PORT TOWNSEND — People in an organization or a community are like parts in a machine which function together and lose their effectiveness if one part collapses.
That’s the example given to a Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce audience Monday.
“Any group of people is like a system,” said organization development consultant Gerald Swanson, who keynoted the chamber’s weekly membership luncheon.
“Any system is about the connection of its parts, and if one part ceases to function the whole system no longer operates.
“If you want to understand a system, you need to define how the individual parts function and interact.”
As applied to business or personal interaction, the change discussed has to do with decisive action or a tangible change in position.
Swanson’s demonstration was given at the simplest level and would be at home in an elementary school: He asked for 10 volunteers and had them join hands and circle around a table.
Swanson, a retired Boeing engineer, said he used to conduct the same workshop at that company, but the doors had to be closed and locked with no photographers present before a group of Boeing employees would consent to hold hands.
There was no such reticence from chamber members, and some people in the room regretted not joining.
The exercise included turning around, raising hands in the air and stretching the size and shape of the circle to show how one action can change the entire group dynamic.
“You can make the circle larger and twist yourself around but after a while you will return yourself to the most comfortable position,” he said.
“This reflects the tendency to ward off change, like how people initially resisted the idea of the roundabouts on Upper Sims Way — we used to be able to turn left on some streets but now we have to go around.”
Swanson said that if people participate in a decision to change, they are more likely to not offer any resistance.
“If everyone who wants to change helps to create and design the change, they will be much more likely to support its implementation,” he said.
“The least effective changes are manager-imposed where people aren’t given a choice, as it goes against human nature to be imposed upon.”
Swanson used the dynamics of the circle to demonstrate human interaction.
He asked one person to get as close as she could to a person on the other side of the circle, and the action changed the circle’s shape.
He instructed the group to raise its hands to the ceiling, then provided a footstool for the shortest person to stand on, which changed the hierarchy of height.
When one person left the circle to take a phone call, he recruited another volunteer, which changed the circle’s composition.
“Whenever considering how to work on an issue, you should have a focus on connectedness and determine who else may be affected by or contribute to the issue,” he said.
“There’s a foot ferry, so you obviously will look for someone with a place where it can dock, but the less obvious people that will be connected are transit systems and other people in the community.”
These important connections may be taken in small steps, such as the Port Townsend Film Festival hosting regular movie showings in Quilcene, which connects the two communities.
“Whenever you create new connections, you don’t always know what the impact will be but it is generally positive,” he said.
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.