What is Holistic Management?
Holistic Management (HM) is a framework for making economically, socially, and environmentally sound decisions that serve a future vision (context) of a whole entity such as an individual, a family or business.
Why is this important?
Because ‘more often than not we make decisions to fill an immediate need or desire at the long-term expense of factors that we fail to consider.’(1) Holistic Management shifts the focus beyond the short term to a ‘conscious awareness of the life that we want to lead and the life-supporting environment and behaviours that help to ensure it.’(2) This is a proactive vs. reactive orientation where the decisions we make serve a broader life context that is based on our deepest values. We consider the whole and think “big picture” instead of making decisions in isolation.
The concept of wholes forms the leading insight in Holistic Management: ‘individual parts do not exist in nature, only wholes, and these form and shape each other.’ (3) As most of us have heard, a whole is always greater than the sum of its parts – parts working together and in relationship to one another give the whole unique characteristics not present in the parts themselves. Therefore, if we do not seek to understand the whole, our decisions may have many unintended consequences.
This insight is vital to management because most of the things we manage are dynamic in nature and do not operate in isolation of each other. This holistic worldview prepares us for and gives us a framework for dealing with the complexity that exists inside the whole* we are managing.
*A whole in this context is simply something we manage (something we make decisions on behalf of): ourselves, a family, a farm, or a business of any kind. All these things are comprised of a multitude of living organisms that are in dynamic relationships to one another and their environments around them (see Defining the Whole, below).
History of Holistic Management
The HM framework was developed by Allan Savory, a Zimbabwean born ecologist, author, educator, and statesman who has dedicated his life to ecosystem regeneration. More specifically Allan is a leading figure in the restoration and management of grasslands, which represent one third of the Earth’s surface and are the frontlines of the global desertification crisis.
Working as a ranger for the Zimbabwean Game Department and later as a consultant to ranchers in the USA, Allan witnessed widespread degradation of once bountiful and fertile landscapes (in particular grasslands). In Africa, popular scapegoats included overpopulation; poverty; lack of education, capital, and technology; collective ownership of the land; government corruption; poor farming methods; lack of agricultural extension services; and overstocking.
Across the Atlantic in West Texas, a similar desertification phenomenon was also taking place, although none of the above factors were present. These areas were sparsely populated; most ranchers had money, technology, access to education, owned their land, were well funded by government and stocking rates had certainly decreased over time (since buffalo and other wild game roamed the plains).
With no obvious causation, Allan came to the realisation that the only common thread was human management. In both cases, decisions had been made that were leading to rapid landscape decline. It wasn’t resources (or lack of resources) that was the issue, but how they were managed. It wasn’t the use of livestock or fire, these were merely tools, it was how they were being used that was the problem. As Brian Wehlburg likes to say, “a hammer can be used to build a house or destroy one – the hammer does not decide this, we do.”
How resources and tools are used are simply products of our decision making and more often than not, our decisions are reductionist in nature – that is ‘we “reduce” the full web of social, cultural, environmental and economic complexity that is inescapable in our lives, to meeting needs, desires or addressing problems.’ (4) These [reductionist] decisions are often reactionary, made to satisfy short term outcomes (ie. to get a quick fix) without accounting for longer term impacts that our decisions might have. Simply put, we do not account for complexity.
Managing Complexity
This issue of complexity goes right to the core of Holistic Management, so much so that Savory believes that “our inability to manage complexity is the greatest danger faced by humanity today.” (5) Human separation from our environment has made complexity a foreign concept and these days most of us are taught to think in a very linear fashion. Since the scientific and industrial revolutions our siloed view of the world has intensified to the point where we tend to think of ecosystems as machine-like structures that can be controlled and bent to human will. Industrial systems require uniformity for economies of scale which doesn’t work because the ecologies that our economies are built on are living, self-organising, unpredictable and constantly changing.
When we examine areas of progress vs decline of human endeavour we see that there might be some truth to this.(6)
We can see here that our areas of progress come with technological advances which are complicated rather than complex. While complicated problems can be hard to solve they can be addressed piece by piece (7) and permanently solved with fixed processes such as checklists or manuals (think of a car in a mechanic’s workshop).
These same processes, designed to address perfectly predictable pathways, do not hold up when we attempt to manage things that are complex in nature like people, families, businesses and the environment. We don't realise it but most of the things we manage are complex because they contain a living/human element. These systems are open, unpredictable and always evolving. These are the problems we must learn to dance with instead of simply assuming control.(8) The below table compares characteristics of complicated and complex systems.
