Organisations as Living Ecosystems
When we walk into an organisation, we often see structures: buildings, teams, hierarchies, budgets, and dashboards. But the real power? It lives in the spaces between these things.
Organisations aren’t machines. They’re living, breathing ecosystems. And like any ecosystem, they’re shaped not just by the visible elements, but by the invisible forces that flow beneath the surface: culture, relationships, values, narratives, and power dynamics.
It’s not just strategy that shapes outcomes - it’s systems
At DISCO, we often say: “Strategy sets direction. Culture sets the pace.” That’s because even the most well-crafted strategy will falter if it bumps up against a culture that resists it. You can redesign processes, install new tech, or realign roles - but if the values, narratives and unspoken norms of your system are out of sync, change won’t stick.
This is what system scientists and leadership theorists call "hidden complexity": the adaptive, emotional, and relational dimensions of organisations that are hard to measure, yet shape everything.
Think of:
A brilliant transformation roadmap that stalls because teams don’t trust their leaders.
A DE&I initiative that looks good on paper but fails to shift the lived experience of marginalised employees.
An agile restructure that actually entrenches old power dynamics rather than unlocking collaboration.
These aren’t execution problems - they’re system coherence problems.
Culture is more than vibes - it’s the soil your people grow in
Culture isn’t just about how it feels to work somewhere. It’s a pattern of shared behaviours, stories, assumptions, and what gets rewarded or ignored. It’s a living medium that determines what can grow and what withers.
For example, leaders navigating tightly interconnected systems and entrenched social structures highlighted how difficult it is to drive adaptive change without first addressing culture and values alignment.
As organisational ecologists, we know that culture is shaped by leadership behaviour, but also by systems of recognition, conflict, belonging, and feedback. You can’t shift one part without the others responding. That’s why alignment isn’t about control - it’s about coherence.
Relationships are the connective tissue
In complex systems, relationships are the infrastructure.
Trust, respect, psychological safety, informal influence - these shape more decisions than any formal reporting line. When relationships are weak or under stress, even the most well-resourced initiatives collapse under the weight of mistrust and misunderstanding.
Relational intelligence - that DISCO calls a flourishing skill - isn’t a soft skill. It’s a strategic advantage.
Narratives run deeper than data
The stories we tell ourselves about our work, our role, and our purpose become self-fulfilling. Narratives about who belongs, who succeeds, and what matters most hold organisations in place even more than policies do.
Shifting organisational narrative requires careful unlearning. It means naming and examining the default mental models we operate under - often inherited, rarely questioned. As Otto Scharmer says in Theory U, “You cannot transform the behaviour of a system unless you transform the quality of awareness of the people in it.”
Power is not a dirty word - but it must be named
Power exists in every system - formal and informal, structural and relational. Ignoring power dynamics doesn't make them go away; it makes them invisible, unchallengeable, and often toxic.
To redesign organisations for flourishing, we need power-literate leadership: leaders who can see power, share it, and shift it when it’s hoarded in ways that hinder trust, equity, or innovation.
This doesn’t mean flattening every hierarchy - it means making power visible, responsible, and aligned to purpose.
So what can leaders and practitioners do?
Here are five provocations to work with:
Map the invisible. Use systems tools like causal loop mapping, storytelling circles, or organisational constellations to surface the hidden patterns that shape behaviour.
Design for coherence, not just control. Alignment isn’t about everyone doing the same thing - it’s about shared direction, mutual accountability, and cultural integrity.
Get fluent in narrative. Treat stories as data. What myths and metaphors dominate your organisation? Who gets to tell the story of success?
Invest in relationships. Build psychological safety, curiosity, and trust before asking teams to take risks together.
Name power with courage. Who holds it? Who needs more of it? How is it being used? Make it a design conversation, not a taboo.
Final word: the new work is human work.
In the face of growing complexity, the work of leaders and practitioners is no longer just about planning and delivery. It’s about tending to ecosystems - cultivating the conditions where people and purpose can flourish, together.
To quote Robert Kegan:
“In over our heads is exactly where growth begins.”
So let’s start there.