The “inbetween bits” matters.  The joins in everything make a difference.  Consider where you are right now. The building, the people, the surface your screen is on, the floor you stand on.  The between of all of these things and people are fundamental to how well whole is: the strength, tenacity or endurance can determine the ability to function and thrive. 

Ask any builder or DIYer about flooring and advice, if not tales of woes, will come.  How the expansion of materials wasn’t allowed for and now there is buckling.  How the lack of sealing between tiles led to leaks and now the flooring is uneven. How the wrong underlay was used and has either expanded or eroded and now the surface is bumpy.  What’s in between matters. 

A great colleague, John Atkinson, talks about integrity. Heart of the Art – The Life of Living Systems  And while he does mean our conduct and the relationship to our self in that conduct, he is also referring to the integrity of the structure. How a person holds together, how a person is congruent and our experience of them. 

We will start with things, objects, as it’s easier.  For example, the strengths of a piece of furniture are held in its joints and how they meet and connect together. The connections and relationships of the part of a bridge is another example.  The relationship of the parts matters to strength and the capacity of the bridge to stay up and bear weight.   In some designs, it only takes one poor connection to cause problems.  Erosion of a bolt or single join can put pressure on other parts of the structure, not just that single connection and even cause part or whole collapse.  As we get more knowledge, sophistication, or risk-focused we design in redundancy and more backups in our physical structures.  But do we do this with people’s systems?

The evidence of the last two years of the pandemic would suggest we have not intentionally designed in more “inbetween bits” in our people structures.  In fact, the strengths that have saved some key social structures and services have not been built internationally, and are even now being dismantled by our new working practices because of a lack of understanding that the inbetween bits matter.

In a human network or a living system the relationship between the people determines the capacity of the system and its long term integrity. Our relationships with others determine what we and others will say, do and share.  How well we share information is related to relationships.  How well we make decisions is influenced by what we know and the meaning we make.  That is based on what we have access to and can make sense of, not what information exists or all the possibilities.  This is limited by the breadth and depth of our network of relationships and our ability to make connections as we try to understand.  

Trust is an inbetween bit: it is built-in experiences and associations of the experiences.  And the capacity of social structure to grow and develop is limited by its levels of trust, capacity to make meaning and ability to take action. 

Consider the human body.  Its ability to move is enabled through the relationship of muscles, bones, tendons, fascia and skin.  The intention to move comes from the meaning made from our sensory information by the brain: if we see an obstacle we can sign our legs or arms to move out of the way or around.  The relationships of reciprocity and trust between all the parts of a limb are built over time, through experience.  Remember the baby learning to sit and walk: the endless baby gym exercises and experiments of rolling, push-ups, and wobbly steps are all testing relationships.  These can be adjusted and lost actually very quickly.  If you’ve ever sprained anything you’ll know your body quickly learns to compensate and if the need to continue this new pattern then these relationships of moving differently can be hard to return to the previous state even after your sprain mended. 

Human relationships work like this. Consider the best and worst teams you’ve ever worked in.  The worst carry people who don’t do their roles well, they have secrets and use information as a currency of power and aggression, individual actions overlap on to others work or pull away from the agreed plan and they are not connected to the direction of travel or vision for the work.  Successful teams have good trust, they are clear about information flow, and they know their responsibilities of who does what and communicate about what matters.  

Humans can build immensely complex and sophisticated ways of making meaning and acting collectively in symbiosis, reciprocation and in concert to learn and create.  We achieve extraordinary things.  And we often forget that it was achieved not just by individuals, or a collection of individuals.  But through the interconnected exchange of ideas, information, trust and meaning that created the integrity needed for something to become, to manifest.  The inbetween bits matter.