Addressing Complexity with Context
To manage complexity more effectively we must acknowledge the whole and accept that its complex and dynamic nature will not respond to mechanical nor authoritarian management.
Defining the Whole
The first step in helping us to manage complexity is to define the whole (under management). This may seem paradoxical given a whole has no boundaries but for practical purposes, there is ‘a minimum whole at which point holistic management becomes possible’.(9) A whole can be an individual, a family, a community organisation, a farm, a National Park, a corporation OR anything with the following elements:
Decision makers. The people that are involved in the management of the whole and making decisions. This should include people making all types of decisions, from the top-level strategy decisions down to the most mundane everyday decisions. In a bakery, for example, this would be: the owner, the baker and the salespeople. This should also include anyone with the power to veto decisions made, like a silent partner, an investor or maybe a parent or family member.
Resource base. Includes physical and human resources:
Physical resources such as property, vehicle, land and machinery. These do not have to be owned, merely available to you.
Human resources. People who will or can be influenced by management decisions but DO NOT have the power to veto them. People that are impacted by and inform our decisions such as customers, suppliers, advisors, family members, neighbours and so on.
Money. The money on hand or that can be generated from the whole under management. Ultimately any whole that operates in today’s world will need money to achieve its stated purpose and therefore we need to simply take note of money available to us (cash, bank loan, family etc) and money that can be generated from physical resources. Stating this upfront is important because most of us need financial security in order to be happy and have the quality of life that we want. Too often the money subject is taboo or left for only one person to manage which creates tension and problems in the long run unless we have transparency with our finances amongst the other decision makers.
Defining the whole in this way creates a strong foundation for inclusivity, collaboration and creativity in the decision making process where the values of all decision makers can be accounted for. This fosters an environment where everyone can feel heard, supported and empowered.
The Holistic Context
The decision makers will then move onto creating the Holistic Context. The first part is quality of life statements: stating how we want our lives to be. The second part is listing the forms of production (how we are going to achieve this) and finally, we state how we need our resource base to be in order to support the quality of life that we want.
Our quality of life statements voice how we want to feel and are an expression of our deepest values. These ARE NOT quantifiable goals, ‘we do not strive to achieve our context but operate inside its ever evolving form.’(10) This is very important because our context will evolve, it is not “set and forget” but a living document based on our feelings. Feelings are always changing and this process creates a space where we can become better at monitoring and expressing them. We learn how to check in with ourselves, to be open, to be adaptive and welcome change and ultimately, to make decisions that move us towards the quality of life that we want.
One of the most powerful things about this exercise is the realisation of shared values. As creatures of mother earth, we all share common values. We value love, support, community, openness and honesty. We want to feel safe and secure, to feel challenged and to have purpose. These are common values that constitute happy and healthy lives.
Below we have an example holistic context for an individual starting with quality of life statements.
I have a surplus of financial resources and a reliable income stream that gives me a sense of security, freedom and purpose.
I value human connection. I maintain meaningful relationships based on love, respect, openness and honesty.
I am part of an open-minded and diverse community that makes me feel heard, included and supported.
I feel calm and positive in the face of change and I am highly adaptable. I make informed that give me a sense of confidence.
I am forever a student. I share my learnings to encourage greater guardianship of our beautiful planet.
I am increasingly connected with my inner self to feel still, balanced, energised, and focused.
I live a healthy and active lifestyle. I appreciate the value of rest and repair. I know when to slow down and to just be.
Our forms of production simply state what we need to do (produce) in order to achieve the quality of life that we want. We keep this high level and avoid details on exactly how something is to be achieved, this is something that would need further consideration and testing against your context.
I allocate time for financial planning. I know what I have and how much I need.
I make an effort to connect with and support those I care about. I communicate clearly. I show affection. I am inclusive and I say yes without overthinking.
I am active participant in community groups and organisations. I respect all opinions and I show interest in community matters.
I anticipate and welcome change. I am constantly probing, I try new things and monitor feedback. I give myself time to make sound decisions.
I have time to read and write. I have a growing network of regenerative practitioners to learn from. I am curious and I ask questions.
I maintain a regular stillness practice. I bask in the beauty of the life around me. I take time to reflect on the things I do. I celebrate myself and my relationships.
I source local and ethically grown produce. I appreciate the full flavours of nutrient-dense foods and I save room for dessert. I listen to my body and give myself ample time for rest and recovery.
