The challenge of simplicity

There is a complexity that we cannot avoid. It is that which arises from the world in which we live, characterised by non-linear, unpredictable, interconnected dynamics that are difficult to decipher. This has been discussed in companies for decades. But are we sure that what we call 'complexity' is not also the result of useless complications that we create, every day, with thousands of small gestures? An extra email instead of a phone call. A meeting that could have been a conversation. The abuse of knowledge copy. Five slides, become thirty. We add. We multiply. This is not complexity. It is complication. Yet every moment offers us the challenge of simplicity: stripping away the superfluous to bring out the essential. But despite being a stated value of many companies, simplicity is revolutionary today because we live in a system that pushes us to add rather than subtract.

Why do we add instead of take away? First of all, to make less effort. Simplicity is a way of thinking and acting that we are not used to. It requires presence, clarity of selection, awareness of context, discernment of purpose, interlocutors, actions. It requires mental focus and connection to self, context and others. Instead, we follow the inertia of 'we've always done it this way', we confuse accuracy with redundancy, we love talking more than being silent, we think we are fighting uncertainty by adding. And then we cultivate the illusion that we can control everything, we do not take away for lack of confidence. Thus bad hierarchy proliferates, which increases the distance between problems and decisions, and slows down organisation. And so we rush and keep saying we have no time. Instead, to cultivate simplicity we need to stop and think, to talk and listen to each other in order to understand each other and eliminate the superfluous. Simplicity needs to be trained. It is not that we lack time. It is that we respond to the need for speed with haste, and in this way we create a lot of noise. But simplicity is also the courage to make choices, big and small, instead of adding 'because then you never know'. Yes, we also prefer to add to shield ourselves from the negative judgements of others. That is why, to plain speaking, we prefer to go around things, not expose ourselves. Is this inevitable? No. This happens when there is not enough psychological security in the working environment, that element that encourages people to talk to each other transparently, focusing on substance. In a complex world, there are practices that favour simplicity. For example, asking ourselves "are we doing this because we need to, or because it makes us feel safe?" Creating environments where we can say "I don't know", "I made a mistake", "I have a doubt", without the fear of being considered incompetent. Being able to say "I don't agree with this", even to one's boss, without being considered inappropriate. To ask ourselves "what can we take away?" without fear of offending. And start building from there. This would also reduce stress. To work well we humans need to be in touch with the essential. Over the last twenty years we have produced mountains of models and tools to help organisations 'manage complexity'. But rarely have we asked ourselves how much of this complexity is self-induced. Yet, every time we accompany a leadership team to recognise its own unnecessary complications and unravel them, something profound happens. People breathe. Teams get moving again. Communication becomes more focused, purposeful, authentic and listening natural. So decisions come sooner, not because they speed up but because connection increases.

We live in a complex world, it is true. But there is enormous potential for simplicity in organisations. You just have to want to see it. We don't have to add anything. We already have what we need. Stop, think, listen to each other to understand each other and to eliminate the superfluous. Simplicity is a daily practice of connection and trust.

Aauthor of 'Don't die of hierarchy' (Franco Angeli).