Collective decision-making and the mechanics of trust
Arguably one thing that has emerged from 2020 has been the concept of trust surfacing from its deep background operations of relationship maintenance. Due to some work on a project earlier in the year, I was able to have the briefest of insights into the dynamics of trust on an organisational playing field, and I don’t think I’ve heard the term being batted about more—demands for more (or even less) of it between various parties, the consequences in the absence of it, multiple strategies for its restoration. At the same time, I don’t think I heard any definitions being shared during these discussions.
Stephen M. R. Covey’s “The Speed of Trust” describes the notion as like the water in which fish swim—it’s only noticed when it’s absent. And only when it’s absent do we notice it’s tenuousness.
Trust is part of the oil on which society’s engines run (how do I know the building won’t collapse under my feet, do I really believe this restaurant cleaned their utensils properly). Throughout my project work, it became clear that people were thinking more holistically, more about the human collective, as a unified system. But it also runs deeper than that. With every interaction, decision or non-decision it shifts the fabric of 7.8 billion people and counting ever so slightly. Like the window pane on a rainy day, individual droplets pelt onto the glass gradually until the weight of the collective and gravity inevitably cascades into rivulets, tracking an unpredictable course as it pulls other droplets into its path. The thought itself can become paralysing (but oh wait, that’s also indecision, so may as well move)
So the idea of systems thinking, considering that maybe this solution we’re inventing is actually solving a problem of some previous feedback loop and that with this solution will come the development of another loop, is ever important. Especially when it’s within almost every discipline where development outpaces governance and regulation. Of course, there are very (very) clever people thinking about and working on these issues, not everyone is a ‘bad’ agent and there’s something to be said about the adaptability of human nature. And also, of course, relative equilibrium won’t come without serious losses.
QON #2: —
Collective decision-making and the mechanics of trust
Arguably one thing that has emerged from 2020 has been the concept of trust surfacing from its deep background operations of relationship maintenance. Due to some work on a project earlier in the year, I was able to have the briefest of insights into the dynamics of trust on an organisational playing field, and I don’t think I’ve heard the term being batted about more—demands for more (or even less) of it between various parties, the consequences in the absence of it, multiple strategies for its restoration. At the same time, I don’t think I heard any definitions being shared during these discussions.
Stephen M. R. Covey’s “The Speed of Trust” describes the notion as like the water in which fish swim—it’s only noticed when it’s absent. And only when it’s absent do we notice it’s tenuousness.
Trust is part of the oil on which society’s engines run (how do I know the building won’t collapse under my feet, do I really believe this restaurant cleaned their utensils properly). Throughout my project work, it became clear that people were thinking more holistically, more about the human collective, as a unified system. But it also runs deeper than that. With every interaction, decision or non-decision it shifts the fabric of 7.8 billion people and counting ever so slightly. Like the window pane on a rainy day, individual droplets pelt onto the glass gradually until the weight of the collective and gravity inevitably cascades into rivulets, tracking an unpredictable course as it pulls other droplets into its path. The thought itself can become paralysing (but oh wait, that’s also indecision, so may as well move)
So the idea of systems thinking, considering that maybe this solution we’re inventing is actually solving a problem of some previous feedback loop and that with this solution will come the development of another loop, is ever important. Especially when it’s within almost every discipline where development outpaces governance and regulation. Of course, there are very (very) clever people thinking about and working on these issues, not everyone is a ‘bad’ agent and there’s something to be said about the adaptability of human nature. And also, of course, relative equilibrium won’t come without serious losses.