Adaptive Action

A strategy for the 21st century.

What is adaptive capacity?

Adaptation leverages the power of individuals and groups in complex systems to see opportunity, understand options for action, choose wisely, assess results, and repeat. And that is the essence of Adaptive Capacity.

A Strategy for the 21st Century

Adaptation may be the most important survival strategy for the twenty-first century. Economic, political, social, technological, and cultural change accelerate, and anyone who hesitates to adapt will die or become obsolete.

Forget the idea of risky action. The most high-risk strategy in the coming decade will be refusing to act. But not all action is created equal.

Wise action that fuels adaptation requires a range of skills and tools, from mindfulness to objective observation; from innovation to relationship.

Adaptive Capacity: Resilience in the Face of Ambiguity and Uncertainty

Adaptive Capacity is the critical attribute for individuals, teams, organizations, and communities as they deal with the uncertainty and emergence of complex systems. Thriving in those systems requires that you to see the world in ways that help you build resilience and fitness.

The Human Systems Dynamics vision is that people everywhere thrive because they build Adaptive Capacity. See how you, too, can build Adaptive Capacity in yourself, your family, your community, and your organization.

Transforming uncertainty into possibilities for all.

Recent global and local challenges—climate change, socio-political unrest, uncertain economies—reflect the increasing complexity of our world. People everywhere, of all ages are called on to face levels of emergence, ambiguity, and uncertainty that challenge their very existence. It is clear that we can only move forward in these times if we build adaptive capacity.

Adaptive Action

We put Pattern Logic and Inquiry into practice through an iterative cycle we call Adaptive Action. In this deceptively simple—but not always easy—cycle, we ask three questions:

  • WHAT? invites you to look for similarities and differences in the interactions and actions around us. This enables you to see the patterns that move you forward and the ones that keep you stuck.

  • SO WHAT? is the work you do to make sense of those patterns. You use HSD-based tools to understand conditions that shape the patterns you face. That deeper understanding allows you to better understand what currently exists and what is possible. It helps identify options for action for getting unstuck.

  • NOW WHAT? Then, you take a well-informed action to shift the patterns that challenge you. As you watch for the impact of that action, you step into your next cycle of Adaptive Action.

  • NEXT WHAT? The complexity of today’s landscape means that the world is constantly changing. As we complete the first cycle of WHAT?, SO WHAT?,  and NOW WHAT?, we continue to watch the patterns, seeing impacts of our actions, preparing for the next cycle of iteration and change.t.

What is Adaptive Capacity? 

In Human Systems Dynamics (HSD), we define Adaptive Capacity as the ability of individuals or entities to make sense of uncertainty and ambiguity and take informed action to thrive.

You can build adaptive capacity, using the foundations of HSD: Pattern Logic, Inquiry, and Adaptive Action.

Pattern Logic

Pattern Logic is a sense-making practice that helps you see simplicity in complexity. Rather than feeling stuck with the chaos and noise of rapid and unpredictable change, you can use Pattern Logic to see, understand, and influence the future as it emerges.

Inquiry

Seeing and understanding patterns requires that we stand in inquiry as we observe and engage in our worlds. Inquiry allows you to engage with intention, even when uncertainty and ambiguity are unavoidable. We use four simple rules to help us stand in inquiry all the time, in every situation.

  • Turn judgment into curiosity

  • Turn disagreement into shared exploration

  • Turn defensiveness into self-reflection

  • Turn assumptions into questions.

“Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain.”

— Vivian Greene