Anthony Stafford Beer was the pioneer of management cybernetics. He created the theory when he realised that organisations were far too complex for traditional notions of ‘management’ to control.
Instead, you have to look at the effect of changes on the behaviours of people to understand the organisation.
It’s for this reason that, if you want to understand what the purpose of an organisation is, all you have to do is look at its behaviour.
Stafford Beer coined an acronym to help us remember the idea:
POSIWID - The Purpose of a Systems is What it Does.
For example, earlier this year Coca Cola ran an extensive (and expensive) campaign to encourage us to recycle our cans.
"At Coca-Cola, we aim to have a world without waste," said Islam ElDessouky, global vice president of creative strategy and content at Coca-Cola on the ad campaign's launch. "We have a unique opportunity to use our marketing to send a powerful message and bring consumers along our sustainability journey."
That’s admirable as purpose statements go. A world without waste.
But Coca Cola is repeatedly found to be the world’s largest plastic polluter.
The purpose of a system is what it does, and Coca Cola’s purpose is to sell as many products as possible at the least cost, to make the most money.
Schools and Government policymakers aren’t exempt from the same purpose gap.
It is incredibly rare for the purpose and behaviour to be completely matched, particularly when a new Head of School or leadership team comes in with a new broom.
But in Nanjing last week, I saw a perfect POSIWID in action.
Our team has worked with Nanjing International School for over a decade. Its Director has been there for over 15 years.
We worked together on a shared language of learning design.
We co-designed the school strategy. Twice.
We worked out what kind of space was needed by their early years learners and teachers.
We did the same for middle and high schoolers when, together, we reimagined the single story library into a multi-level hub of learning.
But 80% of the people in the school today are different from just five years ago.
Last week, when we opened the latest learning environment, the HUB, the staff would be forgiven for feeling they didn’t have any skin in the game, for feeling this crazy new space was foisted upon them.
But the purpose of the school was aligned perfectly to what we witnessed on the first morning we spent with the faculty and support staff.
They are all about giving students genuine choices in what they learn, how they learn it and, now, where they learn it.
And so the new space fits like a glove.
The purpose of the school is precisely what they do, day in, day out.
What’s the purpose of your school, your company, your Government ministry? And then the hard question: what do you actually do?