Systems

Politicians like to promise to make our world better. They talk about a cleaner environment, better education, curbing crime and violence, more affordable health care, thriving economy and even world peace (well, at least a more peaceful world). They pretend and we believe that there is a simple solution to these problems that can be enacted with a stroke of the pen. But, of course, it is not that simple.

It is not simple because our problems are contained in a system that is more like a house of cards than a line of dominos. Take education for example; teachers, administrators, students, families, economy, the buildings, the school calendar, books, computers, societies expectations, etc. – they are each a card. Any change in any one card affects the whole. And look out if two or three or more of the elements want to go in different directions – you’ll be playing 52 Pick-Up. The house of cards is a system. To make a successful change, all elements must be involved. When you realize that the world’s problems are manifested in such big systems, it’s no wonder we are still struggling with them.

Nursing homes are systems too. Elders, staff, families, the community, the facility itself, dietary, housekeeping, clinical care, human resources, etc. - they are all part of the system. By inspiring high involvement in all the cards in your nursing home’s system you can really start to make some deep change in your organization. When everyone can understand that it will take everyone’s involvement to make a change, they will be charged up to make a difference and also be comforted by knowing what they are up against.

I borrowed this exercise that illustrates systems from Brian Foster, a consultant from New York who attended our most recent Choreography workshop. It’s brilliant. Go ahead and download it and try it out. You may want to start a binder to keep the exercises you download from this site. This way you’ll have them to refer to when a particular topic pops up. They’re like trading cards – collect them all!