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SYSTEMIC THINKING
                   a simple thinking technique for gaining systemic focus

                                         presented by

                                    GARY BARTLETT

                                  at
              THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THINKING
                        “BREAKTHROUGHS 2001”


                                          Final Draft


                   Please contact the author with comments or questions
                       or for a copy of the Systemic Modelling paper
                                     gb@probsolv.com

                                      +64 9 476-2530




www.probsolv.com                Copyright © Probsolv International 2001     Page 1 of 14
SYSTEMIC THINKING
Systemic thinking is a simple thinking technique for gaining systemic insights into complex
situations and problems. It puts the benefits of the systems thinking revolution within the reach of
everyone.

Distinctions
Systemic thinking is different from both systematic thinking and systems thinking.
    Systematic Thinking                  Systems Thinking                        Systemic Thinking
    Thinking methodically.           Thinking about how things              A simple technique for finding
                                     interact with one another.                    systemic focus.

Warning
Much of the content of this paper will be familiar to you. The arrangement of that content probably
won’t be. If you find the content familiar, I recommend you focus on the way it is arranged – it is
easy to get hung up on the slightly different spin and perspective systemic thinking puts on things.
Mind-space

                                                      The diagram on the left will help you create a
    Analytical               Systemic                 mental framework for understanding the
     thinking                thinking                 systemic thinking concept.
                                                      Conventional    thinking          techniques      are
                                                      fundamentally analytical.
                                                      Systemic thinking is different – it combines
    Analytical       Analytical Synthetical
                                                      analytical thinking with synthetical thinking.
     thinking         thinking   thinking
                                                      Analytical thinking changes only very slightly
                                                      when used in conjunction with synthetical
                                                      thinking, so the primary focus of this paper is on
                                                      synthetical thinking, because of our society’s
    Figure 1. Analytical Vs systemic thinking         weakness in this area.

Acknowledgements
The Systemic thinking concept has its primary origins in elements and abstracts of the following
thinking techniques:
• Creativity and lateral thinking: Dr Edward de Bono (generating alternatives, thinking as a skill
    and “mechanism of mind”)
• TOC – The Theory of Constraints: Dr Eliyahu Goldratt (The “3-cloud” method and the single
    constraint)
• TRIZ – The Theory of Inventive Problem Solving: Dr Genrich Altshuller (patterns in problems
    and solutions)
• ST – Systems Thinking: Joseph O’Connor & Ian McDermott et al (system interactions)
• NLP – Neuro-Linguistic Programming: various (mental modelling)

Some illustrations of results achieved with systemic thinking
• Doubled revenues in less than 6 months on lower costs: import/export manufacturer.
• Losses transformed to wins within weeks: junior soccer team.
• Key client threats converted to referrals within weeks: software development company.
• Patient visit duration halved within a month: orthopaedic follow-up clinic.
• Attitude and academic performance turned around within days: primary school student.


www.probsolv.com                  Copyright © Probsolv International 2001                       Page 2 of 14
THE CONCEPT

The fundamental assumption on which the systemic
thinking concept is based, is that everything is systemic.
In other words, everything interacts with (affects and is
affected by) the things around it.
Everything.
If we want different outcomes from a situation, we have
to change the system that underpins the situation in such
a way that it delivers different outputs.
In other words, we have to deal with things systemically.
                                                                       Figure 2. Everything is systemic

We can’t deal with the parts of a situation in isolation; we have to deal with them in concert. We
have to deal with both the elements of a situation and how they interact with one another.
There is nothing new in this – it’s common sense. In the business world, for example, everyone
knows that price, cost, volume, quality and profit are interrelated. Everyone knows that we can’t
change or expect to change one of those elements without impacting on or having to change some
of the others.
We all deal with things systemically all the time. In fact, everything we do is systemic.
A successful solution or strategy indicates that our mental paradigm (the model of the system in
our minds) reflects the situation (real system) well.
A failed solution or strategy indicates that our mental paradigm doesn’t reflect the situation well.
Systemic thinking is as much about troubleshooting our own mental paradigms as it is about
troubleshooting the situations we face.

We need another thinking tool
In spite of our awareness that everything’s systemic, our society’s primary thinking tool is analysis
– taking things apart.
Make no mistake, analysis is a powerful thinking tool – for understanding the parts of a situation.
It’s just not that crash-hot for understanding how those parts work together.

