System and Form
A system requires a delineation of what is in the system and what is outside of the system.
A system holds space. It has clear boundaries that define it.
Designed with comprehensive consideration, a system creates the field within the system to birth what it intends. I call this Enterprise Architecture.
Form is the shape of what is being created.
If your child has incredible musical abilities they might be expressed in a thousand different forms. From piano to hip hop, to singing, to a combination of many.
Our job is to create the environment/system into which the form is expressed. That form can and will change as the environment in which the system lives changes.
If we are attached to form, if we want our musical child to only play the piano, we are imposing our intention (shape) on the child. This limits their optionality…their ability to make a sovereign choice about how they express their musical ability.
Our job as steward leaders is not to impose form onto what is being birthed, rather to steward the system for the creation itself to lead its own form.
In almost all enterprises, we focus on the form and neglect the design of the system – the field that will give our creation the highest opportunity for success.
A great parent, gardener or farmer all knows that if you want to cultivate extraordinary, focus on the ecosystem, the soil, the environment…the field.
Then get to work on defining form – allowing it to adapt and change as the conditions adapt and change.
May 30th 2019
Photo taken May 30th, 2019
