As I spend more time at our farm, I’ve been wondering how to apply what I witness in nature to what I understand about leadership. We’ve been taught that leadership means steering the ship, setting direction and taking control.

But in living systems, control is rarely the mechanism for change.

Conditions are.

In nature, a seed becomes a tree not because it’s instructed to—but because the soil is rich, the temperature is right, and the water arrives when it’s needed. Life unfolds when the conditions allow it. I think this is also true for leadership.

I don’t get the sense the modern workplace has worked this out yet though. It still clings to the idea that leaders must predict, plan, and push outcomes into existence. That if something isn’t working, we must apply pressure. Tighten the process. Add more reporting. Introduce another layer of oversight.

But what if we’re solving the wrong problem?

We could take a different view. We could see the leader not as the one in control, but as the one attuned to what’s needed. The one who can sense misalignment, stagnation, or resistance—and instead of reacting with force, respond with care. ← what a disruptive concept.

Like a gardener, the leader tends to the conditions. They ask:

• What’s getting in the way of growth here?
• Where is there too much pressure, and where is there too little support?
• What needs to be let go, so something else can emerge?

This shift from control to conditions is subtle, but radical.

It moves us from managing people to understanding ecosystems. From holding power tightly to distributing it wisely. From reacting to problems to designing for possibility.

So how I hear your brain synapses twang… and I say it begins with presence.

You can’t tend to what you can’t feel. So the first task of the leader is notice what they are feeling, and these questions give you a sense of what I mean by ‘feeling’:

What’s really going on here?

What’s trying to happen?

What’s asking to be supported?

This kind of leadership requires a deeper sensitivity. It asks us to be in relationship with our teams, our systems, and ourselves—not as resources to be managed, but as living dynamics to be understood.

It’s not always fast. It doesn’t offer guarantees. But it creates something far more powerful than compliance: it creates coherence.

Because when the right conditions are in place, people don’t need to be pushed. They move. They create. They collaborate. Not because they were told to—but because it feels safe, meaningful, and alive.

Living systems don’t need micromanagement. They need tending.

And so do we. Why? Because we ARE living systems.

So next time you find yourself trying to force a result, pause. Step back. Look around. Ask yourself:

Is this a control problem?

Or a conditions one?

Who is Melis Senova?

I am a coach and advisor to design leaders, C-level executives and leaders in government. My work in This Human is dedicated to the next generation of designers and leaders.

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