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2 years ago, I bought my first biodiesel car. I wanted a bumper sticker that conveyed one of my big reasons for buying it, but I was unable to find anything. I’m a bit of a graphic design snob, so I decided to make it myself:

I had “Biodiesel: No War Required” made at Cafe Press, which allows you to make something for yourself, and then it’s public so others can buy it as well. I posted the link in one place, and that has led to the sale of over 450 bumper stickers to people in 33 states, and even one to Great Brittian. And the spread of the bumper sticker and slogan more widely than I ever expected.

The web is quite an amazing medium for taking a small voice and making it much louder without much effort. I just wanted a cool sticker for a cause I believe in!

For more, see In the Middle, and Power and Systems

• The System
• Power in the System
• Middle Integration
• So, why don’t Middles Integrate?
• Strategies and Tactics for Empowering Yourself in the Middle

The System

For Oshry, a viable system (organization) is able to cope with problems that come up, and continually prospect for new opportunities. He has come to identify three core conditions of the system:

Tops

• Are owners, executives
• Have overall responsibility for a system or piece of a system, is the creator or custodian of the systems rules and institutions, and has control over distribution of the systems resources.
• Exist in a complicating space. Difficult problems that can’t be solved in the system work their way up to be solved at the top.

Workers

• Are front-line producers
• Feel constrained by the system rules and institutions made by others and have no control over the distribution resources they desire.
• Exist in a threatening space. They have no control over the structures around them, and are often on the receiving end of decisions that affect their lives.

Middles

• Are managers
• Are caught up between the Tops and the Workers. They are pushed and pulled by the often opposing perspectives, priorities, and demands of those they serve or manage. They feel separated from their peers, and often feel isolated and harassed.
• Exist in a diffusing space. They are pulled away from their peers in the system and pulled toward those they service or manage.

Power in the System

Oshry defines system power as the ability to influence system survivability, enhancing the system’s ability to cope and prospect.

Tops, Middles, and Workers have potential power in the system, though this power potential is different for each condition:

Tops

• Are in the best position to manage the system’s overall form, to sense the system’s environment, what it is now and how it is changing.
• Their potential power is in shaping the system to help it better cope with problems and prospect for new opportunities.

Workers

• Are in the best position to understand how work is done via the work processes they are intimately familiar with.
• Their potential power is in influencing the processes by which work is done to enhance the capacity of the system as a whole.

Middles

• Are in the best position to understand how parts of the system relate.
• Their potential power lies in integrating the parts of the system so that the parts enhance rather than compete with each other

Middle Integration

Middles have two functions, one local the other systemic. Locally, they are expected to manage and service specific system units. This can be done individually. Systemically, their function is to integrate the system. This can only be done collectively.

Middles are in the best position to integrate the system—they have direct contact with all the parts of the system, as well as contact with Tops and Workers.

Integration of the middle comes in two phases: diffusing and integrating.

When middles are in the diffusing phase:

• They function independently of each other
• They service/manage their respective parts of the system
• They attempt to influence these parts
• They collect information about these parts

When middles are integrating:

• They meet with one another, excluding all others (even their bosses).
• They share and make use of the intelligence they have gathered in their diffusing phase
• They attempt to influence these parts
• They collect information about these parts

Diffusing and Integrating activities strengthen each other. Because Middles diffuse, they collectively get the whole picture at a very intimate level. This intelligence gathering can be used as a basis for integrating.

When Middles are successfully integrating:

• There is a greater sense of consistency throughout the system
• Parts are coordinated with each other
• Tops, Workers, and other Middles have the information, materials, and directions they need in their work.
• Parts are better able to adjust their performances to the needs of the system as a whole.

Middles who are successfully integrating:

• Feel coordinated and in sync with one another.
• They feel supported by one another
• The feel that the middle group is a significant entity within the system
• Each middle feels more secure and effective in carrying out his/her individual servicing or managing functions
• They feel powerful and independent

So, why don’t Middles Integrate?

Job Definition

Middles are hired and evaluated on specific job duties. They have been defined as managers/servicers of other system units, not as system integrators

Do Tops Want Integrated Middles?

