Towards Human Centered Organizations (Part 1)

This week’s newsletter brings episode 16 of the Cyb3rSyn Labs Podcast, featuring Alidad Hamidi, the co-founder of Desirable Futures.

In this episode, Alidad discusses his journey into Agile, Systems Thinking, and Complexity. He shares insights on the evolution of management practices and the importance of human-centered approaches.

Alidad expresses his disillusionment with mainstream management, which he believes is fundamentally flawed due to an outdated "machine" view of organizations and a misinterpretation of human nature (Theory X vs. Theory Y).

He advocates for Open Systems Theory (OST), emphasizing the importance of autonomy, purpose, mastery, and belonging for individuals within an organization, and the need for active adaptation between humans and their environment.

Tune in to hear his thoughts that underscore a passion for transforming workplaces into human-centered organizations that foster thriving teams at scale.

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My chat with Alidad was a fascinating deep dive into his professional evolution, his journey through the intricate world of systems thinking, and his compelling critique of current management paradigms, all leading to the transformative potential of Open Systems Theory (which we will discuss in Part 2). Here are some of the highlights/insights from the conversation.

Alidad's journey began in technology, deeply involved in product development, project delivery, and project management, eventually moving into consulting to broaden his industry knowledge. It was around 2007 that he first encountered the world of agile, primarily through the Kanban and Lean communities, quickly becoming fascinated by the idea of bringing groups of people together, fostering conditions for them to thrive, create value, and respond to continuous change.

His deep dive into systems thinking began in parallel, sparked by Kanban and Lean, naturally leading to the ideas of Deming. While he "fell in love with Kanban" and Lean initially, reading works by authors like Jim Womack, his views began to shake around 2012 after learning about complexity from Dave Snowden. This was a pivotal moment, as he realized the world wasn't as predictable as he once thought, and designing perfect systems was challenging due to the inherent unknowns.

Alidad then absorbed Peter Senge's "The Fifth Discipline," initially framing his understanding of systems thinking through Senge's expanded version of system dynamics. He incorporated Donella Meadows' "Thinking in Systems," particularly her "12 system leverage" points and causal loop diagrams, heavily into his work as an enterprise agile coach. The second "infatuation" with systems thinking came from Russell Ackoff, whose videos he many number of times, always learning something new.

A significant realization came around 2020: systems thinking was "way broader" than just system dynamics. Through interactions with Liam Mahon (past podcast guest) and Adam Walls (future podcast guest) on Twitter, he profoundly shaped his understanding of systems thinking from the human side, emphasizing the role of observers, often through a lens like Viable System Model (VSM). This realization led him, Mihail, and Dave to start the Systems at Play community in November 2020, born out of frustration with systemic failures (like the Australian bushfires and COVID), and a desire to learn together.

One of the most profound shifts in Alidad’s perspective, and indeed a core belief for Desirable Futures, revolves around fundamental human nature at work. He simplified this by referring to Douglas McGregor's Theory X and Theory Y.

Alidad firmly believes in Theory Y, stating that humans are "by nature creative" and intrinsically motivated to be productive and collaborative. He highlighted that humans have historically survived in groups, and this fundamental need to belong is a core aspect of our nature. He pointed out that this vital element of "belonging" was, in his view, notably dropped from Daniel Pink's Self-determination theory, which otherwise emphasizes autonomy, purpose, and mastery. The desire to belong means humans "know how to regulate ourself in the group" and "don't need external control".

Furthermore, Alidad emphasized seeing humans as "open systems". This means our nature isn't just about what's within our bodies or brains, but how we are defined by and interact with our environment. This perspective goes beyond older "closed system thinking" views. It's about how humans operate in groups within their environment, constantly needing to adapt, learn, and change. Crucially, it's not just about responding to change (as agile often emphasizes) but also shaping our environments, a concept known as "active adaptation" from Open System Theory.

