The Planning Lady

In Chapter six of Mutlisolving by Elizabeth Sawin she pulls together all the elements of the previous chapters to discuss whole system behavior. She reinforces just how complex and interconnected systems really are and starts to show how they can be influenced.

For reflection, she asks readers to think of a time we took action and saw a substantially different result than expected. Because it happened recently, the example that came to mind was in trying to insulate my small greenhouse enough to maintain temperatures overnight for when I started seedlings. I caulked all the holes, added bubble wrap at the base and added weather stripping around the door and window. I assumed this would give me at least passable overnight temperatures. The system responded with the opposite and could barely keep the indoor temperature at the same rate as the cool outdoor temperature, let alone warm enough to start seeds. It taught me that the temperature system of the greenhouse required supplemental height during the coldest months to operate effectively.

Next, we were asked to think of a system we’re involved in now whose behavior catches us and others by surprise, is counterproductive, or even dangerous. What immediately came to mind is the rapid federal funding cuts and the initial approach to pause all federal funding. This fell into the counterproductive and dangerous category by sending every city in the nation into a tailspin trying to figure out how to continue operations when a significant amount of funding from federal sources was cut off. One of the whole system behaviors discussed in the book that applied here was “many interacting parts make for surprises.” Clearly, the decision makers did not understand the vary complex sub-systems operating under the federal funding system. When the outflow of funding was stopped altogether, the rest of the system reacted quite dramatically. This situation also fell under the “distant causes and consequences can lead to systems surprises.” A decision made at the federal level had dramatic effects down at the local level for cities.

This chapter also discusses emergence, or when something novel happened because a new connection was made within the system. A time this has happened in my career was while working on an EPA grant last fall. We were working with nearly a dozen agencies to come up with various programs that all met the grant goal, making new connections with partners that, while we were not awarded the grant, set the foundation to take individual programs and look for ways to launch them on their own. The work that our department normally does, was improved by connecting to other agencies to expand our program scope.

Last, I am personally aligned with visions, values, simple rules, and worldview of the systems I participate in related to affordable housing, climate action, and active transportation. Locally, I feel a lack of alignment with the last category, because we still have a primary focus on vehicle travel, whereas my vision, values, and worldview wishes we were more like many European or Dutch cities prioritizing other modes of travel.