Principles of Emergent Strategy

“In the study and practice of emergent strategy, there are core principles that have emerged and that guide me in learning and using this idea and method in the world. I gather them here with the expectation that they will grow.

Small is good, small is all. (The large is a reflection of the small.)

Change is constant. (Be like water).

There is always enough time for the right work.

There is a conversation in the room that only these people at this moment can have. Find it.

Never a failure, always a lesson.

Trust the People. (If you trust the people, they become trustworthy).

Move at the speed of trust. Focus on critical connections more than critical mass—build the resilience by building the relationships.

Less prep, more presence.

What you pay attention to grows

Tools for Emergent Strategy Facilitation:

““If you do not trust the people, they will become untrustworthy.”

—Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

All of the following tools are either explicitly tools for emergent strategy, or can be adapted to work with the elements of emergent strategy.

There are four universal tools—Trust the People, Principles, Protocols, and Consensus—that just feel foundational. After that, I have grouped most of these tools by emergent strategy element, but feel free to liberate them and use them in any way that works for you!

Cooperation – whether it is between a team of workers driving an engine, a board of directors planning a new line or many individual savers providing capital to the business – requires trust. Successful collective action requires that you believe what others tell you and that you can expect others to do what they say they will do. Trust begins in personal relations; humans are strongly predisposed to trust family members and to form friendship

groups.

It’s message, as noted, is that trust-building is a game played largely on the ground. It’s who listens, listens again, is genuinely welcoming, and collaboratively gives people the help they need to succeed in a setting. It’s who’s wise. This is the heart of the matter. And anybody— that is, everybody— can do it.