Alidad offered a blunt, yet deeply reasoned, critique of what he sees as fundamentally broken in mainstream management. He defines management itself as a "social technology" - a human invention, not a natural phenomenon, designed to help us be more efficient and effective. He attributes the roots of many current management ideas to the industrial age, about 100 years ago, when "Taylorism" (or scientific management) gained traction due to early successes in scaling mass production. This era viewed humans as "a cog in the system". He suggested watching Charlie Chaplin's "Modern Times" for a perfect cinematic portrayal of Taylorism.

The core issue, Alidad argued, is that these early management models were built on a "wrong assumption" that the world is predictable and unchanging. Despite this flawed premise, their initial success led to these ideas becoming deeply "embedded into how we organize our schools, how we organize work, how we organize our universities, how we organize our government," creating powerful "self-reinforcing feedback loops".

He described how these paradigms often see organizations as "machines," where one can simply "pull a lever" or replace a "part" if something isn't working.

Alidad's bold assertion? "Almost everything is broken" with the current management paradigm. He drew a compelling analogy to the historical "earth-centric" or "flat earth perspective" of the world. While these views "kind of worked" for a long time, even allowing for the development of certain physical structures, they were fundamentally incorrect. Just as we eventually discovered the sun wasn't the center of the universe, and our solar system isn't the center of everything, our understanding of organizations needs to evolve beyond these outdated, fundamentally flawed models.

He pointed out that the "failure of a system for many many years" has been "ignored," often dismissed as "externalities". He cited the Gallup State of the Workplace report, which consistently for 15 years, shows that "around 20% of people are engaged at work" globally. "Do you call it management is working?" he asked pointedly, comparing it to a mechanic whose cars fail four out of five times. This widespread disengagement, burnout, and high failure rate among organizations are not "externalities" but rather a direct "nature of the management and how you organize". Businesses, even successful ones like Google or Amazon, are likely operating at only "20% of the capacity of the humans in their organization," leading to continuous consumption of people who are "burned out" and then replaced.

Alidad also expressed deep "empathy for managers," particularly middle management, recognizing that they are "stuck in the middle," caught between pressures from above and below. He vehemently rejected derogatory terms like "deadwood" or "frozen middle," emphasizing that managers are also "stuck in the same system". The root of the problem, he concluded, is a "huge systemic failure about our view of the world, our view of the organizations and our view of humans".

This critical perspective on mainstream management, coupled with his deep dive into varied systems thinking schools, ultimately led Alidad to Open Systems Theory (OST) and, serendipitously, to Dr. Merrelyn Emery. His path to OST was indirect, starting with realizing the "expanded ocean of systems thinking" beyond his initial, limited view.

The turning point was their meeting with Merrelyn Emery in Canberra in January 2023. They recorded a charming interview with her which is now available on their YouTube channel.

Alidad's journey highlights that truly understanding and leveraging systems thinking requires an open mind, a willingness to challenge long-held assumptions, and a commitment to continuous learning. His story serves as a testament to how personal dissatisfaction with the status quo, coupled with a deep curiosity and collaborative spirit, can lead to the discovery and propagation of profound, human-centered approaches to work and organization.

What strikes me about Alidad's narrative is the fundamental disconnect he identifies: we're still largely operating on assumptions about human nature and organizational structure that are over a century old, designed for a predictable world that doesn’t exist. The consistent 20% employee engagement rate globally, year after year, isn't just a statistic; it's a stark indicator of mainstream management’s failure, costing businesses immense human capacity and fostering burnout.

Embracing Open Systems Theory, with its emphasis on humans as purposeful, creative, and belonging-driven individuals within dynamic environments, offers a powerful alternative to these "broken" paradigms. It provides a lens to fundamentally redesign how we organize work, moving away from treating humans as disposable resources towards valuing them as ends in themselves.

For any executive looking to transform their organization's productivity and effectiveness, this is a MUST LISTEN!

For premium-tier subscribers, here is a list of handy links and book recommendations from the podcast 👇🏾