Don't be an agent of chaos!

Everyone in our family has heard me say it - "the deepest, darkest corner of Hell is reserved for people who drive slow in the fast lane."  It always seems that whenever I am in a hurry, it's inevitable that I will get trapped behind another driver who is going 5 or 10 mph below the speed limit in the passing lane. Driving slow in the fast lane is considered a cardinal sin (or at least it should be).  These drivers just don't break up the normal flow of traffic, they violate a fundamental law of nature by disrupting the natural order of the universe.

We do not like chaos.  Congested traffic causes chaos (for everyone, not just me!).  If you need proof, just consider the recent events in which the container ship, the Ever Given blocked the flow of traffic through the Suez Canal and in so doing, disrupted the global economy!  

Compare and contrast the situation in the Suez Canal or the traffic jam that often results when someone is driving slowly in the passing lane with the incredible beauty, order, and symmetry of a flock of starlings in flight (see a beautiful video here).  It's called murmuration, and it's absolutely fascinating to observe.  It's incredible that starlings are able to generate order out of chaos in this manner.  What's even more amazing is the fact that scientists can artificially produce a similar phenomenon in a computer simulation with just three simple rules (see the video of Craig Reynold's "boids" algorithm here and here):

1. Separation - steer to avoid crowding local boids and other objects

2. Alignment - steer towards the average heading of local boids

3. Cohesion - steer to move towards the average position of local boids

It's pretty amazing to watch.  Scientists have studied the flocking behavior of a number of animal species, including starlings.  We can observe similar phenomena with schools of fish.  It's been worked out mathematically (see "Effective leadership and decision-making in animal groups on the move"), and similar processes have even been observed in humans in the laboratory setting (see "Consensus decision making in human crowds").  We are, in fact, part of the animal kingdom.  So, whether our ability to move through crowds or in crowds is our innate "animal senses" or some other as yet unrecognized pattern of human behavior, the fact remains that we can create order out of chaos, in ways very similar to the murmuration behavior of starlings.

Now there is one last thing that annoys me (and it probably annoys you too).  Have you ever walked down the side of the street only to narrowly escape walking into another person who is texting on his or her cell phone?  Which brings me to my last scientific study.  Hisashi Murakami, a professor at the Kyoto Institute of Technology recently published the results of a series of outdoor experiments performed on the campus of Tokyo University, in which he and his colleagues filmed two groups of students walking down a narrow path about 30 feet long (see "Mutual anticipation can contribute to self-organization in human crowds").  The two groups walked towards each other at a normal walking pace.  Murakami and his colleagues noted that the groups of students effortlessly and spontaneously formed separate channels through the traffic.  In the follow-up experiments, three of the students were instructed to perform a simple task on their cell phone.  The result?  Complete chaos!  Just this small number of distracted walkers completely slowed down the flow of traffic and disrupted the organized patterns with which the students effortlessly moved through traffic.  Veronique Greenwood, writing for The New York Times, called these students "agents of chaos".

The simple lesson here is "Don't be an agent of chaos."  Never drive slower than the normal flow of traffic in the passing lane and don't ever walk down the street with your face buried in your cell phone!  But what's the real lesson here?  There is a natural, spontaneous order to the universe demonstrated by flocks of starlings, schools of fish, and humans walking in crowds.  The same can be said for organizations.  We frequently find that organizations can create order out of chaos, and similar to the aforementioned boids, leaders can help facilitate this natural, spontaneous order with just a few simple rules.  

First, top-down mandates rarely, if ever, create this natural order.  On the contrary, top-down mandates frequently create chaos.  Second, leaders frequently try to create order within the organization by changing or adding more rules.  Again, the studies above suggest that order can be created with just a few simple rules.  Too many rules leads to chaos.  Third, and perhaps most important, cohesion and alignment are critically important.  Leaders can help foster alignment by creating a shared vision, and they help facilitate cohesion by making sure that everyone on the team understands and buys into that vision.