In James Thompsonās classic 1967 book, Organizations in Action, he shows that reciprocal interdependence is most demanding. Thatās when people, teams, silos, and such must constantly adjust back and forth in response to one another as the work unfolds. Football (aka soccer) is a great example. Players constantly change what they do in response to passes and shots from teammates and competitorsāwho, in turn, constantly adjust to othersā passes and shots.
Related Quotes
In a complex situation, when you want to empower the entire organization to be able to act without direction from the top, having a shared view of what the purpose is and how each participant fits into it is absolutely critical. It is only with a basis of a shared understanding of what weāre all trying to achieve here that distributed action is possible.
As Chip and Nancy put it, for people afflicted with component focus, āwholes are not the āsum of their parts,ā they are a function of one part.ā The deeper a personās expertise, the worse this narrow focus gets. Chip and Nancy show how āthe curse of knowledgeā accentuates the coordination troubles caused by component focus: Experts wrongly assume thatābecause a subject comes so easily to them after learning about it for yearsāwhat they know is obvious and can quickly be grasped by others. Experts unwittingly create coordination snafus by failing to pass along essential information to people in other positions and fields because they assume it is self-evident. Or, when they try to pass information along, experts provide explanations they believe are easy to understand but are incomprehensible to people who arenāt indoctrinated into their circle.
Pooled interdependence is least demanding. Thatās when organizations combine, or āroll up,ā the separate and independent efforts of people or parts.
Interdependence is Iterativeā¦
What I have been studying by being hyper-aware inside my life is how much being interdependent is a series of small repetitive motions. Here are some of the things I have had to do repeatedly towards interdependence:
- Be seen.
Initially with defensiveness (I am not like you say I am) even/especially in the face of experts (I have diagnosed myself, I know what is wrong with me).
And then, perhaps, without agency. Being seen is actually non-negotiable, though I can hide, or I can determine my level of grace and relationship in it. On so many levels, interdependence requires being seen, as much as possible, as your true self.
Meaning that your capacity and need are transparent.
Meaning even when I donāt want to look in the mirror, I am (and I choose to be) open to the attention of others. Sometimes I start with my woes, those with whom I am coevolving through friendship. I show something Iāve been hiding, and hope Iām still lovable. This generally goes better than could be expected, every single time.
Life is, by nature, highly interdependent. To try to achieve maximum effectiveness through independence is like trying to play tennis with a golf clubāthe tool is not suited to the reality. Interdependence is a far more mature, more advanced concept. If I am physically interdependent, I am self-reliant and capable, but I also realize that you and I working together can accomplish far more than, even at my best, I could accomplish alone. If I am emotionally interdependent, I derive a great sense of worth within myself, but I also recognize the need for love, for giving, and for receiving love from others. If I am intellectually interdependent, I realize that I need the best thinking of other people to join with my own.