Human and Business Systems: The Beauty and Brutality
I love human and business systems.
I'm not super proud of this fact but it's my reality.
Systems are a collection of activities, procedures, and ways of doing things repeatedly that form a pattern that is predictable and makes things easier.
At least for some people.
This leads to why I'm not proud of the fact that I love systems.
While systems can be helpful, they are also what create and maintain colonization, patriarchy, white supremacy, dominance, and oppression.
So today I'm talking about how to create compassionate human and business sytems.
But let’s back up to the beauty of human and business systems first...
I — like all human beings — like familiarity and predictability.
That’s because humans — even though we think we're the top dogs in the universe— are actually quite vulnerable.
We're vulnerable to threats to our wellbeing and our physical bodies, as well as our egos and our future (what we worry might happen to us).
Worry creates anxiety and that activates our nervous system into a stress response.
Our brains don’t like stress (neither do our bodies).
What our brains love is knowing what to expect.
They love knowing that they've seen this process before so they can assume the same thing that happened last time is going to happen again.
That’s what systems do for us: provide predictability.
Systems also save us time. And I’m sure you've heard the adage time is money.
So humans tend to like systems for their familiarity, and time and money saving features. People in western cultures have been highly conditioned to rely on systems to be efficient, effective, and predictable.
You’re Already Loving Some Systems
If you have a few routines you do over and over, you’ve created a human system that probably makes your life easier or gets something done in a more efficient way.
If you have a set of tasks you do before you go to bed every night, that's a system.
If you have a certain thing that you eat for breakfast every morning, that's a system.
If there's a particular route that you take to work every day, that is a system.
If you create a monthly budget and set up all your bills on autopay, that is a financial system.
If you take your car to the Jiffy Wash every Friday and you have Joe clean it out every month, then you have a car care system.
Those things all help you maintain an order in your life. But that’s not why I like systems.
Systems Are a Gift to Your Nervous System
Let’s compare humans to animals for a moment...
Humans have a sense of time, ego (control), and safety. When those senses are threatened, our brains get freaked out because our hard-wired stress response gets overridden by our emotional and thought responses, creating havoc.
Animals, on the other hand, only deal with safety. When their safety is threatened, they are well-equipped to respond to danger (they are much stronger and faster than humans, and they don’t think about it, they just react). And the next most important part?
Animals know how to discharge stress after a dangerous incident.
Humans? We store the aftermath in our bodies, causing further distress.
So the more we can reduce stress, the better our nervous systems can function. That’s why systems are helpful.
Animals don't have systems. They are not time or ego-oriented, making them extremely inefficient.
Animals do one thing at a time. They do that one thing over and over. And while it’s a pattern (familiar), it’s also redundant.
Have you ever watched a cat walk back and forth, back and forth along the windowsill, or a dog turn three times before lying down? Every time? Ugh, so inefficient!
Or have you ever watched an animal try to gather a bunch of their young ones? They pick up one and take it over there, and then the other ones disperse, and then they catch another one to take over to the first, but it’s already joined the others. They go back and forth at this until they finally get all the kiddos corralled.
Kids love animal behavior because kids aren’t programmed to be efficient yet. They do the same repetitive, inefficient stuff.
But adults watch animals and just shake their heads.
So, while animals are very inefficient, they do pay attention to patterns.
They walk the same trail every day because it’s familiar, which makes it easier to identify anything different that could be of danger. That will set off their alarm system.
Most humans are taught to turn off their alarm systems and instead rely on calculated predictability.
Business Systems
In business, there are a number of different systems.
There's an operating system, which is a set of policies and procedures that guide how a business is run.
An operating system is powerful because it’s both effective and efficient, but also because it can be given to anybody to implement.
If I hire somebody new, I can show them the operating system and they can follow the procedures and do their job.
We also have marketing systems, which are methods we use over and over again to reach people we want to become our clients or buy more widgets.
Businesses have financial systems that track income and expenses, report profits, calculate taxes, and pay employees.
Then there are client management systems. These are the set of actions that drive a client through the process of working with you, from how they become a client to providing information, scheduling visits, concluding service, and gathering feedback.
Those are all examples of systems that you might see in a business you visit or set up for your own company.
Bigger Systems
We’ve looked at human and business systems. But there are bigger systems that are statewide, national, or worldwide. Systems like the World Bank — a financial system that guides how money is loaned around the world and how different countries interact with each other to improve the standard of living globally.
There are highway systems that consist of how roads are built, constructed, and used — from freeways to highways, country roads to city streets, arterials to neighborhood streets. Traffic rules guide people on how to use those roads safely.
Then we have things like the healthcare system — the network of hospitals, clinics, ancillary services, and insurance companies. In this system, all these different entities work together to deliver healthcare to people.
