HSD & The Fish Pond
By Stanley Fong
Nature’s dynamics and its insights
In the heart of the Roffey Park Institute (UK), there is a fish pond. This is one of the quieter areas in the campus, but on this day it became the location of a somewhat unusual learning activity.
It was Day 4 of the Human Systems Dynamics (HSD) Professional Certification programme. We were divided into groups to explore the relationships between a few concepts: Difference, Energy, Tension, Constraint and Change.
It was a busy day at the campus and most breakout rooms were occupied, hence my group went to the fish pond area to discuss our assignment.
The tranquil environment had a reflective impact on us. One of our group mates was mesmerised by the fish swimming idyllically in the water. Taking a closer look, he noticed that they swam by flexing their bodies and tails in a lateral movement. They seemed to generate energy through tensions built up by the differences between parts of their body. It resulted in a change in the fish, namely swimming. At the same time, the internal shape, structure and physiology of the fish, and the external realities of the pond, constrained how much they were able to flex.
There and then, the insights to our assignment were revealed to us … by the fish!
What if HSD were already all around us?
We went on to connect other HSD models and methods to the fish and the pond. Excited, we brought the whole class over to the fish pond to share and discuss what we learned. It was the most literal “fishbowl” activity I have ever done :)
Even though we were learning “human systems dynamics”, they were applicable to other things in nature. Even though the fish does not understand HSD, but HSD is in the fish!
What if the same is true for us humans? What if there is already an inherent logic and language within all our interactions, but we don’t quite know it yet or some of us have only an intuitive sense for it? If we could learn to notice more of that, understand its effects and apply the insights to our lives- what is possible?
For me, the experience felt very grounding. Now, I feel less pressure to have to “prove” HSD to others, because it exists all around us if we knew where and how to look. For me, HSD is … life. And to see it in many other aspects of life is joyful!
Stanley Fong is an OD practitioner working and living in Singapore. He supports leaders and organisations in the public and nonprofit sectors to create thriving human systems. He has been practising HSD since 2018.
