The Two Kinds Of Purpose In Social Systems.
The Two Kinds Of Purpose In Social Systems.
What is purpose? One dictionary defines it as why something exists, is done, made, or used. Is that the real world? I don't think so.
A stated purpose may have been why a system is created, but its achievement down the road could be something else entirely. Jay Forrester, the father of system dynamics, showed that social systems are complex, and their behavior is often counterintuitive.
Consider today's student loan programs. They began in the 1970s intending to help all students attend college. This program would be good for students and the nation.
But that is not what happened. Students live under all kinds of circumstances and have unique needs. Some lacked the resources to finish school, even with the loans. The value of a degree changed. Most were young and didn't have the experience and judgment they needed. Stuff happens over and over with things that none of us control. Worse yet, the government changed the rules several times. Stafford Beer created the systems thinking heuristic that applies here: "The purpose of a system is what it does."
The purpose of the student loan programs appears to be driving many students into debt and helping the bottom line of financial institutions. The details are more complicated, but the point is that the intended purpose is not the actual purpose. This reality is always present in social systems to some degree because they are always inherently uncertain.
Curandi's approach is to break up the purpose. The long-term goal may be complete self-sufficiency for all clients, but that can be a long way off for a family living on the street. However, if we move in small steps, we keep our intended purpose and actual purpose close.
For example, a provider like Church at the Park (CATP) might be the center of a collaborative effort to move one family one step up. This purpose is achievable in the immediate context. CATP coordinates ancillary services, helping them to achieve their specific outcome. With that step achieved, another organization in the community will take responsibility for the next increment. This transition uses the Curandi shared care plan approach.
At each step, the goals adjust to what is achievable in the current context. Measures are taken, results documented, and a longitudinal client care record remains. If we need to alter course, we track our ability to make the next small step in that direction.
In this model, we always work where we are. We use community health worker-based multi-disciplinary care teams to broaden the expertise and resources at the point of care for each step. While we want to achieve total self-sufficiency, in the setting of social complexity, that is too far away to plan. It is like predicting the weather for July Fourth next year. Things will change.
The college loan program exemplifies Peter Senge's "Today's problems come from yesterday's solutions." What if, instead of a business opportunity, we considered it an investment in our children's future that would pay off for the nation?
In that case, the government might have invested directly in the future of its people by using funds to make college more affordable. Education could follow a similar incremental path to graduation, where each step advanced the student toward their intended outcome. We challenge each student with rigorous academic standards. This model's goals stretch the student toward the intended outcome: education.
The Curandi model takes advantage of the complexity and adaptability at the core of social systems. We do that by taking small steps appropriate to the current context of the client. In that way, we never lose track of where we and the client are. This focus is what needs to be achieved next. Focus makes it possible to measure the results directly and learn more about social systems and "what works." Most importantly, through this model, Curandi and those collaborating with us never lose track of our purpose.