When we break things down into
smaller and smaller components, we
tend to lose sight of the interactions
between them.
It’s a case of “When the only tool you             don’t
have is a hammer, every problem
begins to look like a nail” – and we
                                                 understand
end up with analysis paralysis.
Analysis paralysis is when a vicious
cycle is set up.
Analysis makes the interactions less                 analyse
visible, so insight diminishes, so we
analyse things further – and things go
from bad to worse.                                            Figure 3. Analysis paralysis

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What our society needs is a thinking tool specifically designed for making sense of interactions – a
thinking tool for making sense of how things work together.
That tool is synthesis – seeing how things work together.
Synthesis is more than putting things back together again after you’ve taken them apart: It’s
understanding how things work together.

Analytical thinking enables us to
understand the parts of the situation.                          Analysis                                Synthesis
Synthetical thinking enables us to
understand how they work together.
We need both analysis and
synthesis. Each is of only limited
value without the other – in a
systemic world.
Systemic thinking is nothing more
than a combination of analytical
thinking and synthetical thinking.                                        Figure 4. Analysis and synthesis

Analytical thinking is the easy bit. We’ve been taught to do it from birth.
Synthetical thinking is harder because we haven’t been taught to do it deliberately. We do it
unconsciously all the time, of course – we wouldn’t get very far if we didn’t – because everything is
systemic and needs to be approached systemically.

The reason we haven’t been taught to think synthetically could well be because synthetical thinking
is a lot harder than analytical thinking. Interactions are harder to deal with. Not only are they often
invisible to the naked eye, they’re also dynamic rather than static. They change all the time and
affect each other differently every time they do so.

It’s no wonder we find dealing with interactions – and consequently with entire systems – hard:
how on earth can one get one’s mind around a plethora of interactions that are changing all the
time?

The Fractal Phenomenon: the repeating patterns concept

The key to synthetical thinking – and consequently to
systemic thinking – is the Fractal Phenomenon1: systems
are made up of repeating patterns.
The Fractal Phenomenon is both a commonsensical and a
counter-intuitive concept.
It’s commonsensical because it’s easy to think of
examples of common patterns (like rules of thumb, mental
paradigms and the benefits of experience).
It’s counter-intuitive, because, until you’ve found the
pattern in a particular situation, it doesn’t seem as if there
could possibly be one.
                                                                                        Figure 5. The Fractal Phenomenon




1
    My term, originating from and/or supported by TOC’s 3-Cloud, TRIZ’s limited solution set, ST’s archetypes and Chaos Theory.
www.probsolv.com                              Copyright © Probsolv International 2001                                 Page 4 of 14
Notice how the pattern in Figure 5 is part of a larger version of itself – and made up of smaller
versions of itself. That’s the essence of the Fractal Phenomenon. It’s like systemic DNA.
Thinking is about pattern management. We see patterns in things. We learn how to manage those
patterns – which in itself is a pattern: a management paradigm.
A management paradigm is really a solution pattern for solving a pattern of problems in the
situation we’re managing. The problem is that, before long, the solution has solved all the problems
it can solve and all that’s left are the problems it can’t solve, many of which the solution created
itself.
It’s difficult to change management paradigms – to think outside the box – because we live within
our management paradigm. It is the box within which we think. Systemic thinking enables us to
identify the pattern (draw the box) so that we can think outside of it.

Synthetical thinking
Synthetical thinking is deliberately finding repeating patterns (or common themes) across a system
or situation.
Although analytical thinking enables us to find those repeating patterns and common themes too, it
doesn’t do so directly – or anywhere near as effectively – because analysis is more focused on
identifying differences than similarities.
Because it’s counter-intuitive that there should be a pattern, we seldom make a conscious effort to
find one and so we discover patterns more by serendipity than design.
It seems likely that the brain uses common parts of its neural network to deal with the similarities it
encounters while analysing things – and at some point it dawns on us that there is a pattern.
The implications of us being unaware, consciously, of patterns that we are aware of
subconsciously – or at a neural network level – are interesting, to say the least.
The important thing to realise is that we can train ourselves to think synthetically in a deliberate
way. The primary barrier to overcome is the cognitive dissonance that arises from searching for
something before you know what it looks like – especially when you aren’t even certain it’s there!

