First, a little perspective for those who find little value in theories or concepts. It is true that systems thinking is a concept, but concepts have real value. Concepts are what separate humans from animals. Language is a concept. Numbers are a concept. We have no way “seeing” the number 12,432 other than its conceptual form. The characters that make up that number are simply a “place holder” for us to use, then we draw upon the concept of numbers to quantify exactly how many 12,432 is. The same is true of language. When I write, or say the word “home” you know exactly what that is. Over and above that, you have connotations and memories that are related to the concept of “home”.
This is also true of systems thinking. It is a shared concept that allows us to more accurately convey ideas and thoughts. This is important because it allows us to overcome what is referred to by social psychologists Reuben Baron and Steven Misovich as the “shareability constraint”. This relates to our inability to convey complex ideas and perceptions of events and experiences. When we experience something it has color and sound and smell and all of our senses are deluged with information. In order to share this experience, we must “cook it down” to a shared language and pass it along via spoken or written word. Then the person to whom you have conveyed this experience must reconstruct, in their mind, what you have described. Much of the detail and nuance is lost. By developing a more complex and detailed “systemic language” and using a shared concept as a framework, information can be shared in a way that allows for much more detail and context to “jump past” this constraint.
Ok, now that we have taken care of the “nay sayers” let’s discuss systems thinking. “Systems thinking”, as it is defined by Peter Senge in his book “The Fifth Discipline”, is a conceptual framework, a body of knowledge and tools, which has been developed to help businesses see patterns and underlying connections between events more clearly. In short, this is the discipline of seeing the bigger picture (p. 7). This is a very academic way of explaining systems thinking, so let’s take a little different perspective.
It is in our nature as humans to think in a “linear” manner. Cause and effect are” king”. We view the world in a very “mechanistic” way. Our “machine age” mentality causes us to deconstruct situations and find “the problem”. Then we can simply reconstruct the process, with the problem removed, and things will work just fine – right? An example of this would be a technician who diagnoses your car as having a bad water pump. The technician takes the “bad part” out, replaces it with a “good part”, puts the car back together and away you go. The problem is that in the “real world” we cannot perform “surgery” on complex situations. One action does not result in one consequence, but rather many.
How do we manage and deal with these multiple actions and reactions? How do we plan for the reactions we don’t expect? How can an organization put in place a strategy that calls upon all the information available to solve complex, vexing problems? When your customer has developed a negative view of your organization you cannot “remove” that experience from their memory. It must become part of the plan. In this way, a company’s planning is constant, and ever-changing.
This is where the importance of systems thinking comes “into play”. Think of it as a “real time’ view of your organization. A ‘dash board” of sorts that allows you to think quickly, act quickly and responsibly, and change faster than your competitors. Who wouldn’t want that kind of advantage?
Archetype sales solutions can help your organization develop and deploy strategies and tactics that take advantage of the systems thinking methodology as well as incorporating many of the principles of highly effective organizations. This is just the start of your journey.