Integrated Middle groups are more difficult to influence that individual Middles. Tops often would rather have a dis-integreated middle that they can easily influence. Also, power in the Middle can often threaten Tops and their perception of their own power in the system.

Do Middles Want Integrated Middle Groups?

Middles often identify more with the groups they are servicing/managing than with other middles. In a diffusing space, it’s common to see an integration effort as one more thing pulling at a middle.

Strategies and Tactics for Empowering Yourself in the Middle

Strategy 1: Don’t slide into the middle of their issues and conflicts and make them your own.

Empower the people with the problems to work them out. Be a mediator. Remember that Tops and Workers would love for you to take ownership of their problems.

Strategy 2: Don’t lose your mind

Don’t lose your individual view for the view of others. Take the input of the Tops and Workers and use it to formulate your own Middle perspective.

Tactic 1: Be a Top when you can, and take the responsibility of being a Top

Know when to act and ask forgiveness rather than getting permission.

Tactic 2: Be a Worker when you should

Don’t be a mindless funnel from the Tops to the Workers. Challenge Tops on what they are asking you to convey to Workers—work it out with them rather than simply passing it on to Workers.

When others bring their problems to Middles, the expect a solution. Let them know you understand their problem, that you empathize with them, and that you aren’t going to solve their problem for them. Help them work through their own problem—empower them.

Use your understanding of the parts of the system to find the right people to solve a problem and get them in a room together. Don’t be an intermediary, but help the right people get together and work it out.

[see above]

It Begins

At 1 AM, April 26th, Beth began having strong contractions. They were about 10 minutes apart, and we started to get ready to go to the hospital. After talking to the OB, we realized it wasn’t the beginning of labor, but probably a reaction to the exam she had at the OB on Monday. Beth, of course, was hungry, so we sat up watching TV and eating cereal. We went back to sleep around 3 AM, expecting the next time to be the real thing.

I stayed home part of the day on the 26th, giving Beth a break from chasing Malcolm around. Her mobility was significantly impaired by Louise’s new resting place–fully engaged with Beth’s pelvis. I can’t imagine what that must feel like, but I picture an ‘81 Caprice Classic with 400 lbs. in the trunk going down a bumpy road. It must be bone jarring with each step.

Beth did well during the day, and we went to bed pretty early in anticipation of another early morning drill. We were not disappointed. At about 2 AM, Beth started having significant contractions. When they got to the point of “digging her fingernails into her forehead”, she woke me up. We timed about 3 contractions, which only took 15 minutes. Realizing this was the real thing, I got my wits about me and started down the punch list:

• Call Dr. Petcoff and get the OK to go to the Northwest Hospital
• Call Uncle Pete and have him come over to be in the house with Malcolm
• Call our doula, Lesley, and let her know to come to the hospital
• Get the bags, camera, toothbrushes, pillow, etc.
• Get Beth out of the house and into the car

Beth’s first labor was 4 hours, so we were expecting this labor to be about 11 minutes long. We were pretty concerned about making it to the hospital, and having the OB get there in time to catch Louise. So, we hustled and drove quickly. But, it didn’t turn out to be one of those "hold the baby in as you walk into the hospital" episodes. We got there in plenty of time.

1st Stage

Our goal was to do a natural childbirth, as we did with Malcolm. If anything went wrong, we were prepared to go with any intervention the doctor suggested, but we hoped that wouldn’t be the case. Penny Simkin, the doyen of natural birth in Seattle and perhaps the country, instilled in us the power of natural childbirth. Even though it is more painful than medicated childbirth, the woman has the power to birth a baby with no medical intervention, and a natural birth can be a very positive experience. That’s what we found with Malcolm. Beth had a real sense of accomplishment–she likened it to when she did RAMROD (a one-day 154 mi bike ride around Mt. Rainier). We hoped we could have another positive experience, and Beth could fell that accomplishment and relief that she felt with Malcolm’s birth.

