CONTROL - information chastity belts

The Creative Energy of the Universe: IN-FORMATION

Highlighted by O'Steven from Leadership and the New Science by M.J. Wheatley

Self-organizing system = can be thought of as a process of energy that manifest itself in physical formation.

Life uses information to organize matter into forms, resulting in physical structures that we can see. The role of information is revealed in the word itself: IN-FORMATION. When new structures materialize, we know a system has in-formed itself differently.

Closed system = will wind down and eventually decay, another victim of the Second Law of Thermodynamics.

GENESIS - is the opposite of management and control as the source of life is new information, novelty, ordered into new structures. We need information coursing through our systems, disturbing the peace, imbuing everything it touches with the possibility of new life.

FREEDOM - is required for new birth, and information is a unique resource because it can generate itself, like an inexhaustible solar energy for organizations - with new progeny possible with every interpretation. When communication occurs in a shared and open context, fertility abounds.

Management function - is often accompanied with dark cloaks of control and usually comes with an information chastity belt. When rumors proliferate and gossip get out of hand, it is a sign that people lack the genuine article - honest meaningful information.

Given that we all need to be continually nourished by information, it is no small wonder that employees cite "poor communication" as one of their greatest problems.

ORGANIZATIONS - information can serve an organizational function because they are open systems and can be responsive to the same self-organizing dynamics as all other life systems. To foster these self-organizing capacities in our organizations we have to work with information the same way life does. We need to create much free access to it, and become more astute at noticing new information as it emerges.

INTELLIGENCE - if a system has the capacity to process information, to notice and respond, then that system possesses the quality of intelligence. The greater the ability to process information, the greater the level of intelligence.

NOURISHMENT - we need to begin thinking of information as nourishment rather than merely power. We all have to learn how to support the workings of each other, to realize that intelligence is distributed and that it is our role to nourish others with truthful, meaningful information.

INNOVATION - It is no longer the leader's task to move information carefully along restricted pathways, shepherding it cautiously through channels, passing it on guardedly to someone else. Innovation is fostered by information gathered from new connections; from insights gained by journeys into other disciplines or places; from active, collegial networks and fluid, open boundaries.

RELATIONSHIPS - Knowledge grows inside relationship, from ongoing circles of exchange where information is not just accumulated by individuals, but is willingly shared. Information-rich , ambiguous environments are the source of surprising new births.

RESPONSIBILITY - An individual without information, can't take responsibility, but an individual who is given information can't help but take responsibility. One of an organizations most critical competencies is to create the conditions that both generate new knowledge and help it to be freely shared.

QUANTUM PHYSICS - Here we see relational holism, where whole systems are created by the interactions among subatomic particles. In this process, the parts don't remain as parts; they are drawn together by a process of internal connectedness.

COMING TOGETHER - We sometimes experience a great team effort, one that far exceeds what could have been done alone, and these always feel slightly miraculous. As we begin to understand our participation in a universe that thrives on open information and that works with us to self-organize into systems of increased capacity, we might challenge ourselves to drop our information chastity belts and tap into that great creative energy of the universe: IN-FORMATION.

Cheers,

O'

The Participative Nature of the Universe

"In the quantum world, what you see is what you get." Margaret J. Wheatley Leadership and the New Science

In my mind this is the foundational cornerstone of paradoxical quantum physics. The new science explains that there is fundamentally no objective reality out there waiting to be discovered. Instead we live in a universe -

• that co-evolves as we interact with it
• where ideas and information are only part of what is required to evoke reality
• that is constantly changing and impossible to pin down
• in which there are no 'building blocks' of matter
• where relationships are the key determiner of everything
• and subatomic particles come into form only in relationship to something else
• where unseen connections between what were previously thought to be separate entities are the fundamental ingredient of all creation
• which is a living system constantly seeking its own self-renewal
• where differentiation is the defining metaphor - with each organism maintaining a clear identity within a larger network of relationships that help shape its identity

Quantum reality also challenges our beliefs about objective measurement because at the subatomic level the observer can't make an observation without interfering and actually participating in its creation. In other words, when we choose what to look for or measure, we actually evoke one particular outcome while the vast number of potential outcomes collapses in cooperation with our expectation.

In the quantum world, physicists describe relationship as all there is to reality. Particles only come into being through interactions with other energy sources. And even though we give names to these sources - neutrons, electrons, and other particles - no particle can be identified independently from the others. We can begin to think about elementary particles as "bundles of potentiality."

Here is the real kicker: No one of us exists independent of our relationship with others. Various people and environments evoke certain qualities from us and leave others dormant. In each of these varied relationships over time and space, we express ourselves according to our interaction with that particular system of influence.

• A system can be defined as a set of processes that are made visible in temporary structures - like work, home, church, pub, school, club.......that exert an influence on everyone that comes into the relational orbit of that emotional field.

"Each of us is a different person in different places. That doesn't make us inauthentic; it merely makes us quantum. Not only are we fuzzy; the whole universe is." M.J. Wheatley

Thus if there is not objective reality 'out there', then the environment and our futures remain uncreated until we engage with the present field of influence we find ourselves in. We have to interact with the world around us in order to see what we might create, and through this engagement we evoke ours and others futures.

Power can be seen to be purely relational in nature and full of energy (positive or negative) that flows through an emotional field. Healthy relationships are possible in each system of influence and perhaps love is the most potent source of that relational power.

I don't utilize elaborate plans or time lines and instead choose to focus on being a better colleague and learner. Trusting the process over time with other people, has shown me that we can co-create a complex tapestry of rich diversity in the midst of profound connections. We seem to each become clearer about who we are and want to be, while remaining deeply connected to one another.

Perhaps its time to give up the urge to control anyone else, and instead focus on how we might team up with our family, friends and associates to co-create something new within our sphere of influence. We might just surprise ourselves and the watching world around us. Amen.

"Your think because you understand one you must understand two, because one and one makes two. But you must also understand and." Sufi teaching

Adapted by O'Steven from Leadership and The New Science by Wheatley