“Systems thinking is a discipline for seeing wholes. It is a framework for seeing interrelationships rather than things, for seeing ‘patterns of change’ rather than ‘static snapshots.” ~ Peter Senge
We use the term systems often in our everyday spoken and written language: the public school system, a computer system, the body’s nervous system, the solar system, etc. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a system is a regular interacting or interdependent group of items forming a unified whole. The Open University suggests that a system is an assembly of components connected in an organized way - a set of things interconnected for a purpose.
Systems are made up of subsystems and these subsystems perform in order to support the entire system. As leaders, you and your team are a subsystem. As you think through the way your entity is organized you can begin to identify the subsystems that contribute and combine to create the whole system.

So why is system awareness and systems thinking so important for leaders today? As you begin to make the connections between people, teams and units in your organization to begin to gain understanding of your many subsystems and how they affect one another - this is a leaders beginning level understanding of systems at work. Leaders apply systems thinking to uncover unintended consequences of actions taken and to co-create sustainable solutions for their organization.
Recently I was honored to give a talk on the topic of Intention and Impact. It was about the nexus of Upstream Thinking, Systems Thinking and Design Thinking. As leaders when we identify a problem or a challenge that needs to be addressed it is important not to stay in ‘react, react, react’ mode. Instead we go upstream to look at causes and contributors. Those causes are embedded in our systems. Once we’ve gone upstream and begun the work of identifying where in the system it needs to be addressed - then we’re tasked to deploy design thinking to begin iterative loops of empathy, definition, ideation, prototyping and testing. The work of design thinking is important enough - I’ll address it in another blog post.
What are the key elements and components that constitute systems and subsystems in your organization? How do they interact with each other? Where are you solving/reacting and not getting upstream and looking at systems?
“Addiction is finding a quick and dirty solution to the symptom of the problem, which prevents or distracts one from the harder and longer-term task of solving the real problem.”
~ Donella H. Meadows
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