Complexity Skills

Complexity is managed by seeing, sensing or "intuiting" patterns. The human mind almost always instantly grasps a pattern or seems to - for instance, even in a picture composed of loosely spaced dots - unless someone has purposely made it too abstract. The same applies with stories, which is why they are highly recommended as a leadership communication technique.

We sense meaning as much as fully understand it. Our minds fill in "the whole story" from a few details. We can sense how we would feel. When we find ourselves in situations, we often don't need to fully understand each aspect. Once we have the gist of it, we determine the best next steps or judge what is most likely to follow without actually analyzing every element. We're right more often than wrong according to Malcolm Gladwell in "Blink." Overall pattern recognition is a very different set of skills from command and control analysis. We can't always be absolutely correct because we bypass some of the detail in favor of grasping a larger, more inclusive view. Both methods have advantages and are best applied in different situations. The challenge is knowing when to use intuition and when to analyze details. Unfortunately most organizations can't or don't distinguish the processes very well and tend to mix them.

Our goal should be to choose the approach which most quickly gets you very close to the truth "more often than not" depending on the circumstances. In the days when most organizational decisions needed lots of analysis, facts or previous experience, command and control worked in most situations. Today diverse input often helps more. although analysis still has it's place.

The tremendous speed of pattern recognition or "intuition" far surpasses anything achievable by analysis and formal decision-making. That fits today's need for faster action and it doesn't result in many more mistakes than painstaking analysis that may well miss some factors.

Those who are uncomfortable with managed uncertainty, who like every detail nailed down, are increasingly likely to be left behind in a rapidly changing world where the advantage tilts toward those willing to make educated guesses and take calculated, but definite risks in their day-to-day work. These are hallmarks of effective leaders that are now required by every level of operation within organizations. The day of assembly line, rote following of rules to accomplish a job is fading, taken over by computers, which can do such fixed tasks more easily.