Too certain to grow
One of my favorite tools from Human Systems Dynamics is the Landscape Diagram. It maps any situation along two dimensions: how certain you are about what will happen, and how much the people involved agree. Close to both, a system is organized, and plans, measures and control work well. Far from both, it’s unorganized, and the first job is to find something stable to hold onto. In the wide middle is the self-organizing zone, where you learn by experimenting, watching for patterns and adapting as you go.
Most leaders use the diagram to choose how to act. Plan what’s predictable, experiment with what isn’t. I’ve found it just as useful for noticing when a system, or a person, is too stable for its own good. Here’s the time it helped me make one of the biggest decisions of my life.
Too comfortable
In 2018 I was coaching at a large financial technology company, and my work sat firmly in the organized corner. I knew what velocity, team health and agile adoption looked like, I knew how to move them, and the people around me agreed on what good meant. I enjoyed the work, but I was doing the same thing over and over, and nothing about it challenged me anymore. Close to certainty and close to agreement is a comfortable place, and it’s also where growth quietly stops.
Into the middle
That year an opportunity came up: a three-month assignment in Dalian, China, to level up the coaches supporting 25 co-located teams there. Almost everything about it was uncertain. I had never been to China, the working styles were different, and language would be a real barrier. Saying yes would move me from the organized corner into the middle of the landscape, which was exactly where I needed to be to grow.
- routineclose to certainty and agreement
- the offerinto the middle
- family joinstoward the far edge
- enough structurewhat held it together
- worth it43 workshops and an award
Toward the edge
My family wanted to come along, which moved the whole decision further out, toward the far edge of the landscape. There were suddenly many more variables. My employer allowed it as long as I covered their expenses, and our children would have to leave school for a few months. My youngest turned four on the flight to China.
This is where the diagram earned its keep. Too far toward the unorganized edge and a decision like this falls apart, so I looked for what would hold it together. The children were young enough that missing a few months of school was manageable. The costs were known and within our means, and the assignment had a clear start and end, from April through July 2019. Applying, getting selected and making these decisions all happened in 2018, which gave us months to prepare. Those few points of certainty were enough to keep us in the self-organizing zone, where an adventure stays productive instead of chaotic.
What happened
It was one of the most energizing experiences of my career. Over three months I ran 43 workshops with a great team of coaches, brought in the Harada Method to help them set and pursue their own goals, and leveled up my own practice as much as theirs. The work later earned me an Excellence in Action award.
It was just as formative for my children. We walked the Great Wall together and took a week-long trip to Osaka, Kyoto and Nara in Japan.
Using it for yourself and your teams
If your work feels effortless and predictable, check where it sits on the landscape. Being close to certainty and agreement is valuable when a system needs to be reliable, but staying there too long is a quiet kind of stagnation, for people and for teams. Moving toward the middle on purpose is how you grow, and the trick is to bring along enough structure to stay out of the far corner.
The same question works for the teams you lead. Some of them may be stuck in the organized corner, doing the same work the same way, and need a stretch. Others may be out near the edge and need a few stable points to hold onto. When was the last time you mapped your own work, or your team’s, on the landscape? I’d like to hear what you found.