Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/551288
August 2015 • The PCB Magazine 15 the systems that are creating the less than op- timal results we want to change. I'm reminded of something I heard long ago, but no longer know the source of: "It's not what we don't know that is hurting our businesses; it's what we know that isn't so." How Systems Change Ilya Prigogine won a Nobel Prize in 1977 for his Law of Dissipative Structures, which describes what happens to systems that resist change in a changing environment. In short, systems that resist change in a changing envi- ronment add complexity and so require more energy inputs to fuel that complexity. How- ever, the system can dissipate only the original amount of energy and so becomes per- turbed or stressed. As the sys- tem continues to resist change, stresses build up until the sys- tem rapidly moves into a state Prigogine called "reorder." Re- order starts with a move into a chaotic state and then, over time, the energy reforms into a completely different system that can handle both incoming and dis- sipating energy. It is important to note that the new system is not a bigger or changed version of the old system. It's completely new. Stresses in Systems are Passed on to People Over 35 years of applying the Law of Dissi- pative Structures in our systems improvement work in many types of organizations, we made a startling and I believe game-changing discovery. The stresses that build in the change-resisting systems are passed on to the people who must work in those systems. Not only that, the stresses are passed system to system and hence spread throughout the organization and on to custom - ers and suppliers. The further one gets away from the original source of stress (a given system), the less effect. However, the stresses will be felt to some extent throughout the organization. This fact aligns with Bell's Theorem, which tells us of the connectedness of all systems in the physical universe. But the stresses don't stop there. As the system's stresses (physical energy) are passed on to people, the energy is usually trans - duced to fear-based thoughts that are held in the mind as stress. Each of these thoughts has an emotional component that individuals identify in some way as stress, unhappiness, frustra- tion and, toward the "reorder" stage, potential for acute dis- engagement and even burn- out. Of course, employees take these stresses home where they are passed on to family mem- bers in some way. The Mind is a System, Too The mind is a system, too. The great Buckminster Fuller goes even further in stat- ing that, "Every thought is a system." Because thinking is systematic, we can use many of our systems improvement tools to shift paradigms and expand thinking. This is criti- cally important because sus- tainability of quality systems is only ensured when both physi- cal systems and mindsets are op- timized. In essence, systems and thinking are equally important parts of an integrated whole. Understanding the nature of systems and how the mind works, we soon see that the de- gree of change, both in physical systems and systems of the mind, is proportional to the ener- gy present at the time of the change. In the case of physical systems, the energy is stress (dys- function). In the case of the mind, the energy is emotional energy. Look for yourself. In all of the instances of great change in your life, the events are circumscribed by significant emotional con- tent. No emotion—no change. There is light at the end of the tunnel for proactive leaders and managers in the work- place. The stresses that have been building up in status quo systems in the workplace can be used to speed change. Similarly, the emotional THE WAR oN FAILURE continues FeAture understanding the nature of systems and how the mind works, we soon see that the degree of change, both in physical systems and systems of the mind, is proportional to the energy present at the time of the change. in the case of physical systems, the energy is stress (dysfunction). in the case of the mind, the energy is emotional energy. " "