Creating conditions to nourish sustainable organizational excellence

Abstract Developing human organizations for sustainable excellence requires important adjustments in the way we understand their nature and study their behaviour. The very concept of sustainability requires a view of a human organization as a living entity, in sharp contrast to that of a ‘machine-like’ creation designed to achieve specific goals. This reflects a critical shift in the mindset of leaders and managers from that of a ‘commander’ giving orders or a ‘mechanic’ fixing problems, to one of a ‘gardener’ preparing the soil for trees or flowers to grow. In such a living systems framework, today's dominant ‘command-and-control’ approach, typical for human organizations viewed as ‘complex machines’, must give way to one of development and continual adaptation. Once we adopt a living systems mindset for human organizations, the achievement of sustainable excellence is nourished by creating the following conditions: (1) The acceptance of alternating stability and novelty as inevitable in the way nature unfolds like a dance between order and chaos (lack of order), leading to new systems capable of superior adaptation and performance. Living systems thrive only when pushed away from their comfort zone, the area in which they must reconfigure themselves. (2) The need to learn to cope with several paradoxes, i.e. seemingly incompatible conditions, or directions of movement. Human organizations in a business ecology setting need to both cooperate and compete, to rely on stable predictable methods in some periods and on novel ways in other periods of rapid change. (3) The need to employ both traditional and emergent leadership. The first is needed to articulate and focus on a compelling vision providing a clear sense of direction and a strong motivation to act, the second is needed to stimulate innovation through enriching and strengthening both the nodes and the links of the complex web of human informal networks. (4) The development of a new language to communicate effectively new concepts and methods, when previous ways to describe reality prove inadequate. We need new terms, new images and new metaphors to convey the richness and complexity of human organizations as living systems, such as those of self-organization, emergence, and others, much like the new language (browsers, firewalls, etc) needed for using computers or the Internet.