The systemic thinking concept
The basic idea in systemic thinking is to list as many different elements as you can think of, then
look for similarities between them.
Conventional analytical thinking is different.
The basic idea in analytical thinking techniques is to list a handful of elements, compare them, rank
them and then select the best one, discarding the rest. This is all very well, unless the rest secure
benefits that the selected option doesn’t.
                                                                  elements




    elements                                                                        Best option
                     Repeating pattern /
                      common theme

     Figure 6. The systemic thinking concept                   Figure 7. The analytical thinking concept

Analytical thinking breaks things down into their component parts; synthetical thinking finds the
patterns across those component parts.
Analysis is about identifying differences; synthesis is about finding similarities.



www.probsolv.com                   Copyright © Probsolv International 2001                       Page 5 of 14
Synthesis needs analysis – how can you find the similarities across different things, if you hadn’t
first listed the different things?
Analysis needs synthesis – understanding how things behave in isolation is pointless. We have to
understand how they behave in concert in order to intervene intelligently.
Analysis, in the context of systemic thinking, is different from analysis outside of that context.
Outside of the systemic thinking context, the tendency is to list only a manageable handful of
elements, in order to reduce the workload. (Remember that analysis breaks things down into their
component parts, so you get more and more things to think about. This creates a tendency to list
only a handful of elements). Within the systemic thinking context, it’s desirable to list as many
different elements as possible, in order to ensure the most representative pattern possible.

Systemic thinking combines analytical
thinking and synthetical thinking.                    Step 1. Analyse             Step 2. Synthesise
The first step is analytical: list as many                     List the                              Find the
elements as you can think of.
                                                              elements                                theme
The second step is synthetical: find the
common theme / repeating pattern
across those elements.                                       Figure 8. The systemic thinking steps

It would be foolish to assert that synthesising doesn’t happen in conventional analytical thinking. Of
course it does! It just happens unconsciously – almost unintentionally – while you’re taking things
apart and putting them together again.
It’s a bit like Dr Edward de Bono’s lateral thinking concept – people had lateral thoughts long
before he discovered, named, defined and promoted the concept.
What Dr de Bono gave us was general awareness and understanding of lateral thinking – and a
way of developing it as a thinking skill. This enabled everyone to consciously and deliberately
generate lateral thoughts, ideas and solutions – virtually on demand.

The purpose of this paper
is to do for systemic                                   Analytical thinking          Systemic thinking
thinking what Dr de Bono
                                                        Analysis   Synthesis        Analysis   Synthesis
did for lateral thinking:
identify and define it to                Deliberate
equip our society to think
systemically and
synthetically in a conscious
and deliberate way instead
of merely in an                          Unconscious

unconscious and accidental
or casual way.                           Figure 9. Moving from analytical thinking to systemic thinking

Another warning
The difference between analytical thinking and systemic thinking might appear clear with the above
diagram in front of you, but experience has shown that the systemic thinking concept has what I
call “a half-life of one sleep”.
It’s true! Test yourself on the systemic thinking concept tomorrow morning – you’ll barely
remember half of it. Test yourself the next day, without revising it, and you’ll be lucky to recall a
quarter of it!
The following comparison will help you to remember the distinction.
www.probsolv.com                    Copyright © Probsolv International 2001                          Page 6 of 14
A comparison of systemic and analytical thinking

                                                                         The key differences between the two thinking
                      systemic thinking                                  techniques are:
         elements
                     List as many                          Find the
                                                                         •    Systemic thinking lists as many elements
                     as possible                            theme
                                                                              as possible (to ensure that the theme is
                                                                              as representative as possible), while
                                                                              analytical thinking lists only a handful of
                      analytical thinking                                     elements (to make the workload
                                                                Select
     elements




                        List a                                   one          manageable).
                       handful
                                                                         •    Systemic thinking finds and focuses on
                                                                              the theme across the elements, while
                                                                              analytical thinking selects and focuses on
                Figure 10. Systemic Vs Analytical thinking
                                                                              the most attractive or promising element.

