The wisdom of practicing appropriate scepticism, advocacy and agency when dealing with human-designed systems and processes
We are all subject to numerous “human designed” systems and processes. Health care. Banking. Food safety. Immigration. The school system. Policing. We simply cannot function – as individuals or as a society – without trusting these systems.
Which is essentially about trusting the people who designed and oversee the systems. Trusting their competence. Trusting their integrity. Trusting their intentions. That holds true in many cases. Thank goodness.
However, there are also numerous instances where trust in the system is absolutely not warranted, where our trust in the systems and processes around us leave us deeply disappointed, or even devastated. If you take even a moment, you will likely come up with instances where a system or process you trusted let you – or someone close to you – down. Reading about the experiences of people caught in the US immigration crackdowns brings this very forcefully to the fore. It is heart breaking to read interviews of people who did all the system asked of them now suddenly being caught up in a nightmare. We trusted the system, they say with bewilderment.
The big opaque system infiltrating our world today is AI – the subject of fierce debates by experts as to its capabilities and even more important, the extent to which it can be trusted. Digging into this debate is miles beyond the scope of what I am trying to do here. However, the questions raised about AI, plus some of other stories about systems and processes letting us down, has prompted me to reflect in general about the wisdom of questioning and challenging human-designed systems and processes, instead of trusting them naively.
Quite simply, there are times when we need to question and challenge the system, instead of trusting it. What might this involve?
It all starts again with paying attention. We need to pay attention so that we can notice and become aware of “signals” that there might be issues with the way these systems are functioning. Are they fully trustworthy? Or are we dealing with a specific situation that does not work with the process, as designed?Systems and processes have a hard time dealing with “unusual”, outside the norm, cases. And sometimes there are “bad faith” moves (or plain incompetence) on the part of those managing the systems.
I have navigated many systems, on several continents, on behalf of several people. And because of my work, I have seen up close how systems and processes can let people down. And I am only too aware of how tricky this can be. We need to balance trust and assuming good faith – and we need to discern when this is no longer warranted.
When we have a strong sense that something is not working – for ourselves, our child, our city – it is not OK to simply “trust the system”. This is when we need to be more sceptical, ask critical questions, advocate as needed, and take action, if necessary. Sometimes the phrase “trust the process” might even be used “against us in an attempt to keep us quiet, to have us step back.
Knowing when to challenge a human designed process, and when to trust it, is not simple. However, it is important to trust our sense when something feels “off”, and then to move to a more sceptical stance, asking some critical questions. If we then truly listen, notice what emerges and question what it all means, then we will be able to discern if it is indeed appropriate to trust or not to trust the process in this instance. And sometimes, we may even decide that it is necessary to challenge and redesign the entire process.
Some questions to ask yourself when dealing with niggles about human-designed systems and processes:
Do I have good reason to trust this process?
What am I noticing/experiencing that should make me question the process?
Might I be I taking the easy way out, or taking false comfort from trusting the process, even when there are red flags?
Where might I be I lacking courage to question and challenge a process I am being asked to trust?
Am I being intimidated by being told “to trust the process ‘ – which feels like code for “do not rock the boat”?
Instead of questioning and challenging, am I moving into blaming and complaining about a system/process that is giving me signals that it is not trustworthy?
Might it serve me better to be more sceptical, critical, curious, and to advocate more overtly for what’s needed in a specific instance?
NOTE: Sometimes, of course, questioning and challenging a system and process requires a collective response. However, even in those cases a precursor for action requires individuals to step back and question the process.]
Image: (Un)entangling
Acrylic on watercolor paper
24 by 18 inches