The Interaction of the Remaining Ecological Principles

For the principle of recycling described in the previous post to work effectively in a leadership system, it requires leader and followers to work in partnership--the third principle of ecological systems. All parties must trust and respect each other if the flow of communication is to remain open. Without trust and respect, relationships become poisoned with fear, anxiety, and competitiveness. The exchange of information between people becomes constricted. This limits people’s responses to the environment.

Partnership requires each person to exercise the principle of flexibility. You need to build rapport with someone if you are to develop mutual trust and respect. You achieve rapport by communicating in a way that is comfortable and understandable for the other person. This puts that person in his or her comfort zone when interacting with you. The person will then be more open to sharing their thoughts and feelings with you and listening to yours.

When people’s interactions are characterized by flexibility, the entire system becomes more flexible in its response to various situations. People are open to learning and sharing rather than protecting themselves behind habitual behaviors and uncompromising opinions.

Flexibility fosters the principle of diversity. The more wide ranging the perspectives and skills within a group, the more options are available to it when responding to varying circumstances.

This supports the system’s sustainability--the sixth principle. The more effective the group in responding to changes in the environment, the more likely the group will thrive.

This brief outline of the relationship between ecological principles and leadership systems is meant to encourage further exploration of the organic nature of leadership.

Applying the Ecological Principle of Recycling

This blog entry continues to explore the application of ecological principles to leadership by considering the principle of recycling.

All organisms in an ecosystem produce waste. What is waste for one species, though, is food for another. The result is a system without waste. This cyclical process differs from a linear operation, which ends with waste being discarded unused.

The principle of recycling applies to the flow of information within a system. Information is a system’s food source. According to organizational consultants Margaret Wheatley and Myron Kellner-Rogers writing in their book A Simpler Way, “Information feeds the local explorations that keep a system viable and stable.” The needs of a system are “nourished by Information.” If information is restricted, the life of the system is threatened.

A system takes in data, processes it, and produces outputs. Information that is received and evaluated as irrelevant is discarded. What is rejected is informational waste. What is considered unimportant by one part of a system, however, may be deemed useful by another part of the system. A system’s viability is enhanced when the system improves its capability to notice, process, and apply a broader field of information. One individual within a leadership system may not take notice of a specific piece of information. Someone else, though, may see the relevance of that discarded bit of data and apply it for the good of the system. Each individual within the system brings a different perspective to every situation. Each person’s point of view needs to be respected if it is to benefit the whole.