Pages

5.07.2008

Experiencing total solutions

Talent development systems - Part five
The final episode in the cultivation of hidden talents - imagined as a responsive system

When a belief system incorporates numerous ways to "hold it's horses", the runaway closed circuit becomes a total solution. The system works for the people inside and outside of the boundaries. The system "makes it our business" to serve everyone in some way instead of insisting "it's none of our business". It responds to requests and complaints in ways that enrich everyone involved. It has uses for every experience within the context of the system and becomes more useful as it evolves.

When talent development is served by a total solution, people with hidden talents experience getting validated, supported, understood and challenged. Those working for the system as mentors, managers and HR staff also gain self respect, significant value and expanded horizons to explore. The system itself becomes more responsive to breakdowns and its own excesses.

Any total solution is designed to give the user a valuable experience at every turn. Rather than congratulate itself for it's consistency, the system validates the user for providing some deviance. The users' resistance is taken as a form of cooperation. Their defiance is a welcome sight and taken constructively. The users' problems are "no problem" for the total solution. The stability of the system depends on the negative feedback from users to become responsive to changing situations.

Total solutions function as discovery systems. They learn as they go from what happens to the system in its context. The system becomes more responsive and resilient as it becomes more capable of providing solutions to new deviance. The system is inherently curious about what is changing and formulating better questions as it explores new possibilities. The system outgrows reflexive thinking as it reflects more on what it has discovered.

Total solutions support acts of generosity. The practice of "gift economies", "giver's gain" and "pay it forward" principles get rewarded. The system can value outsider contributions because it is self-regulating and open to contrary inputs. The system benefits from what it gives to others because it's set up for it to come back around. Processes are reciprocal like mentoring on the take. The system guards against "abusing the user", "exploiting volunteers" or "punishing initiative". Contributions from everyone involved flourish like they do in democratized, long tail markets.

Total solutions deploy "non-dual awareness" of people and processes. Employees are seen as internal customers to be well-served, as well as essential components to the delivery of reliable services. Customers are perceived as external employees who sell the system to others, as well as users of what the system delivers. The system is both stable and evolving. The value provided, learning realized and motivations engaged are both extrinsic and intrinsic. The meaning of the experiences in the system are both explicit and inferred.

Total solutions evolve from partial solutions. Belief systems become total solutions as they incorporate more logic switches and negative feedback subroutines. The system becomes more complex by responding to deviance with the intention better serve itself and others. As people become more talented in their lives, the system becomes more talented in cultivating hidden talents in everyone involved.

No comments:

Post a Comment