Systems and Fluidity in Motion
Perhaps your life work has been in the context of an organization. This org has charts, systems, protocols, hierarchical structures that must be followed, and where systems trump personnel. The very nature and reason for existence in an organization is that someone first “organized” it. Since that is true, changes within the org must be approved before adaptation, because someone organized it and organization is after all the objective.
Perhaps your life work has been in a different “org” called organism. Organisms constantly change. In biological organisms we see cell development that replaces other cells. There is an inherent adaptation to environment for survivals sake while remaining true to the original DNA that gives it the right to be called an organism. For example, there are numerous strains of the flu virus, adaptations within vegetation and various other illustrations, Uber, and Netflix.
If you engage with a culture and you are part of an organism, you’ll do better in understanding the cultural system that it lives in. This truth points out the tension between maintaining systems and procedures versus adaption and reinvention to meet new environmental shifts. In other words, the org chart is insufficient within organizations in shifting environments. Change becomes extremely slow to the point of missing opportunities. On the other hand, as you engage culture as an organism the ability to rapidly change can be quite fast and nimble. The tension in this circumstance is that change can be too fast, and it becomes novel to change versus meaningful change to meet a rapidly changing environment.
It is apparent that an organism is more resilient than organizations. However, there remains a question of the guiding NorthStar. Surely organizational structures and the novelty of rapidly changing as organisms is not the end purpose of life is it? Keep in mind that culture is the driving force. All historical crisis, including our current crisis forces a reset in re-evaluate our impact on culture versus our systems. So, what is the NorthStar? John’s Gospel 1:1 gives us our beginning; “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” The trajectory of this verse is a “was, is, and will be” that is embedded within the language of the writer. From this verse, you expand the “mega-narrative” of the Bible to see the adaptive nature of an eternal message being applied to a changing culture. In a nutshell that is our NORTHSTAR! The 2020 Pandemic is our opportunity for serious reflection not upon our systems (Important? YES), not upon our ability to pivot to digital technology (Important? YES), but rather the true impact of our NorthStar is the eternal impact upon our communities. The “was, is, and will be” trajectory of God’s Word drives systems and adaptability. SO, which org are you?
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