Throughout our daily lives, we operate within systems – as individuals, as part of a family, as members of networks, business or social organisations, and of local, national and international communities. How we perceive and engage with these systems, and how we prioritise their demands, influences how we act and the decisions that we make.
At any given moment, the size and scope of the system that we choose to prioritise has a huge impact on how we define our targets and how we approach cooperation.
It's essential to recognise the interplay of systems and communities. From the individual to the team, to the department, and on upwards until we reach the entire planet, each system is interconnected and interdependent. And what may be good for the individual or the team may not be good if we step back and look at things from a broader perspective.
It’s natural for us to choose actions that bring benefits to ourselves, to our loved ones, or to our immediate connections. In business situations, we hope employees will act in the interests of the organisation that they are a part of. Local or national patriotism binds us to the interests of systems defined by geography or language. But we often aren’t conscious of which system we are prioritising.
We know that a single person leaving a small amount of trash behind them is unlikely to cause untold damage. Indeed, the benefit of such actions to the individual – the sheer convenience and the reduction of effort that results – may seem to them to outweigh the negatives. But the individual who leaves an empty can behind at a country park after a picnic, trusting that it will degrade over time, does so because they are focused on their own personal system, not considering the systems that include other families, local residents, or the local ecosystem. They act in accordance with the limited scope of their system view.
In the pursuit of the objectives of one specific system, the bigger picture can be overlooked.
Similarly, one person taking a single pebble or shell from a beach, or picking a single wildflower, is not likely to have much of a negative impact. But when this action, or the aforementioned leaving of trash, is repeated on a grand scale, the magnified impact can be critical. Changing our perspective to take a wider view and consider a bigger, or different, system from our automatic default may lead to changes in our behaviour.
In the business world, we’re constantly urged to set targets for ourselves and our teams. We’re told that we need to have clear goals and should keep checking in to see if we’re keeping up to the mark. Targets certainly provide a sense of direction, and a way of benchmarking our progress, but there is a potential downside: in the pursuit of the objectives of one specific system, the bigger picture can be easily overlooked.
Business success can be measured in many ways, but often the success of one company is at the cost of others. If one organisation dominates the landscape, forcing others out of business, it can have negative repercussions for a local economy. While improving efficiency through economies of scale and process automation can result in a “business success story” in the press, the behind-the-scenes story may tell of job displacement, inequalities, loss of skill diversity, and market consolidation, with reduced competition limiting choices for consumers and stifling innovation.
Within organisations, targets have the power to create silos, pitting team against team and department against department. When the design team is racing to meet money-based targets, they may find it hard to justify providing support for internal communications initiatives that can only be charged at cost, if at all. Yet the resulting failure in internal comms may have a long-term detrimental effect that outweighs the successful sales story.
Targets can inadvertently undermine cooperation.
While targets provide a clear roadmap for success at an individual or team level, they can inadvertently undermine cooperation. In the pursuit of localised, personal and isolated system goals, the big picture may be lost sight of and collaboration may be discouraged. A small or individual win may in fact be a major loss when viewed from a broader perspective.
As we saw with the individual leaving trash behind or collecting pebbles, this lack of big picture vision can be a major problem when it comes to sustainability and eco-conscious practices. Narrowly-focused targets are often in direct conflict with sustainable practices. This can happen at any level: each team or department within an organisation, each business within a local economy, each national economy on the global marketplace… any isolated system striving to achieve its own goals may encourage actions that go against long-term sustainability.
It's easy to get caught up in the immediacy of personal targets, so periodically stepping back to reflect on the bigger picture is crucial. Do our targets align with the larger systems we are a part of? Are they contributing positively to the well-being of our team? What will be the longer-term impact on our organisation, local or regional economy and the environment? These questions are worth asking as the answers can guide us towards more mindful decision-making.
We often aren’t conscious of which system we are prioritising.
Understanding the potential clash between targets and sustainability empowers us to navigate our personal and professional landscapes with awareness. Targets, when set with a broader perspective, can be powerful tools for growth. They don’t need to sacrifice the harmony and long-term health of the interconnected systems we inhabit.
At Tantamount we use well-chosen words, careful design, and interactive storytelling techniques to help our clients communicate the appropriate message whichever audience or system they want to engage with. Why not give us a call on 0798 661 3437?