First, we should begin by defining a system. A system is a set of parts that interact and affect each other, thereby creating a larger whole of a complex thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let’s start with a simple example from nature: the Earth. Our planet is a very complex system consisting of atmosphere, water, mountains, plains, jungles, plants, insects, animals, humans, and our technological wonders, just to name a few. A scientist may look at many interactions of these parts in researching climate change. General patterns may be found in these interactions that may help explain the system and find solutions to the problems by changing the patterns of interaction between the parts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, let’s apply the idea of a system to business. We’ll start small and work our way up. A business is a system consisting of many parts: employees, management, capital, equipment, and products, among others. Your business and your competitors comprise a system, which we may call an industry. Different industries – along with consumers, governments, and non-governmental organizations – make up our economic system. It can get even more complex, but we’ll stop here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Systems Thinking Framework<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The systems thinking framework below shows 3 inter-linked phases of any large-scale social change effort through a systems lens:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Applying Systems Thinking<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The iceberg model, is a structured way of observing and understanding systems and helps us think through complex problems and have the following benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A systems perspective is an effective means for helping leaders gain an understanding of the underlying structures, thinking and beliefs that shapes their organisations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The first thing to notice about the \u201cIceberg Model\u201d as illustrated above is that approximately two-thirds of an iceberg is under water, as the captain of the Titanic quickly discovered! The majority of the iceberg remains hidden from observation, beneath the water. This is true of the systems we interact with on a daily basis, much of the structure and thinking that produces their results remains hidden underwater.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The key to navigating and changing systems, is to see and understand the whole system. Not just that which can be easily observed, the events. Walking through the various layers of the iceberg following are some of the observations,<\/p>\n\n\n\n As we move down the iceberg we gain a deeper understanding of a system and at the same time gain increased leverage for intervening and changing the system and it\u2019s results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Using the iceberg model to guide us, we can ask probing questions, moving from the level of events down through the pyramid to the mental model level, as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ask questions to understand belief systems and assumptions: \u2018What is your understanding?\u2019 \u2018What are our beliefs about this?\u2019 \u2018What assumptions are we making and why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Various tools applied by leaders for developing systems thinking are,<\/p>\n\n\n\n Interconnectedness<\/strong> – Systems thinking requires a shift in mindset, away from linear to circular. The fundamental principle of this shift is that everything is interconnected. We talk about interconnectedness not in a spiritual way, but in a biological sciences way. Everything needs something else, often a complex array of other things, to survive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Inanimate objects are also reliant on other things: a chair needs a tree to grow to provide its wood, and a cell phone needs electricity distribution to power it. So, when we say \u2018everything is interconnected\u2019 from a systems thinking perspective, we are defining a fundamental principle of life. From this, we can shift the way we see the world, from a linear, structured \u201cmechanical worldview\u2019 to a dynamic, chaotic, interconnected array of relationships and feedback loops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A systems thinker uses this mindset to untangle and work within the complexity of life on Earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Synthesis<\/strong> – In general, synthesis refers to the combining of two or more things to create something new. When it comes to systems thinking, the goal is synthesis, as opposed to analysis, which is the dissection of complexity into manageable components. Analysis fits into the mechanical and reductionist worldview, where the world is broken down into parts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But all systems are dynamic and often complex; thus, we need a more holistic approach to understanding phenomena. Synthesis is about understanding the whole and the parts at the same time, along with the relationships and the connections that make up the dynamics of the whole. Essentially, synthesis is the ability to see interconnectedness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Emergence <\/strong>– From a systems perspective, we know that larger things emerge from smaller parts: emergence is the natural outcome of things coming together. In the most abstract sense, emergence describes the universal concept of how life emerges from individual biological elements in diverse and unique ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Emergence is the outcome of the synergies of the parts; it is about non-linearity and self-organization and we often use the term \u2018emergence\u2019 to describe the outcome of things interacting together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A simple example of emergence is a snowflake. It forms out of environmental factors and biological elements. When the temperature is right, freezing water particles form in beautiful fractal patterns around a single molecule of matter, such as a speck of pollution, a spore, or even dead skin cells.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Feedback Loops<\/strong> – Since everything is interconnected, there are constant feedback loops and flows between elements of a system. We can observe, understand, and intervene in feedback loops once we understand their type and dynamics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The two main types of feedback loops are reinforcing and balancing. What can be confusing is a reinforcing feedback loop is not usually a good thing. This happens when elements in a system reinforce more of the same, such as population growth or algae growing exponentially in a pond. In reinforcing loops, an abundance of one element can continually refine itself, which often leads to it taking over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A balancing feedback loop, however, is where elements within the system balance things out. Nature basically got this down to a tee with the predator\/prey situation\u200a\u2014\u200abut if you take out too much of one animal from an ecosystem, the next thing you know, you have a population explosion of another, which is the other type of feedback\u200a\u2014\u200areinforcing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Causality<\/strong> – Causality as a concept in systems thinking is really about being able to decipher the way things influence each other in a system. Understanding causality leads to a deeper perspective on agency, feedback loops, connections and relationships, which are all fundamental parts of systems mapping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Systems Mapping<\/strong> – Systems mapping is one of the key tools of the systems thinker. There are many ways to map, from analog cluster mapping to complex digital feedback analysis. However, the fundamental principles and practices of systems mapping are universal. Identify and map the elements of \u2018things\u2019 within a system to understand how they interconnect, relate and act in a complex system, and from here, unique insights and discoveries can be used to develop interventions, shifts, or policy decisions that will dramatically change the system in the most effective way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" System thinking is a method of critical thinking by which you analyze the relationships between the system’s parts in order to understand a situation for better decision-making. In simpler terms, you look at a lot of the trees, other plants and critters living around the trees, the weather, and how all these parts fit together…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103043","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.vskills.in\/lms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Question.jpg\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nDeveloping Systems Thinking<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n