Once we got to the room, the nurse did the initial exam. The process took a while, with setup, pausing during Beth’s contractions, and paperwork. Beth was 3-4 cm’s dilated. Because her contractions were about 2 minutes apart, there was a lot of waiting for contractions to pass before blood pressure could be tested, IV could be inserted, and data gathered. It was very hard to get the IV in. Part of the problem was that Beth’s contractions were coming every minute or so with about 10 seconds rest. This meant that there was no way to get the needle in between contractions. Beth had a real hard time with contractions when the needle was going into her arm–the distraction caused her to fail to stay ahead of the contraction.

Lesley arrived and stepped right in to help keep Beth on track with her breathing. Beth stayed on top of the contractions from the start. She used deep breathing and head nodding as her rhythm and ritual devices. This allowed her to make it through as the contractions got tougher. Last time, Beth was pretty quiet through the whole birth. This time, she found her voice and made a lot more noise. Moaning and grunting helped her a lot, something she was pretty surprised by. During Malcolm’s birth Beth was pretty quiet. Lesley even asked her if she wanted to make some noise, and Beth said, "no". Making noise felt good this time around, so she was pretty vocal.

It was also hard to get paperwork done as it kept getting interrupted by the rapid progression of labor. At one point the nurse asked me a series of questions about Beth–birthdate, weight, and ended with, "how tall is Beth?" Lesley said 5′7", I was about to say 5′5" when Beth, with her eyes closed and a bit of a moan said 5′5".

When beth hit 4 cm’s, she threw up. It was unpleasant, but expected, since the same thing had happened when she delivered Malcolm. At the time we were hoping she was at 8 cm, not 4, but when the nurse checked her, she was 4. Beth was a bit disappointed, but not too bad.

The fetal heart monitor had to stay on for over an hour because we kept losing the baby’s heart rate as the monitors slipped. This was another small distraction for Beth. As the nurses had to hold it in place as the contractions came. At one point, the nurse was nearly sitting on the floor, holding the monitor in place, as Beth labored standing up and leaning on the bed for support.

Beth went from 4 cm’s dilated to 8 cm’s dilated in about an hour. That’s pretty quick, as far as labors go. She spent part of that hour laboring on a birth ball. The birth ball is really just a physical therapy ball about 50 cm’s in diameter. Physical therapists use them for exercises. Penny Simkin was the first person to bring the ball into the birthing room. Beth tried leaning on the ball, but stopped after 2 contractions because the ball was too big and over inflated. Beth spent a lot of that hour laboring on her side on the bed. Her eyes were closed most of the time. She really didn’t request much of anyone. Leslie was talking to her and giving her a washcloth now and then, but she was really a woman on her own, dealing fabulously with an intense labor. Very rarely did she lose her rhythm, or "get behind" a contraction.

Beth vomited again, a sign that she was at 8 cm’s. Dr. Petcoff asked Beth to go to bathroom now, as a full bladder can get in the baby’s way down the birth canal. Beth resisted, but gave in. As soon as she sat on the toilet, she had the urge to push. Petcoff quickly asked her to come back to the bed saying that if Beth had the baby in the toilet, "that would be hard to live down." Dr. Petcoff’s bedside manor was wonderful. She was very relaxed and calm. When the young nurse asked her if she wanted to check Beth’s cervix again after she felt the urge to push, Dr. Petcoff’s reaction was just a shrug, as if to say, "everything’s fine, no need to go back in there." When Beth started to push, Dr. Petcoff’s main advice was for Beth to, "do whatever you need to do"–a very reassuring thing.

2nd Stage

Once back in the bed after the toilet incident, Beth began laboring on her hands and knees on the bed. She had her arms and head on a very large beanbag that was resting at the head of the bed. It was in this position that she started to push. She didn’t really need any direction during pushing. The only direction I remember was just as Louise was crowing, the doctor asked Beth to pause for 30 seconds to try to limit tearing.

This is when I first saw Louise. Her head came out, facing up. She had some hair (Malcolm had so much hair it showed up on the ultrasound) and was very purple and squashed. At this point the nurse-in-training got very excited–it was her second birth, too. Louise, or I should say Beth, paused a bit with her nose just out in the world. It a strange feeling because she seems like she might suffocate in the tight quarters, but she was doing just fine because, of course, she wasn’t using her lungs yet.

