At the Pegasus Conference 2010: Systems Thinking in Action, held last week in Boston, several pioneers—including Daniel Kim, Robert Fritz, and Peter Senge—presented nuggets of wisdom for EHS, Sustainability, and CSR professionals. I’ve shared a few of them below.
Building upon the concepts he introduced in his groundbreaking book, The Path of Least Resistance—in which he presented his landmark model on the structural tension between vision and current reality—Fritz discussed the Structural Dynamics of Leadership.
The role of leaders, he said, is to change or alter the underlying structures that affect culture and behavior. This is important because structure is more causally dominant than individual talent, good intentions, past experiences, creativity, or capacity. The most effective leaders possess strength of character, are able to work with structural forces, and have the ability to create a shared vision and shared structural tension.
Fritz stressed the role that a system designer (e.g., of a ship or a symphony) has on the outcome of the system; this role can be tricky within organizations, because design takes on an emergent, unpredictable quality. He used the example of a conductor, his or her orchestra, and the composition to illustrate that all three affect the final outcome of the music we hear. He challenged the audience to think about which role we play in our organizations and how we can embody all three: musician, conductor, composer.
As EHS, Sustainability, and CSR professionals, I think we often don’t view ourselves beyond the musician role, that of a doer. High-performing EHS, Sustainability, and CSR departments, however, integrate the other two perspectives, ultimately leading to innovation and generative actions.
Which of these three roles do you see yourself playing within your organization? If you wanted to increase your role as an EHS/Sustainability/CSR conductor or composer, how would you begin?
© Redinger EHS, Inc. (2010)