A Broken System
Waldsterben is a nasty word. It is a German noun that means “death of the forest.” Trees have been dying across swathes of Germany and central Europe since the 1970s. Leaves and needles fall, and the bark drops off, leaving great tracts of tall, dead stumps. It is a dismal sight and has been cited as a reason why Germany is one of the most environmentally conscious countries in the world. The devastation is clear for all to see.
Unhappy foresters blame the climate for their troubles. A slew of environmental changes caused the tragedy, be it the pollution and acid rain of the 1980s or, more recently, global warming, drought, and heat waves. Environmental changes weaken the trees, and so they may also fall prey to infestations of parasitic bark beetles and other pathogens.
Focusing on the Trees
While ecologists agree with the primary causes, they also point at the big forestry companies’ actions. German forests are mainly commercial and artificial. After two world wars, the country was reforested with fast-growing Norwegian spruce planted as a crop to be harvested and used by the construction and timber industries. A natural forest is a diverse mix of plants, animals, birds, insects and microorganisms. By contrast, the farmed German forests are regimented lines of a few tree species planted by the thousand.
This conformity has two weaknesses:
- By putting all their eggs in one basket, the foresters have opened themselves to risk. If conditions are poor for one tree, they are poor for them all. One dead tree quickly becomes thousands.
- The monoculture lacks biodiversity. A natural forest has a web of interactions that stabilises it ecologically. Fungus grows on rotting tree stumps, which pass nutrients to grasses eaten by caterpillars and preyed on by birds… The same birds that eat bark beetles if there is an outbreak.
My interconnected web is simplistic, but you get the idea. By contrast, industrial forests are rural wastelands that succumb easily to environmental changes and disease.
There is a considerable debate in Germany about how best to recreate the lost biodiversity. Foresters are looking for the most economical mix of trees to plant, whilst environmentalists say the best thing to do is leave the dead forests alone, let nature work its magic, and it will rebuild a stable ecosystem.
Look at the Forest, Not the Trees
This post isn’t an ecological rant. (Well, maybe the postscript). It is an observation about systems, businesses and organisations.
There is an old Sufi teaching story:
You think that because you understand one, you also understand two because one and one are two. But you forget that you must also understand “and”.
You might not be able to see them, but the interactions are all important.
The tall, fast-growing spruce looks impressive, but the network and connections make a forest strong, not the individual trees. The same is true in your business. You can hire the “best people”, sheep-dip them in the “organisational narrative”, and dress them in your corporate colours, but you won’t thrive.
Focus on the System
Strength in an organisation comes from the interactions, communication, and cooperation between individuals, the feedback loops and information flows. Not by ensuring everybody thinks and acts the same way, chants the corporate mantra and fits the same mould.
If you want your organisation to flourish, create diversity, not conformity, and manage the interactions, not the individuals. Look after the forest, not the trees.
Postscript
To protect the environment, offset greenhouse gasses (and meet their legal obligations), companies are buying up farmland and planting trees to capture carbon. To maximise the return on investment, these organisations are planting vast monocultures of commercial pine, eucalyptus and teak that will grow tall and fast and can be harvested for timber and sold at a profit.
We are hell-bent on learning the hard way.
If you enjoyed this post, try Managed by Morons
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Image by Felix Mittermeier from Pixabay
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