IX. Summary of Systems Thinking and Learning

Systems thinking offers us a better way of expressing ourselves, understanding the world, and living our personal and professional lives than do the old analytic and mechanistic thinking modes. The systems perspective gives us a better view on our “radar scope” and thus a more effective method of thought, communication, problem solving, and action. Without it, today’s thinking and problem solving become the source of tomorrow’s problems.

THE NEW LANGUAGE OF SYSTEMS

People and organizations need to do more than just use systems tools; they need to adopt systems terminology and systems-oriented questions into their everyday vocabulary. These help clarify and simplify “solution seeking,” bringing into solutions a more holistic light.

To get you started, here is a review of some of the key terms, principles, and questions of systems thinking.

1. A-B-C-D model or framework. Specifically:

A. Output

B. Feedback

C. Input

D. Throughput

—Within E. The Environment

By using this framework, we simplify and better manage the chaos and confusion that confronts us. We have more of a chance to see the forest and the trees.

2. Question: What entity (system or “collision of systems”) are we dealing with? This is the preliminary systems question.

3. Basic phase-associated questions:

A. Where do we want to be?

B. How will we know we have reached it?

C. Where are we now?

D. How do we get from here to our desired place?

And E. The ongoing question throughout all phases: What is changing in the environment that we need to consider?

4. Means and ends

5. Multiple goal seeking

6. Strategic consistency and operational flexibility

7. “Backwards thinking.” Begin with the end in mind.

8. Principle: The whole is primary, the parts secondary.

9. Synthesis as a new way of thinking, as opposed to the analytic thinking.

10. Principle: In the environment, living systems interact in a hierarchy.

11. Feedback stimulates learning and change; it is “the breakfast of champions.”

12. Negative entropy or positive energy. This is continuously needed in a system; feedback is essential for managing it.

13. Relationships and fit are key. Processes are important—are not separate events.

14. Multiple causes and effects

•  Causes and effects are circular, not linear.

•  They are not necessarily related in a direct, immediate way.

15. Simplistic, quick fixes do not work!

16. Systems concept: Seven levels of living systems. In this book, we have been primarily concerned with four levels:

3.  Individual

4.  Group/Team

5.  Organization

6.  Society/Community

17. KISS method—reduces complexity, rigidity, bureaucracy, and total systems failure.

18. General Systems Theory—Work closely with the material in this guidebook until you have a firm understanding of these terms, principles, and questions, and can use them comfortably.

THE BENEFITS OF SYSTEMS THINKING AND LEARNING

Systems thinking has a number of far-reaching benefits, providing us with:

1. An overall framework for making sense out of life’s complexities and its many systems. This framework allows us to detect patterns and relationships between systems, and between systems and their levels, leading to better problem solving.

2. A way to learn new things more easily. Its basic rules are simple and consistent—they stay the same from system to system.

3. A better approach for integrating new ideas within the systems context.

4. A clearer way to see and understand what is going on in any organization or any system and its environment. Complex problems become easier to understand, as do the interrelationships of parts and multiple cause-and-effect cycles.

5. A new and better way to create strategies, problemsolve, and find leverage points—keeping the outcome/vision/goal in mind at all times.

6. The key questions of systems thinking and an A-B-C-D template with which to correctly begin any diagnostic or discovery work—problem solving and solution seeking.

7. A way to engage teams and people in a deeper thought process, analysis, and definition of root causes, thus leading to longer-lasting results. It enables groups to generate multiple choices and different solutions, rather than just quick-fix answers, when working with difficult problems.

8. A method for getting at the deeper structure and relationship of process issues—things that are missed by the “quick-fix” mentality.

9. A challenge to the inaccurate assumptions and mental models that guide our thinking, acting, and problem solving. When such factors hold us back, it usually means new, broader, longer-lasting solutions do not get identified and implemented and that creative possibilities are overlooked.

10. A view of the dynamic interactions and relationships of a system’s elements and the collision of the system with other systems; we thus make better decisions, with a clearer understanding of the consequences.

11. A better framework for diagramming, mapping, diagnosing, and analyzing any system—department, unit, organization, or otherwise. It improves our problem solving and decision making for that system.

12. A way to manage the complex Systems Age by focusing on the whole, its components, and the interrelationships of the components, rather than by focusing on supposedly isolated and independent parts and problems.

13. A common framework and model for thinking and communicating, so people can work together better to make positive change in any system and achieve the desired outcomes.

THE KEYS TO SUCCESS IN THE SYSTEMS AGE

What keys do we need to successfully let go of old ways and grab hold of newer, more effective ways? They lie in us becoming “paradigm pioneers,” to borrow a term from Joel Barker. To fully embrace the Systems Age, and to fully integrate our systems tools, each of us must be willing to do the following:

•  Go beyond our own borders and rules

•  Break the rules of past success, not wait until they’re broken

•  Develop new reading habits: suspend our judgment

•  Be ready for failure, not avoid it: from failure springs the seeds of future success

•  Actively listen to other, rather than prepare our response to them; therefore listen, listen, listen!

When all is said and done, we will successfully integrate systems solutions to our systems problems only when we make the transition from unconscious to conscious systems applications, terminology, and language.

Organizations need systems thinking and its integrative approach to problem solving. Thinking across boundaries, or integrative systems thinking, is the ultimate entrepreneurial act. Call it business creativity. Call it holistic thinking. To see problems and opportunities integratively is to see them as wholes related to larger wholes, rather than as discrete bits assigned to distinct, separate categories that never influence or touch one another. Research has associated this way of thinking with higher levels of organizational innovation, personal creativity, and even longer life. Clearly we, as individuals, need systems thinking too.

When we look at resolving today’s problems in order to grow and thrive in a brand-new age, we must always remind ourselves that how we approach issues and how we think about them are just as crucial as what actions we take. One thing is certain: if we continue to engage an analytic, linear, reductionistic approach, the resulting entropy and degradation will eventually grind our systems to a halt—and not just organizational systems but also the many systems in the organizational environment. The keys to the Systems Age are thus vital necessities on a widespread scale.

CONCLUSION

Many systems tools and aids are presented in this book. However, we must remember they are all based on four fundamental systems concepts:

1. The Seven Levels of Living (Open) Systems

2. The Laws of Natural Systems: Standard Systems Dynamics

3. The A-B-C-D Systems Model

4. Changing Systems: The Natural Cycles of Life and Change

We can use these four simple concepts to ensure we’re staying on a systems-thinking track and moving from chaos and complexity to elegant simplicity. They and the 12 key systems questions are the beauty of systems thinking. We can use them as a quick start and reality check as well as a focus for our synergistic solution-seeking and visioning. If we remember to consistently pose systems questions first, and if we always remember that every system is an indivisible whole, we will be well on our way to discovering the secrets of the lost art of systems thinking and learning.