Why Flexibility Is Important For Success In A Changing World
The world is changing constantly, faster and faster. There is no option but to adapt to it if we want to survive, grow, and succeed. Adaptation is the basis of evolution and relies on the capacity and/or ability to be flexible.
Biological and social systems (or communities) are based on certain ‘self-organising‘ principles and naturally seek optimal states of balance or homeostasis. In order to successfully adapt, achieve, or survive, a member of such a community requires a minimum amount of flexibility. That amount of flexibility has to be proportional to the variety with which members must contend with the rest of the community.
This is translated in Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP) as a pre-supposition, a useful assumption, called The Law of Requisite Variety which says: The person with the greatest flexibility of behaviour “control” of the system or situation.
Ross Ashby initially stated the Law of Requisite Variety in his 1956 book Introduction to Cybernetics. Ashby’s law essentially asserts that “variety is required to regulate variety.”
In other words, one must be flexible enough in his or her behaviour to effectively adapt to environmental conditions, whether they are physical, emotional, mental, financial, spiritual, social, vocational, or familial.
The individual or group with the most flexibility is able to manage a situation better than whose who are more limited or rigid.
However, there is a common misinterpretation of Ashby‘s Law, which is the following:
“the person with the most flexibility wins” or, “the element in the system that has the most variability controls the system.”
In order to judge that one has “won” or “controlled” something or somebody else, one has to perceive oneself as ultimately separated from it. According to systems theory, however, all elements of a system or community are interconnected and mutually influence one another.
I’m sure you realise that, especially when it’s about global warming and environmental pollution. This appears to be valid across all domains of life. Because originally we all came from one singularity, according to the Big Bang Theory.
Everything in the universe is connected. and therefore every human being (and action or inaction) is also connected (although at a subtle level: at the quantum level).
Therefore, one cannot control something or someone else, without also being controlled at the same time.
As Gregory Bateson pointed out, "no part of an internally interactive system can have unilateral control over any other part.“
So, an effective organisation or team must have the 'requisite variety’ to be able to perform all of the functions and handle the diversity of conditions that are necessary to achieve their desired outcomes.
This means flexibility of mindset, knowledge, skills, behaviour, and resources.
According to systems theory, fitness for the future is as important a criterion for survival and success as optimum use of resources in the present.
What is the consequence of Ashby‘s law?
Well, people need to keep pace with system variety in order to produce successful outcomes. If you want to consistently get to a particular goal state, you have to increase the number of options available for reaching that goal in proportion to the degree of potential variability in the system.
This is why we must always be prepared to re-invent ourselves and be open to new learning every day for the rest of our lives.
We must adopt a student mindset. Even when we become teachers to others, we must always remain humble, as we are also eternal students of life. Be open to everything and attached to nothing…
In summary, according to the Law of Requisite Variety, we need to constantly explore variations in the operations and processes that we use to get results. Even processes that have been effective in the past might not continue to be effective if the environment or the system around them changes.
From this perspective, one of the primary traps or limits to growth is past success.
Really?
One would generally think that when you have achieved success in the past, you know how to do it, and therefore you have more chances to achieve it now and in the future.
However, in the view of systems biology, the past doesn’t matter much because the present is already different, and what matters is to adapt to the current situation.
Success in the past can give some clues, but one must be able to detach from it to keep an open mind, focus on the current situation, and stay humble.
Often, when one has achieved success in the past, one becomes too relaxed and less vigilant about the current situation.
- So, how are you going to reinvent yourself this year to achieve maximum potential?
- What are the 5 things you need to adapt to maximise your success this year?
- Are you aware of what is currently changing around you?
- What can you do about it?
In Nutshell:
To have a dimension in life, be willing to explore variations, for embracing variations is the key to adaptation.
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