How I Work
Let me begin with a story.
There were two men working for the city council. One would dig and dig and dig until a deep hole appeared in the ground. The other would come behind him and fill the hole back up with piles of dirt.
The two men worked furiously: one digging, the other filling.
A man watching them from the footpath couldn’t understand what they were doing. Finally, he had to ask. “I appreciate how hard you work,” he said to the man digging, “but what are you doing? You dig a hole, and your partner comes behind you and fills it back up again!”
“Oh yeah,” the man replied. “It must look funny, but the guy who plants the trees is sick today.”
It’s a simple story, but it illustrates something I see in organizations all the time. People can be working hard, doing their jobs, and following established processes, while losing sight of how their work connects to the larger system.
What is the workflow? How do the pieces connect? What information is being shared? Does each person understand the purpose of their role and how it connects to the work of others?
These are questions of both systems and culture. When we don’t look at them intentionally, we can end up digging and filling holes simply because that is what our roles or processes tell us to do.
For me, this is where operations and project management meet systems thinking. It’s not just about getting the work done. It’s about understanding how the work fits together, creating the conditions for people to work well together, and staying connected to the purpose behind what we are doing.
A Cycle of Practice
This cycle brings together ideas from project management (red), permaculture (green), and experiential learning (blue). While each comes from a different tradition, they share an understanding that changes happen through Observe → Plan → Practice → Reflect & Learn → Letting Go → Observe again.
*Adapted and expanded from the Iceberg Model of Systems Thinking.
Look Beneath the Surface
Is your organization solving problems at the event level, or looking deeper?
The iceberg model helps us understand the underlying causes and conditions that shape the issues we see on the surface. We move from reactive problem solving to proactive foundation building by looking beyond individual events to the patterns, structures, and mental models underneath them. Good solutions take time, reflection, feedback, and sometimes, pain! When we understand what is beneath the surface, we can make more conscious choices about what needs to change and build a stronger foundation for sustainable change.
Growing Pains
Have you ever had a massage that left you feeling more sore afterward, but better the next day?
Sometimes, things have to get a little uncomfortable before they feel better. Growth can be like that, too. It can be anxiety-provoking, confusing, and even scary. Stepping outside of what is familiar takes courage.
The goal isn't to destroy the safety we have, but to expand it. Sometimes it just means sitting with discomfort, paying attention to the resistance, letting go the fear, giving ourselves time to process what is changing, and bravely tapping into the learning zone.
And most importantly, trusting the process.
