Viable Systems Model: Deliberately Adaptive Organizations

This week’s Cyb3rSyn Newsletter brings the eighth Cyb3rSyn Labs Podcast episode, my conversation with Mike Burrows.

Having had a sneak peek of Mike's new book, “Wholehearted: Engaging with Complexity in the Deliberately Adaptive Organisation” a while ago, I’m thrilled to finally have him on the show.

Mike shared some incredibly insightful perspectives on how we can approach organizational challenges in a more human and effective way. Here are some of the key takeaways from our conversation…

Mike's journey into the world of systems thinking and complexity has been fascinating. With a background in technology, including roles in hardcore embedded systems, software, and finance, he eventually became CTO of a startup, which served as the case study for his first book, "Kanban from the Inside".

His influential blog post in 2013, which presented Kanban through its values, marked a turning point, leading to his writing career. This path eventually led him to explore dialogic organization development, an approach focused on engaging people and fostering coherent action through conversation, rather than top-down change management.

His encounter with the Viable System Model (VSM) became pivotal, providing the language he needed to explain his intuitive understanding of organizations. He saw the potential of VSM to understand organizational dysfunctions and opportunities.

We discussed the unnecessary siloing & tussle between systems thinking, complexity, and cybernetics. He believes that synthesizing these perspectives is crucial for practical engagement with the world. In situations involving many people, a more humble approach that prioritizes engagement and invites participation is often more effective than rigid analysis and design.

We discussed the limitations of viewing organizations solely through org charts. Mike highlighted the intuitive understanding that the informal organization is what truly makes the formal work. Drawing on Stafford Beer's work, particularly the shift from "Brain of the Firm" to "Heart of Enterprise," he emphasized that the upper reaches of an organization often lack the complexity to fully control it, necessitating the trustworthy relationships and conversations within the informal network. Designing an organization that fosters these conversations and allows people to address unusual situations collaboratively is key. Liberating decision-making and communication capacity allows for innovation and self-organization, essential for adapting to a changing environment.

Mike stressed that his approach to VSM in "Wholehearted" is not about rolling out a prescriptive model but rather using it as a ‘generative image’. The goal is to help people within the organization better understand what's happening and to facilitate conversations about how things could be better. This approach emphasizes the different experiences of every participant and how much can be achieved without rigidly defining scope boundaries or formal structures. By focusing on the balance between how we work, coordinate, and organize, the model serves as a conversation starter across different teams and domains.

Instead of constant and disruptive reorganizations, Mike advocates for understanding the organization by looking at who is actually interacting with whom and their main concerns. This helps build a ‘domain model’ that reflects the real-world demands on the organization. By understanding the relationships between these domains and inviting conversations, leaders can make incremental adjustments – "re-teaming" and fostering effective "teaming" – to improve organizational fit and address challenges without resorting to massive structural changes.

For technology entrepreneurs and executives, Mike's advice centered on internalizing that everyone's experience is different and thinking relationally (or cybernetically). He emphasized the importance of fostering healthy and productive relationships at all levels and between different aspects of the organization. For middle managers, he offered strong empathy, acknowledging their crucial role in translating between aspiration and reality. He highlighted the importance of "verbing the nouns of business agility" – ensuring that strategies and plans are constantly being adapted and acted upon.

The title "Wholehearted" comes from the work of architect Christopher Alexander, who spoke of buildings suffering from imbalances and the need to make them whole. Mike uses this metaphor for organizations, emphasizing the need to address contradictions and imbalances to make them more ‘wholehearted’. This involves leaders engaging on the right challenges, inviting people into the process, and celebrating their accomplishments.

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Members of the Cyb3rSyn Community can watch the podcast episode on the www.cyb3rsynlabs.com portal or the mobile app (iOS and Android).

The full podcast episode is also available here:

You can grab a copy of Mike’s book here.

For the subscribers in the USA, here is a direct link to buy it on Amazon.

Premium-tier subscribers can grab the other books mentioned in the conversation using the links below.