We live in a complex system. The number of elements, of interactions and variables that everyone must face in their work, is at such, that even what yesterday was defined stable or considered somehow linear (in other words predictable), today can not be considered so.
We defined our times the “VUCA world” where everything is Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous. But I believe that there’s more. Two other letters are missing: the H (Humans) and R (Randomness). Since the dawn of time, humans lead to move with a level of snobbish confidence to understand each other, which is often — if not always — misplaced. We think we know who surrounds us, the systems in which we are swimming, the companies we work for but instead they always amaze us. Then the Random factor: we always think there is a design behind it, we look for patterns, rules, the reason why in an attempt to understand every detail and make a sense out of it, when on the contrary things often just go the way they want.
Unfortunately, faced with these unprecedented challenges to the unknown, most organizations and people tend to avoid tackling the problems by relegating the folds of complexity in the box of the “things we cannot control", or even worst, they deal with it using a traditional approach (I analyze, I decide then I act).
The speed of change combined with the number of nodes, together with the incredible amount of interactions should instead be considered as an essential part of each analysis. Believing that what is not visible and measurable is not worthy of investigation, is in fact potentially a capital error.
In such a scenario, where usually organizations look for solid solutions? In technology! But which sort of answer can be found if the questions are wrong (let’s not forget that a staggering 70% of digital transformation projects fail!).
Trying hard solutions (change in structure, processes, systems, money rewarding…) or soft ones (working on sentiments, personalities, feelings…) is now obsolete. They worked very well in a stable, repetitive, slow environment. Today they create layers of complexity to be managed: metrics, KPI, incentives, extra costs… you try to fix the problem, but you are increasing it.
In our solutions, we create both a definite (physical or virtual) and intellectual space, where collective intelligence can work at its best and real change happen. Depth, intensity, cooperation, surprise, learning, commitment, engagement, energy, passion are all fundamental ingredients of our methodology.
