Learning from Covid-19, Vaccinations and Complex Issues

Unless Leaders have the Courage to Learn, there is Little Hope for the Future

Looking back two years after the start of Covid-19, all that transpired and continues to unfold, it is time to learn from the experience. The American philosopher and educational reformer John Dewey is quoted as saying: “We do not learn from experience; we learn from reflecting on experience.” This is a professional facilitator’s mantra. Writing out loud about this topic risks a blast of differing opinions but the alternative is untenable.

The level of fear and polarization is unsustainable from a health and economic point of view.

More issues like Covid-19 will pop up. Decision makers at every level might as well be better prepared to handle them. What can we learn from the decisions and dynamics initiated by the sudden interruption to life at work and home?

The reaction to Covid-19 is characterized by decision-making that failed to recognize the complexity of the issue. Positions were not loosely held but leaned toward becoming more rigidly fixed as time went on, rather than adapting to new information as it arose.

It was as if reality was to conform to the kind of thinking being applied. But that’s not how complex issues work.

Linear decision-making is easy. You focus on the symptoms and expect predictable results using cause and effect logic (if this…. then…