Today Donald Trump announced he had Covid-19. Another major disruption. A quote in The New York Times used the phrase “psychic doom spiraling” and it felt strangely true, and I was inspired to write this blog. I am writing as much to help myself as I am to help my colleagues navigate these challenging times. Involvement in efforts addressing significant societal issues is challenging even in “normal” times. Nine months into 2020 it seems almost impossible to keep our focus or even know what to expect as we do our work. Stepping back a bit from the chaos and uncertainty I believe we can find a way to steady our organizations and stay focused on our work. Ultimately however it will require us to accept that we are working to change evolving systems.
We can look at the disorienting situation we all face because of multiple disruptions to the systems we are attempting to change. Social/societal systems are always dynamic, and we ignore that dynamism at our peril, but they are especially dynamic during times of disruption. Today we see massive changes in policy, behaviors, and beliefs all happening while the actions that drive systems are restricted and changed by Covid-19. These massive changes mean we must stay mindful of what we are doing, and how the system we are affecting is changing as we do our work. More importantly, we should stay focused on the local level where most of us work. Continually ask what is changing in your local system that is impacting your work, adjust your assumptions about the system, and possibly your actions (programs, work, etc.) to fit the changed system.
Fully understanding the system we are trying to change is impossible but it is still possible to make meaningful progress by being mindful of the macro (large scale system functioning driven by things like policy and the economy) and the micro (local manifestation of those things driven by the actions of those that are involved indirectly in the system i.e. our organizations, communities, and families). Staying mindful of the major changes happening at the macro level but not being overwhelmed by them allows us to stay focused on what we can understand, the micro-level, or local manifestation of large-scale systems. Four things to remember as you steady your organization and keep the focus on the mission.
- Document your assumptions about the system at the macro and the micro-level,
- Use those assumptions to determine where and how to act on the system,
- Measure to be sure you understand how you impact the system
- And regularly update your assumptions of how the macro and microsystem work.
Steady now, we have work to do!
