Systems Approach:
Adaptive Action, Accountability,
and Social Justice
MESI Spring Conference
March 9, 2016
Royce Holladay, M.Ed., HSDP
rholladay@hsdinstitute.org
© 2016 Human Systems Dynamic Institute | Use with permission.
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What’s up today?
► See, understand, and take action in the
complexity that shapes social justice issues
► Engage with dynamics that shape patterns of
social justice
► Practice three assessment processes to
understand the impact of your own most
intractable challenges
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You will leave with:
► Clearer understanding of how patterns of
social justice emerge
► Three options for assessing your system to
shape patterns of social justice
► An action plan to use in your own
challenging complex systems
© 2016 Human Systems Dynamic Institute | Use with permission.
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Reflection
► Take 3 minutes to reflect on your own
challenging issues. Consider:
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What is the challenge you want to explore?
What makes it so challenging?
Where are the tensions in the system?
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Speak and Listen
► Get into groups of 3
► Each person will share his/her own challenge for
3 minutes
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After 3 minutes, next person will talk about his/her challenge
After everyone has shared, engage with each other for 3 minutes
to identify what is the same and different across your issues
► Remember:
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When one is talking, no one interrupts or comments
Focus on the three questions from the reflection
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Why is it so hard to reconcile
social justice and accountability?
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Social justice is a pattern . . .
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that emerges (or not) from human
interactions . . .
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in a complex adaptive system.
To influence
future interactions
System-wide
patterns
emerge
Agents interact
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Patterns are shaped by . . .
► Known and unknown forces
► High levels of diversity
► Non-linear causality
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Adaptive Capacity as an indicator . . .
► System resilience and ability to respond
► Sustainable – over time
► Robust – in a single incident
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Accountability: Measuring Social Justice?
► Emergent
► Shaped by multiple, known, and unknown
forces
► Changeable over time
► Open to subjective truth
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What can you do?
► Rely on iterative evaluation
► Consider self- and system-assessments that
are based on


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Inquiry about your environment
Pattern Logic about the dynamics around you
Simple Rules that shape your patterns
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Inquiry
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Inquiry
►
►
►
►
Turn
Turn
Turn
Turn
judgment into curiosity
disagreement into shared exploration
defensiveness into self-reflection
assumptions into questions
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Inquire into the patterns around you . . .
Similarities, differences, and connections that
have meaning across space and time
► Space and time
► Tension in the system
► Formal or informal
► More than a word
► Personal or global
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Pattern Spotters
►
►
►
►
►
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Generalizations
Exceptions
Contradictions
Surprises
Puzzles
Reminders
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Hints . . .
► Use one, some, or all
► Look for the tension in the system
► Look where you can act

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Amplify the tension points
Damp the tension
Build where you can touch
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Pattern Spotters Reflection
► Use the Pattern Spotters to consider your
own challenge
► Share in your triad
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Pattern Logic
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Pattern Logic is . . .
► Use and study of disciplined reasoning based
on the conditions for self-organizing
(Eoyang)
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It’s important because . . .
► Pattern Logic builds adaptive capacity to
respond to unpredictable change in complex
environments


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See the patterns in the world around us
Understand the implications and meanings of those patterns
Respond with wise, informed action
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Conditions
that shape
emergent
patterns . . .
Who are
we?
What’s
important?
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How do we
connect?
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Map the
Conditions
Who are
we?
What’s
important?
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What if your identity is
• Too strong?
• Too weak?
• Unfocused?
How do we
connect?
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What if your
differences are
• Too strong?
• Too many?
• Undifferentiated?
Who are
we?
What’s
important?
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How do we
connect?
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Who are
we?
What’s
important?
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What if your
connections are
• Too strong?
• Too weak?
• Unfocused?
How do we
connect?
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Map the conditions:
Considering . . .
Amplify . . .
Damp . . .
Container
Differences
Exchanges
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Pattern Logic Reflection
► What can you see in the conditions that
shape your system?
► Where are the conditions out of balance?
► What might you do to bring them back into
balance?
► Share in your triad.
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Simple Rules
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Simple Rules (SR)
► Generate coherence across a complex
system

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Inform action and decisions
At all scales
Across roles, groups, individuals
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Simple Rules
► Shape patterns




Looking retrospectively
Planning prospectively
Inform action
Address all three conditions
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Identify / Define Simple Rules
(Retrospective)
► Identify dominant patterns that shape systemwide tension
► Consider rules that might shape those patterns:



Container (Identity)
Differences (Important)
Exchanges (Connections)
► Name some SRs and check them out
with the locals
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Identify / Define Simple Rules
(Prospective)
► Identify dominant patterns that could shape
system-wide tensions you want
► Consider rules that might shape those patterns:



Container (Identity)
Differences (Important)
Exchanges (Connections)
► Name some SRs and check them out
with the locals
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Cupertino Union School District
Teach and learn in every interaction
Search for the true and the useful
Engage in joyful practice
Build on assets of self and others
See, understand, and influence patterns in
the whole, the part, and the greater whole
► Act with courage
►
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►
►
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Assess System Performance with
Simple Rules
► Create descriptors to inform the system
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What would it look like around here, if. . .
Consider all scales – policy, practice, relationships,
expectations
Engage at points of implementation
► Develop rubrics to reflect change over time
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Simple Rules in Your System
► How might this approach help you (and
others) understand your challenge?
► How might you invite others into the
conversation?
► Share in your triad.
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Conclusion
If you want
peace, work for
justice.
--Pope Paul VI
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Today we explored . . .
► How patterns of social justice emerge in
complex systems
► Three options for assessing your system to
shape patterns of social justice
► Actions you can use in your own challenging
complex systems
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For more info . . .
► Adaptive Action: Leveraging Uncertainty
in Your Organization
Glenda Eoyang and Royce Holladay
► Radical Rules for Schools: Adaptive
Action in Complex Change
Leslie Patterson, Royce Holladay, and Glenda Eoyang
► Simple Rules: Radical Inquiry into Self
Royce Holladay and Mallary Tytel
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Thanks
► For your time and attention
► For your participation today
► For the work you do every day to promote
social justice
Be in touch!
rholladay@hsdinstitute.org
© 2016 Human Systems Dynamic Institute | Use with permission.
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