There are also systems within our own bodies. The cardiovascular system — a huge system of all the blood vessels, heart and lungs — gets oxygenated blood to all parts of the body.
These are all big systems that are composed of multiple parts that are designed to make everything work well for everything that's involved.
The Center of a System
I believe that systems can be incredibly helpful as long as people understand what they're designed to do, who they help, and how they can harm as well.
Within every system, something is considered the most important in that system.
The World Bank, for example, is a financial system centered around loaning money from one country to another. The beneficiaries of this system are poorer countries, but raising the standard of living globally is what is most important.
The cardiovascular system is centered around the heart. All the other parts of the body benefit but without the heart, everything will die.
The highway and road system is centered around safety. Yes, the roads get people from point A to point B. But the most important part is that they are alive on arrival.
When you're aware of what is centered in a system you can decide how you want to participate in it.
The Dark Side of Systems
You may have noticed systems that don’t actually benefit the people moving through them.
The U.S. healthcare system is centered around insurance companies. Ah, it should be people, shouldn’t it? But in the U.S., insurance companies are the gatekeepers to accessing and paying for care. All the other players — doctors, hospitals, patients — don’t want to be left holding the financial bag, so insurance remains centered.
The U.S. political system is centered around maintaining a binary party system. It is supposed to ensure that every person has a vote and representation based on those votes, but individual votes get subsumed in an electoral system that is designed to divvy up regions to maintain party control.
Many systems are explicitly designed to favor — or oppress — certain people. The judicial system, the penal system, and most financial (banking, taxing) systems are centered around maintaining wealth and power. They primarily benefit white people, and people with generational wealth or power.
Some systems seem to defy nature, logic, and morality. Everyone knows they aren’t effective or efficient. In healthcare, for example, both the people running the system and the people being moved through it are not happy.
Yet, they persist. Why?
Many human and business systems were created to serve the interests of the people who created them (but don’t work in them). The people in power. They want to keep it that way.
How to Change a Business System from the Outside
I used to work in healthcare administration as an efficiency expert.
My job was to examine systems and see if they were working well and how they could be improved. I had to consider how the system was enacted by employees and the impact on patients.
Oftentimes, the staff wanted to do something that was easier for them but made a worse experience for the patient. I might notice it would be more efficient and cost-saving for the company, but at what cost? If we had to handle multiple complaints, or lost customers the overall savings wasn’t worth it.
My intimacy with systems means I am the customer from hell : )
I ask myself if the people I encounter in a system are part of the problem or just pawns in the process. Then I ask them. If they know they are pawns, I ask them to stop playing a part in something oppressive and do better. If they aren’t, I let them know what it’s like for me.
I have gone into many systems as a customer and said, “This is inefficient for you and it's also miserable for me. What can we do to fix it?”
Sometimes my suggestion is met with interest. I’m encouraged to talk to a manager or file a complaint. My heart drops when the response is, “There’s nothing I can do about it. It’s always been this way.” I know that person’s soul has been sucked right out of them. They don’t even want a way out anymore.
Become a vocal customer especially if you’re paying for that system (which you are as a taxpayer in government systems or as a customer in a private business).
Human Systems Don’t Change Themselves
Human and business systems can be changed; I know that because I used to change systems all the time.
You can change a system from the inside. Are you participating in a system that harms people? If you work in a place that uses systems that benefit some people over others or aren’t designed with the customer in mind at all, here’s how you can make changes:
- Start by being mindful about how you are participating in a system that may be harming others. Check in with yourself and your co-workers to see if others agree with you.
- Ask where the problem in a system arose. Was the system designed that way intentionally (to increase profit, disregard some groups of people, or cover liability) or were the designers unaware of its impact?
- Apologize to every customer for the problems the system is causing. Let them know you want to make changes and encourage them to file complaints.
- Don’t do what you are told to do if it doesn’t make any sense. Yes, you could get fired. You could also get promoted. Who knows?
- Remember that systems were created by people and they can be changed by people. Bring this up in staff meetings and ask for support to make changes.
I offer this information to raise your awareness of the human and business systems in your life.
You are part of a system. When one thing in a system changes, the entire system shifts. So when you make a change — which you can do! — you are creating systemic change. Go for it!
We can all create systems that work for us, and that work for everyone else in our communities so that we can have calm nervous systems. We can save time and money in our personal lives, and know what to expect to create more calm.
We have the power to influence positive change.
I hope this helps you live a more happy, fulfilled, and peaceful life.
***
If you’d like help creating new systems in your personal or business life — or want coaching in how to improve systems where you work — schedule a free call to see how I can support you.
