The answers may lie at home….

As the summer holidays are upon us and those of us who are managing family activities, attending to aged parents, working, running a business and so on, I couldn’t help thinking about a recent event I attended November last year hosted by Jennifer Garvey Burger and Keith Johnson on their work around Complexity Theory and keeping it simple. Jennifer posed a question to the group of what complexity meant to us? My thoughts on this are whilst complexity and leadership are the ‘new’ construct that leaders are grappling with, could the ‘answers’ to some of those insights be closer to home? Any parent (and it is still largely woman) who are raising families today are juggling and managing multiple personalities within a wide age range – toddlers to teens, and not forgetting the ‘CEO’ executive aged parent.

The skill-set involved in having to cater for and hold major conferences at meal-times every day where the rules of engagement are unpredictable is a challenge. Ensuring that each family (team) member are given the opportunity to have a say and that their views are valued, are not without its inherent tensions.

That their growth and well being are given the highest priority within your means. Also not forgetting to allow the offspring opportunities to unleash their creativity in their own rooms, and if the space is shared this is made even more complex.

Finally when the primary caregiver feels they’ve got it sussed and everybody is happy, then they could finally attend to their own (developmental) needs. Or maybe not, because the family system in all its variable constructs is a heaving and breathing entity constantly changing and evolving – strong families (corporations) know that and go with it.  I think Jennifer with her tribe of four children knows a thing or two!