In the rush to solve, fix, or move forward, leaders often overlook the very things that might help them do just that.
Patterns. Pains. Problems.
We tend to experience these as frustrations – evidence that something’s not working, or someone’s not changing fast enough. They’re often seen as signals to escalate or intervene.
And yet – if you pause long enough to look again – they also offer clues.
Clues to what’s unfolding.
Clues to what matters.
Clues to what might come next.
When a familiar issue persists despite changes in people, structure, or strategy — it’s rarely personal.
It’s a sign the system is repeating itself.
Patterns are how systems speak.
And systems don’t tend to lie.
They faithfully produce the outcomes they’re designed for – even if no one intended it.
A team keeps circling back to the same stuck spot.
A leader consistently avoids one kind of conversation.
A project repeatedly slows at a familiar stage.
Noticing the pattern gives you a choice. It invites inquiry:
– What’s the system reinforcing here?
– What are we unconsciously rewarding or protecting?
Once you see the pattern, you’re no longer just reacting to individuals. You’re working with something deeper.
That’s how change begins.
Pain is often the earliest signal of emergence.
It shows up as tension, resistance, confusion or fatigue.
Not necessarily loud – but persistent.
A whisper that something’s out of alignment.
Like emotion in the human system, pain has a purpose. It forces attention. It pushes for choice. Relationships are systems too.nWhich means their patterns, pains, and problems are just as telling – and just as valuable – if you choose to engage.
In many teams, pain gets buried in polite conversations or masked as “just how it is around here”.
In others, it erupts as conflict – misdirected and misunderstood.
Yet pain often marks the growing edge – the stretch between current capacity and future possibility.
What if you stopped trying to remove pain – and started listening to it instead?
In my experience, pain often points to where learning wants to happen next.
It’s not a distraction from the work – it is the work.
Too often we define a problem by its most visible symptom.
A performance issue. A disengaged team. A delayed initiative.
But emergence asks something more of you.
It invites you to expand the frame – to consider:
– What’s really trying to be resolved here?
– What assumptions are being surfaced?
– What possibilities are being born?
In complexity, problems are rarely solved once and for all – they’re navigated.
And how you choose to meet them matters.
Sometimes the smartest move isn’t to solve the problem – it’s to understand what the problem is trying to solve.
What’s emerging in your leadership right now?
Where are the patterns nudging for attention?
What pain might be pointing to growth?
What problem might be offering a deeper possibility?
Leaders who get good at seeing these things don’t just fix the system – they shift it.
That’s the work of emergence.
It starts with the choice to notice what’s already speaking.
Matt helps leaders and teams develop their mindset and resourcefulness so they can relate productively, communicate effectively, and navigate challenge, change and complexity with confidence.
Through coaching and training, he empowers leaders with better choices and more options for progress - building better leadership from the inside out.
Curious what that could look like for you or your organisation? Let’s talk.