Lenka Chobotová and Glenda H. Eoyang
Complexity is invoked everywhere in contemporary life, from organisational transformation to ecological crisis, yet it is often treated as a single undifferentiated condition. This compresses distinct patterning dynamics, narrows what practitioners can perceive, and reproduces the very assumptions of command and control that complexity thinking was meant to move beyond. Drawing on Human Systems Dynamics, complexity science, and feminist posthumanist theory, this paper proposes three interconnected shifts for systemic practice.
The first shift is ontological. Complexity is not one fabric but at least three distinct dynamics, which we name waves, currents, and riptides. The theory of change for each of these patterns emerges from a specific sub-discipline within complexity sciences. Each dynamic offers different degrees of freedom for the practitioner within it, and calls for different capacities and rhythms of engagement. All these patterns are experienced at all levels of human interaction, from individual to collective.
The second shift is relational. The practitioner is not a detached observer on the shore but an embodied participant in the water, through whom change moves. Their presence is not a neutral variable; it is a constitutive force within the dynamics they seek to engage. The practitioner is also never alone. Response-ability is always in relation: among the actor, the collective, and the environment.
The third shift is practical. Adaptive Action is the practice through which response-ability is cultivated. It is an iterative three-step process that enables response to match dynamics, introduces choice-aware participation, and supports interaction through which response-ability expands for individuals and the collective.
Together, these shifts in ontology, relationality, and practicality expand what it means to be with complexity rather than acting on it or looking at it. We explore the felt sense, practical examples, and options for action for each of the three complexity dynamics. Questions for future research and practice are also explored.
Keywords: systemic design, complexity, Human Systems Dynamics, response-ability, adaptive action, leadership