Key Systemic Patterns
There are many patterns in any situation. Here are two highly significant ones:

The performance-limiting problem2
                                                                              issues
This is the repeating pattern across all of the                                                Performance-limiting
issues we face.                                                                                      problem
Unless we solve this problem, we can’t improve
the situation much – if at all.                                               Figure 11. The performance-limiting problem

Many creative thinkers regard problem solving to be at odds with creativity. While it’s true that
analytical problem solving inhibits true creativity, systemic problem solving is different. It doesn’t
define the problem narrowly, but systemically.
In other words, it helps one define one’s frame of reference (the box, mindset or management
paradigm) clearly, thereby creating a freedom that ignoring that frame of reference can never
create.
Unless you’re able to draw the box, you can have no certainty that you are thinking outside of it. In
fact, it’s unlikely that you can think outside of it.
Once you’ve drawn the box, you can escape it and this is where the second critical pattern
becomes invaluable.

The systemic breakthrough solution
                                                                             opportunities
This is the repeating pattern across all of the                                                 Systemic breakthrough
solutions to the performance-limiting problem.                                                        solution
It solves the performance-limiting problem and
improves end-to-end performance dramatically.                                Figure 12. The systemic breakthrough solution

The systemic breakthrough solution is very different from the symptomatic (“band aid” or “fire-
fighting”) solutions that are typical of the non-systemic approach.
Systemic solutions address the broader system in a profound, self-perpetuating and reinforcing
way.



2
    This concept has its origin in The Theory of Constraints.
www.probsolv.com                                Copyright © Probsolv International 2001                        Page 7 of 14
Case study 13
A public utility had just been privatised and was attracting highly critical media attention because of
the pricing policies it was forced to take to retain revenues in the face of changed legislation.
The repeating pattern (performance-limiting problem) across the issues it faced, was found to be
the difficulty in treating – and being seen to treat – different customer groups fairly.

                                                      For example, low-
                                                      usage customers
                                                      weren’t happy to be
                                         J            subsidising high-usage                                                  L
       $                                              customers by paying a
                                                                                              $
                                                      high service charge,
                                                      while high-usage                            J
           L                                          customers weren’t
                                                      happy to be subsidising
                         usage                        low-usage customers                                       usage
    Figure 13. High service / low usage
                                                      by paying a high
                                                                                           Figure 14. Low service / high usage
                                                      usage rate.

The theme across the potential solutions was to treat (charge) each of the parties involved
differently – based on their usage – and automatically change their “deal” to the most favourable
one for them if those needs changed.

This allows the utility to                                                                        billing period.
divide its customers into
usage categories and charge                                                                       The bill reflects what they
• lower-usage customers a                                                      J                  would have paid if they’d
    lower-fixed charge with a                                         J                           been charged the formula
    higher usage rate and                         $          J                                    applying to the usage
• higher-usage customers                              J                                           category on either side of
                                                                                                  theirs.
    a higher fixed charge with
    a lower usage rate                                                                            This is to prove that they’re
Customers are automatically                                         usage                         getting the fairest deal
                                                                                                  possible – and ensures the
billed according to the usage
                                             Figure 15. The utility pricing solution              perception of fairness.
category they fall into for that


Implications of the systemic problem and systemic solution patterns
Even if they were the only patterns in a challenging situation (they aren’t, of course!) the
implications would be staggering.
The fact that there is a single performance-limiting problem and a single breakthrough solution to it
– and having a simple process for finding them deliberately and predictably – is highly significant.
It’s significant, because it guarantees dramatic improvement in system performance by providing
systemic focus.




3
    This case study focuses on only one facet of the business – the solution concept applies to many other parts of it.
www.probsolv.com                                Copyright © Probsolv International 2001                                   Page 8 of 14
Systemic Focus
First, having a systemic focus point enables one to focus on the element of the situation that will
improve the entire situation the most rather than on the element of the situation that can be
improved the most.
Did you get that? We don’t want to focus on the place that we can improve the most, but on the
place that will improve the entire situation the most.
Second, focus may be everything, but focus on everything is focus on nothing. Defocus is
essential to focus.
In business terms, systemic focus and defocus secures dramatic performance improvement on the
bottom-line. Focus secures a significant increase in revenue, while defocus secures a significant
reduction in cost.
Returns, both on investment and on capital employed, are impacted dramatically as a
consequence of systemic focus/defocus.
Here are some analogies to illustrate the focus/defocus concept:

