Adaptive Actions
These proposed actions are based on the Adaptive Action technique developed by Human Systems Dynamics Institute (HSD). Adaptive Action reduces complex situations to incremental, manageable chunks. Its simple format leads to doable action steps that help achieve specific goals. As described in HSD’s Adaptive Action video, each action is based on three steps, answering three questions.
The first question is: What?
What’s the problem? What are you seeing? What are the patterns that are coming up? What do you see? What do other people notice? What did you expect? What’s surprising you?
The second question is: So What?
Why take action? What’s your goal? What does it mean? What are the implications? What are the intended results? What do you want? What do you want to have happen?
And the last question is: Now What?
Just seeing into the chaos isn’t all that helpful. But if you can see and have an option for action, that really makes a difference. What method will you use to achieve your goal?
Answering these three questions — What? So What? Now What? — is a way to see into a mess and through the mess onto the other side. Good leaders realize something important: For every negative issue, a positive aspirational alternative is implied.
This website describes the need to transform America from top to bottom. To support transformation, we identify aspirational goals for each sector of society and define specific adaptive actions for each goal. Breaking complex transformation into incremental actions makes steady transformation achievable. The Adaptive Action mechanism unlocks the path to transformation. It makes this website a dynamic, active Knowledge Base.
Imagine holistic and systemic transformation as a Treasure Hunt. Adaptive Actions provide the clues for finding this elusive treasure. Users can follow these clues to explore how to nurture transformation. Complex issues broken into a series of Adaptive Actions can move America closer and closer to the imagined transformed state. Complex problems like domination, self-improvement, racism, partisanship, culture change, climate change, and economic paradigm shift are converted to aspirational goals and addressed in achievable chunks. The imagined treasure will be found — transformation will be advanced.
Adaptive Actions will be presented in each Section under Action. Once you practice these techniques, you will imagine many more. Please share them with us, so we can add them.
Resources:
Essay: “Converting Problems/Issues to Aspirational Goals”, by Larry Walker. To be written (link to essay when done).
Book: Adaptive Action, by Glenda Eoyang & Royce Holladay