessons from the Sandbox is an original post from Anne Perschel on Germane Insights - Achieving Leadership Excellence through the Art and Science of Psychology

After dropping our son at college, we drove away in an aimless fog.  The trip had been carefully planed through this point – then no plan, just the road ahead and the still silence in the car.  Tears. 

We drove for hours and stopped when we were tired and hungry, slept, got up and drove to Chautauqua Institution in NY.  I could not bear the thought of going home to that empty house.  The new plan – exhaust ourselves.  Go home so tired, that we fall asleep immediately.  Do something we would never dream of doing with Jordan.  So we spent the day at a center for the arts, education, religion and recreation.  It was lovely and just what the doctor ordered. The sadness was still there but less penetrating.

Two days post drop off, I woke up at home to the strange and dreaded emptiness.  I had no idea what to do.  The previous year I tried to be home at much as possible in case J. happened to show up in between school and all his social activities.  There was way more anticipation of than time spent together.  When he did arrive it was usually for a nap. Now I was free, anticipating nothing.  Big whoop.

After J. was born I took up photography and completed a course in dark room techniques.  I loved it.  Developing a photograph, watching what emerges, is like opening a gift or perusing the garden and taking delight in the smallest signs of change.  It was years since I had journeyed on my own just to take pictures. I grabbed my old manual camera and perched myself on a large rock by the pond.  I decided to take a photo of a frog sitting on a lily pad.  It turned into an unplanned meditation.  Five minutes – no frog.  Ten minutes – no frog.  Twenty, thirty – frogs were not cooperating with the plan.  I looked skyward.  Oh My God.  I am surrounded by wild blueberry bushes.  I have lived here for 3 years and had never noticed.  Picking fruit in the wild is one of my favorite activities.  What a gift.  I put the camera down and spent the rest of my journey collecting and eating the luscious fruits of transition.

With the gift of the blueberries, after two days in transition – preceded by a full year of anticipatory emotions – I got it.  The empty nest brought the gift of noticing all that had been there for years waiting to be discovered. 

Post script:  A year later, I continue to enjoy noticing the world and experiencing the joy of be-ing the mother to a delightful adult-in-process.

My wishes to you on your journey – may you accept all that transitions bring.

©2012 Germane Insights. All Rights Reserved.

Space in the Nest for Blueberry Bushes – Emptying the Nest Part 2 is an original post from Anne Perschel on Germane Insights - Achieving Leadership Excellence through the Art and Science of Psychology