                     Performance-limiting problem                                  $
                          (The weakest link)
                                                                                      $                  Performance-limiting problem
                                                                                   $ $                         (The bottleneck)

                                                                                    $                  Breakthrough Solution
                Breakthrough Solution
                                                                                                       - FOCUS     widen the bottleneck
                - FOCUS     strengthen the weakest link
                                                                                                       - DEFOCUS stop widening the
                - DEFOCUS stop adding weight to the
                            other links
                                                                                       $                           non-bottlenecks



            Figure 16. The Chain Analogy                                               Figure 17. The Bottleneck Analogy

The tendency, with a non-systemic approach, is to strengthen the links of the chain that we can
strengthen the most – or widen the part of the channel that we can widen the most.
The parts that can be improved the most – or most easily – will never include the weakest link or
bottleneck. Weak links and bottlenecks exist because they were hard to find or fix in the first place.

Implications of the Fractal Phenomenon on systemic focus and defocus

The equivalent of the weakest link in the
chain or the bottleneck, is more than just a                                                                                $ $
department or person.                                                                                                       $ $
                                                                                                                             $
It is a systemic issue and so everyone within
the situation faces a version of it4.                                                                                        $

If, for example, the weakest link in the chain
is communication of benefits, this weakness
will not be restricted to marketing or sales, it                                                                $
                                                                                                                $
                                                                                                                        $   $
                                                                                                                             $
                                                                                                                                     $      $
                                                                                                                                            $
                                                                                                                                                    $


will be evident throughout the organisation –
                                                                                                                        $            $              $
                                                                                                                    $            $              $



and even extend beyond it. Even customers
                                                                                                                    $            $              $




will be unable to express those benefits.
                                                                        Figure 18. Implications of the Fractal Phenomenon

Systemic focus resolves the dilemma between focusing on the detail and focusing on the big
picture, by enabling one to focus very precisely on the same thing everywhere.

4
  In the first case study, for example, the issue of being fair and being seen to be fair – and the solution concept of treating each
interest group as their needs dictate – is applicable across just about every area of the business.
www.probsolv.com                               Copyright © Probsolv International 2001                                                   Page 9 of 14
Case study 2
A developer of customised software dominates the New Zealand market in its field, but was
battling to secure the same results internationally.
Systemic thinking discovered that the company was being held back by its focus on development
speed. This was understandable given the huge demand of the international market.
Although development speed is important, the real performance-limiting problem was establishing
the client’s real need, in terms of functionality.
No two clients use this company’s software in exactly the same way – and clients can’t possibly
specify their requirements without knowing what the software is capable of.
The common theme across the solutions offered was to involve the customer in the continuous
customising of the software before too much time was spent refining things that would later be
discarded.
The systemic breakthrough solution was a simple prototyping technique which we call Explore.
Explore takes three times as long as previous “needs analysis” techniques took, but decimates
development times and, more importantly, enables the “explorer” to establish the real customer
need very accurately – before charging off to “deliver”.
Explore has been trialled in a number of areas of the business (it has yet to be implemented
company-wide), with staggeringly good results, for example:
• A key client in a strategic market changed threats to referrals within a week.
• A product-marketing manager was able to reduce a 3-month backlog to manageable
   proportions within 24 hours – and reverse her personal credibility within the company
   dramatically in the process.
• The product development cycle on a key product was reduced from six months to one month.

                              THE SYSTEMIC THINKING PROCESS

The systemic thinking process is
straightforward:
1. List as many elements as possible.                         1                2             3
                                                            List the        Group into     Find the
2. Group the elements into sub-themes.
                                                          systemic            sub         common
3. Find the central theme – the common                    elements          themes         theme
     theme across the sub-themes.
In a sense, systemic thinking is the reverse
of analytical thinking. Analytical thinking
breaks things apart in stages – systemic
thinking groups things together in stages.                Figure 19. The systemic thinking process

This grouping of things together in stages is the first trick for dealing with the greatest barrier to
systemic thinking – the cognitive dissonance from the conditioned belief that there is no pattern.
A second trick is to realise that the message from your brain saying “there is no theme and it’s
pointless looking for one!” is really nothing more than an indication that your brain hasn’t found the
theme yet.
A third is to develop a library of systemic solutions – they all follow a similar pattern, so once
you’ve seen or developed a few, things get much easier.
Finally, it’s worth noting that progress is better than perfection with systemic thinking. The benefit
of the feedback generated when you trial a solution – conceptually or for real – is inestimable!