Right after chin came out, her left arm shot out. Her hand had been up at her head as she came down the birth canal–making the whole endeavor harder for Beth. As the hand shot out, the nurse jumped back in surprise. I looked at Dr. Petcoff and she was smiling at the nurses reaction. Everything was going so well, we could take a second to laugh at Louise scaring the nurse!

Louise slid out just before 8 AM, very purple, heavily vernixed, and wieghing in at just over 8 lbs. Beth let out an immediate sigh of relief, and turned over onto her back as Dr. Petcoff cleaned Louise. Within a few seconds, Louise was in Beth’s arms, wrapped in warm blankets.

Then perhaps one of the most anticlimactic events in human existence–the birth of the placenta. Beth was so done with the birth at this point, that the placental birth is like someone showing up at a party after everyone has already gone home. It went smoothly–the placenta has no bones, as Penny says. Dr. Petcoff then examined it to make sure it was intact and showed it Beth. A short physiology lesson ensued, with all of us gathering round the plastic tub. Dr. Petcoff noticed that the umbilacal cord was inserted off-center. She said they usually see that on the ultrasound and let her know, but they must of missed this one. It didn’t cause any problems.

The only thing left was for Beth’s tear to be stitched up. During the birth, Beth had a second degree tear, which is fairly severe. Even with anesthetic, Beth jumped with every stitch and cursed herself for being able to handle the birth so well, and totally lose it with a few stitches. It was over relatively quickly and the birth was finally done. Louise was eating within 15 minutes, and the labor room officially became the recovery room. Louise got a little oxygen and cleaned up some more while Beth was getting stitched up.

Breastfeeding went much more smoothly this time that with Malcolm. Louise seemed to know what to do and only had some minor latching problems. One of the nurses was very helful in getting the first latches going right. Malcolm did some weird clicking with his tongue that was like torture to Beth for the first few days, so Louise seemed like a breeze.

I’d like to thank everyone who made this birth go smoothly. We felt very supported through the whole process, and especially at the birth. The birth experience is so powerful, it’s wonderful when the nurses, doctors, and doulas help to make it a great event. It’s our last one, and was a greata way to bring Louise into our lives!

Now that I have 2 kids, I end up going grocery shopping a lot. I found myself walking into the store with a list that looked something like this:

• cereal
• olive oil
• 1/2 pound ham
• oranges
• pecans
• 4 C batteries
• etc.

While this list accomplishes the task of helping me remember what I need to get, its organization doesn’t match the way I shop. I happen to walk in the door near the produce section, but the list doesn’t start with produce it starts with cereal, which is at the other end of the store. I found that I had to reconcile my list with the layout of the store multiple times during each shopping visit–something that drove me crazy, especially with a long list and no pen to cross items off the list.

A grocery store is laid out spatially, and the most efficient way to shop is to traverse that space and buy your items as you walk past them. It’s most efficient to only pass each area once. With the standard list, I found myself in the produce section going through the whole list and asking, “which of these items are produce?” I would pick up those items, then walk to the butcher section and ask, “which of these items are meat?”

There had to be a better way…

One day it occurred to me to make grocery lists that matched the spatial layout of the store. When I am making a list of things to buy, I start by drawing a rectangle (the rough shape of the store) and as I think of items to buy, I write them on the rectangle, reflecting where they actually are in the store.

In the rare case that I need to buy something and I don’t know it’s location, I write it in the corner of the list and look for it as I’m shopping.

It may seem like a small thing, but now I can quickly glance at the list and start shopping without the mental gymnastics of reconciling two different ways of organizing data–the simple list and the layout of the store. This works so well that my wife has started using the same method, which is nice since I’m often shopping with her lists!

Our friends from Japan sent Louise a tea set for her birthday. Malcolm, not currently tied to strict gender rules, loves it. It’s classic Japanese. Everything is made of wood. The food goes together with velcro and magnets, making it easier to play with. It took Malcolm about 30 seconds to understand the “fake tea” concept, and he was making sipping noises and saying “YUMMMMMY!” while he “drank”!