Research Project: Indigenous Systems Design
Indigenous Systems Design (ISD) is a unique combination of:
Indigenous ways of knowing, doing and being (Indigenous Knowledge);
Complex systems approaches; and
Design.
Indigenous Systems Design is based on my research into a First Australian design paradigm, which focuses on connecting people with each other, and to the wider social and natural systems, to foster a sense of harmony. That is, First Australian Design is about designing for connection and harmony. It can be compared/contrasted to Western design paradigms that focus on the market-driven creation of new products and services. That is, Western design paradigms are about designing for market needs (typically profit) and are often disruptive.
Indigenous Systems Design combines a First Australian design paradigm with complex systems approach to help manage the (necessary) tension between resilience and agility / adaptability. Indigenous Australian ways of knowing, doing and being are highly compatible with complex systems approaches, as they are intrinsically holistic and relational.
In an organisation context, the focus of ISD is on people, purpose and strategy. In this context, Indigenous Systems Design reconnects people, purpose and strategy, and helps manage the (necessary) tension between resilience and agility/adaptability.
Indigenous Systems Design is an inclusive approach, and incorporates and extends relevant, compatible research and insights by non-Indigenous peoples where appropriate - for example, the Human Science of Strategy and High-Performing Teams for organisational strategy, or Designed for Digital (MIT CISR) for digital transformations.
When applied to business/organisation strategy, the problem is well known - companies spend a lot of time and money on their business strategies, yet experience and research shows that most strategies fail and that ‘culture trumps strategy’. As such, leadership strategy should focus on improving organisational culture. However, culture is an emergent phenomenon and isn’t something that can be targeted directly. Instead, Indigenous ways of knowing, doing and being show that the focus should be on ways to improve the quality of relationships and connections, between:
all levels of staff (as leadership is contextual so can’t just focus on senior execs);
organisations and their clients/customers, partners, and communities; and
people, place, and nature/spirit.
The shift to more a contextual leadership model will also help maximise employee autonomy, but the guiding principles of respect and harmony necessitate that alignment is simultaneously maximised. It is not a coincidence that maximising alignment and autonomy are the driving forces behind Agile; complex environments that undergo rapid change experience turbulence, which introduces uncertainty. Agile approaches are the most effective ways to manage risk with uncertainty, provided the appropriate checks and controls are included from the beginning.
Psychological safety is the most important factor for high-performing teams (HPTs), as per the research by Google and others. In order to foster a sense of psychological safety, the founder of the term, organisational behavioural scientist Amy Edmondson of Harvard, recommends the following three things:
Frame the work as a learning problem, not an execution problem;
Acknowledge your own fallibility; and
Model curiosity and ask lots of questions.
Our approach builds on these (very valid) recommendations by focusing on the relationships between the members of a team. After all, according to the Human Science of Strategy, it’s all about relationships:
“Humans are designed to seek out a nexus of supportive relationships. We seek safety and in doing so we are not really concerned that much with facts and reasoning. You don’t win people over with your ideas or your strategy by trying to persuade them with data. Rather, you win them over by getting them invested in their relationships with you — essentially by making them feel that you will keep them safe, by showing them that they can trust you, and that you have a purpose within which they can find meaning.” (p. 90)
First Australians have built the nurturing of relationships into their protocols for thousands of generations. These protocols require that people get to know each other authentically, based on the person you are, instead of the role you perform at work.