System Principles
System Principles
CORE SYSTEM
- Safety is foundational; without it, higher layers are destabilised
- When safety is not stable, pillars divert attention and resources to restabilising it
- Steadiness does not gatekeep access to meaning, but it does make it possible to sustain/implement fully
- Meaning: the accumulation (ongoing or singular) of contributions that:
- Persist beyond the self, and
- Persist beyond the moment, and
- Are perceived to have significant value
- Meaning process is driven by: novelty → discovery → mastery
- Systems are interdependent but not interchangeable
BUILD VS FLOW
- In build mode, structures form dependency chains (bottom → top, left → right)
- In flow mode, structures interact as feedback systems (non-linear)
- Capacity built in one pillar alters behaviours and constraints in others
STABILITY
- Instability in one pillar propagates across the system
- Stability is not the absence of stress, but the ability to absorb or discharge it
- Systems self-protect by prioritising safety over growth
THRESHOLDS
- Each pillar has minimum, comfort, and maximum thresholds
- Below minimum → safety threatened
- Above maximum → distortion occurs
- Optimal function occurs within a range, not at a point
- Threshold values are not universal
- Thresholds are shaped by context, history and current system state
THRESHOLD DYNAMICS
- Thresholds are dynamic, not fixed
- Capacity in one pillar expands tolerances in others
BALANCE
- Pillars operate in tension (pushmi-pullyu dynamics)
- Some tensions are irreducible and must be managed, not solved
- Imbalance creates compensatory behaviour elsewhere in the system
- Increasing one side of tension necessarily reduces the other - zero sum within a moment
- Over-reliance on one pillar reduces system flexibility and increases fragility
INTERACTION & FEEDBACK PRINCIPLES
- Systems operate through feedback loops, not linear causality
- Behaviour both reflects and reshapes the underlying system
- Interventions shift variables, not outcomes directly
- Small changes at constraint points can produce disproportionate system effects
HUMAN SYSTEMS ACCOUNTING (HSA)
- Perception ≠ truth
- Behaviour is rational within the perceived ledger
- Weightings are shaped by experience, beliefs, values, contexts, needs, constraints
- Ledgers are often unconscious
- People choose the option with the net highest value of perceived value minus perceived cost
EMOTIONS
- Emotions ≠ completed, accurate interpretation
- Emotions are directional, not descriptive → point to actions
- Emotions are generated from perceived rather than actual conditions
- Emotions are fast, low-resolution signals → speed > accuracy
- Emotions serve a functional role in the system
- Emotions require interpretations and context to guide action effectively
- Emotions may be misaligned to current reality based on historical or incomplete data
- Multiple emotions can coexist and interact, sometimes in tension
- Intensity ≠ importance
- Emotions as signals continue to ‘sound the alarm’ until recognised → get ‘louder’ when ignored
- Emotions operate within feedback loops shaping and being shaped by behaviour and outcomes
LOAD & RESOURCE PRINCIPLES (MENTAL LOAD BRIDGE)
- Load is cumulative and often invisible
- Perceived load matters as much as actual load
- Unequal distribution of invisible load destabilises systems
- External supports reduce strain by acting as suspension cables, transferring weight from the centre of the span back to the abutments
- Load includes both execution and coordination (visible and invisible components)
Helen Soutar
07855 306262