Leading Complexity As A Collective Process. A System Approach To Complex Projects

I wrote this article for the International Centre of Complex Project Management (ICCPM), published in the November 2024 edition of Connect magazine. I explore how systems thinking helps manage complex projects where multiple actors must work together to deliver under evolving conditions, pressures and interests.

Complex projects fail when leaders manage parts separately rather than relationships between them. Success requires balancing two fundamental tensions: authority versus autonomy, and integration versus adaptation.

Drawing on Stafford Beer's Viable System Model, this article proposes four essential functions. Authority provides strategic direction and coherence, while Autonomy enables local responsiveness. Integration maintains current performance, while Adaptation prepares for emerging changes.

The challenge isn't developing these functions individually—it's managing how they interact. Too much authority creates fragility; too much autonomy loses coherence. Over-integration resists change; over-adaptation chases irrelevant trends.

Leading complexity isn't about personal brilliance or mystical skills. It's a collective process of creating shared understanding, enabling stakeholders to self-organise around clear roles and negotiated goals. Leadership becomes the emergent property of balanced tensions, not individual command and control.