To have and sustain the quality of life that we want then we must create and maintain a resource base that is conducive to this. Our resources are made up of two vital elements: people and the environment. From a people perspective, we state how our people (ie family, tribe, community) need to be to support our quality of life. Because we are social beings who thrive in diverse communities where we feel safe and included, most of us would say we need our people to be open, loving, supportive etc. The power in this is that it all comes back to us, we need to embody these traits if we expect to receive them and so, in many ways, these become subtle cues for self-work and improvement.
Moving to our environment we state how our environment must be. Here we may include our home and work environments as well as the environment around us like our gardens, wildlife, rivers, beaches, and all those that are important to us. If you’re a swimmer, you might include the beach and the ocean. You wouldn’t be happy if you turned up to the beach to find it trashed and the water polluted and so you may say: “The beach is free from rubbish and the ocean is clear and beautiful.” The intention to keep our environment a certain way gives us skin in the game and is a bestowal of responsibility.
As people I/we must be: Open and honest, available and generous with time, show that we care (small gestures, reaching out, showing affection); helpful, accepting and approachable, be present and listen, clear and reliable, punctual
Our community must be: Open minded, progressive, diverse, creative, accepting of different thought and opinion, inclusive, safe, welcoming, challenging, evolving
Our infrastructure (Home/sheds/yards/office) must be: Comfortable, safe, organised, clean, bright, welcoming, inspiring, motivating
Our environment must be: Diverse, resilient, productive, stable, self-sustaining, improving above and below the ground, peaceful, calming, alive, abundant
The real beauty of describing our future resource base is the key realisation that our health and happiness are inextricably linked to that to our environment. The health of our environment unpins our quality of life and is the basis of all life: past, present and future. There can be no economy without ecology. Everything we have comes from the resources gifted to us by Mother Earth and no one person or industry is exempt from this. To quote Savory, “you can read these words only because sun shone on the leaves of a plant somewhere, and the leaves converted that sunlight energy into food and oxygen.” (11)
From Reductionism to Holism
To have all the things we need in life whilst stewarding healthy and productive environments for future generations is entirely possible. It all comes down to the way we see the world (our paradigms) and the way we make decisions. In the current extractive paradigm we have the tendency to favour short term, singular outcomes at the expense of a whole host of other factors we fail to consider. Most notably this can be seen in the prevailing “enterprise at all costs” mentality: the relentless drive towards some warped idea of progress that now threatens our very existence.
Our reason for doing this is extremely perplexing. As Brian Wehlburg would say ‘no one jumps out of bed in the morning and says “I’m going to go and destroy my environment today”’ yet everyday we make decisions to the detriment of our environment. In the same vein we make decisions that are not supportive to our health, we choose to increase stress, to bottle our emotions, and to remain on the treadmill because that’s the way we know how.
Many of us are constantly moving without really thinking about where we are going. Rarely do we stop and ask ourselves, what do we really want? What is really important to us? What are our values and are we acting in accordance with them?
Suffice to say there is an obvious lack of context (and vision) in our cultures. We have become such short term creatures, climbing all over each other, restlessly reaching for some misguided idea of success. This ideaology is so strong that we’ve cast aside our core human values and forgotten our place beside our fellow beings.
Clearly, these are very complex cultural issues but Holistic Management provides a framework that can unlock the power of thinking holistically, that is putting ourselves in context to and in connection with everything else. Our decisions become a reflection of a deepest values and we realise these core values (to feel loved, included, supported, and secure; to have purpose, community and freedom) are values common to all. These are the foundation of an abundant and thriving earth that we can create when we work together.
References
Allan Savory with Jody Butterfield, Holistic Management, Third Edition: A Commonsense Revolution to Restore Our Environment (Washington, DC: Island Press, 2016) p.79.
Allan Savory with Jody Butterfield, Holistic Management, Third Edition, p.79.
Allan Savory with Jody Butterfield, Holistic Management, Third Edition, p.25.
Dan Palmer, “Allan Savory on Permaculture and Holistic Management”, Making Permaculture Stronger, July 25, 2020, https://makingpermaculturestronger.net/permaculture-holistic-management/
Palmer, “Allan Savory on Permaculture and Holistic Management”.
Allan Savory with Jody Butterfield, Holistic Management, Third Edition, p.23, Table 3-1
Sonia Blignaut, “7 Differences between complex and complicated”, Medium, August 19, 2019, https://sonjablignaut.medium.com/7-differences-between-complex-and-complicated-fa44e0844606
Blignaut, “7 Differences between complex and complicated”.
Allan Savory with Jody Butterfield, Holistic Management, Third Edition, p.72
Allan Savory with Jody Butterfield, Holistic Management, Third Edition, p.80
Allan Savory with Jody Butterfield, Holistic Management, Third Edition, p.98