When the room can't see

I wrote last newsletter about what I learnt speaking to a room of 250 public sector leaders, and I'm continuing some of those insights here.

I asked the room to think about a challenge that had been hard to shift. The interactions around it. The dynamics in the system when people gathered to work on it.

We explored Stephen Porges’ polyvagal theory as a model of how autonomic state shapes our capacity for connection, regulation and adaptive responding: social engagement when we feel calm, curious and grounded; sympathetic hyperarousal when we move into frustration, reactivity or anxiety; and shutdown when people become withdrawn, numb or unable to engage.

The room then explored in small group conversations the behaviours they most noticed in themselves and in the system, and what those patterns might indicate about where they and their stakeholders were in relation to the three zones.

We did a quick sense check – what’s your sense of where the system is at? – with a show of hands across the three zones. Most of the room reflected that they and the system were in hyperarousal, a sympathetic nervous system response.

Why this matters

When the nervous system senses threat, it shifts toward defensive states. In those states, attention narrows and the system becomes less available for social engagement, flexible thinking and creative problem-solving.

We lose access to the periphery. We miss information. It’s more difficult to take in multiple perspectives. The very capacities we need most to navigate complexity become least available to us.

So here's the paradox leaders are sitting in: the harder the challenge, the more activated the system - and the more activated the system, the less we can see.

The holding environment

This doesn’t mean that we shy away from conflictual and tough conversations. Heifetz would say that adaptive work - the kind that actually shifts complex challenges - requires productive disequilibrium. Enough heat for things to shift.

But disequilibrium without a holding environment doesn't enable adaptive work - it produces shutdown, reactivity, or flight from the work altogether.

The nervous system state of those in the room - and especially those in authority – contributes to, or fails to contribute to, that holding environment. When leaders can regulate themselves and offer a non-anxious presence, they help to create the conditions where productive disequilibrium becomes workable.

When the person holding the most authority is also in the danger zone - urgent, pressured, braced for conflict - that can shape the tone of the room. It makes it even harder for people to settle, think and see differently.

I've written before about what it takes to develop that kind of presence - and why inner coherence has become one of the most important leadership capabilities of this moment - here.

What becomes possible

Something shifts when a room finds its way back to settled. The quality of listening changes. The thing that felt like obstruction starts to sound like information.

This is what I'm creating conditions for when I facilitate complex challenges - not consensus, not comfort, but the kind of groundedness where people can think together and see what they couldn't see before.

When the system can see itself more clearly, new possibilities become available. Not because anyone pushed harder. Because there was finally enough space to look.

If your team or organisation is working on something that keeps looping - I'd love to hear what you're navigating.

Warmly, Claire

PS When you're ready, here are some ways we can work together

1:1 Coaching — For leaders who want to develop their capacity to navigate complexity, lead with more presence, and find new possibilities in their most challenging work. We work at the edge of your knowing — where the real shifts happen.

Where the Map Runs Out — Masterclass Series — A new masterclass series for leaders ready to cultivate the capacity to see differently. Together, we'll develop the attunement, perception and practices needed to lead when familiar maps no longer fit the territory.

Complex & Strategic Facilitation — For teams and organisations working on challenges that cut across boundaries and resist simple solutions. I design and facilitate the conversations that help you see more of what's going on, so you can find new ways forward together.

Speaking — For conferences, leadership days, and gatherings of people who care deeply about the challenges we're facing and want to think differently about how to meet them. I speak on leading in complexity, perception shifts, and what it takes to find new possibilities in the polycrisis.