www.probsolv.com                  Copyright © Probsolv International 2001                    Page 10 of 14
Case study 3

                                                                           An orthopaedic follow-up clinic was
                                                                           suffering from a 12 year, 14-failed-attempts
                               Waiting Room                                “capacity problem”.
                                                                           Orthopaedic       consultants,     nurses,
                           Reception Desk                                  radiographers (that do x-raying) and
                                                                           patients all complained of excessive wait-
                                                                           times.
                                                                           This repeating theme – wait-times – led us
                                                                           to realise that everyone was waiting for
                                                                           everyone else. Downstream units were
                                                                           waiting for upstream units to “process”
                                                                           patients. Patients were waiting for other
                                                                           patients to be processed5.
              Consulting       X-ray units Plaster beds                    The performance-limiting problem wasn’t
               Rooms                                                       processing speed, as everyone had
                                                                           assumed, but scheduling – because it’s
                                                                           difficult to predict exactly how long a
             Figure 20. Simplified clinic schematic
                                                                           process is going to take6.
The solution had to reduce waiting – not improve processing speed.
The primary themes across the solutions offered were:
• Schedule appointments more rigidly – to stop queue jumping and reduce patient waiting.
• Schedule appointments more flexibly and get patients to arrive early – to reduce the wasting of
   unit time, especially consultants’ time.
The systemic breakthrough solution we developed was simple:
• schedule clinic appointments – not unit appointments.
• process patients at each unit in clinic appointment time order – not unit arrival time order –
   unless a downstream queue is being starved.
In practical terms this involved
• colour coding patient folders – by orthopaedic consultant
• marking clinic appointment time on the patient folder on arrival
• ensuring that patient folders join queues ahead of everyone with a later appointment time
• advancing folders of a particular colour if a downstream queue is running short.
The result? Average patient visit duration is reduced from nearly three hours to less than one hour
and total capacity has improved by more than 20%7 – on the cost of a colour-coded sticker to write
the appointment time on!
As one would expect, given the Fractal Phenomenon, versions of the performance-limiting problem
and the systemic breakthrough concept are applicable elsewhere in orthopaedic healthcare and
healthcare in general, including operating theatre capacity and the national waiting list problem.




5
  For example, if a patient has a long session at plaster, the queue at x-ray has had a long time to grow – and the patient gets a
double penalty. Worse, the long wait at x-ray means that the queue at the consultant has had time to grow too: triple penalty!
6
  Total processing time in a 3-process scenario amounted to only 45 minutes; the rest of the 3-5 hours was spent waiting!
7
  The average amount of consultant time no longer being wasted by waiting for patients held up at other units.
www.probsolv.com                              Copyright © Probsolv International 2001                                   Page 11 of 14
APPLICATION
Systemic thinking can be applied just about anywhere. In any situation in which there are one or
more “less than ideal” options, systemic thinking can be used to gain systemic focus.
It can be applied by global trouble-shooters and young children8.
Systems can always be optimised. They are always made up of repeating patterns. They always
have performance-limiting problems. They always have systemic breakthrough solutions.
Here are some illustrations of the uses of systemic thinking:

1. Systemic modelling

Systemic modelling is using systemic thinking to model complex situations.

The idea is to model many interactions of
a particular type and find the repeating                                  a              a           a                       A
pattern or common theme across those.                                 b       c      b       c   b       c


For example, Probsolv Comprehensive –                                               B          C
the most powerful version of Probsolv’s
systemic modelling technique – has                   Figure 21. The Systemic Modelling concept
models for the three primary systemic
interaction types: conflict, feedback loops and flow constraints.
Any model can be used: Covey’s 4-quadrants; Porter’s 4-P’s; Senge’s systems archetypes; de
Bono’s PMI or Six Hats; cause-effect diagrams; whatever models you normally use. (The
3-component model in Figure 21 is merely illustrative of the concept and has no deeper meaning.)
Please see the Systemic Modelling paper for more detail on this application of systemic thinking.
2. Systemic problem solving

This is a simpler version of the systemic
modelling concept mentioned above.                                        issues
                                                                                                     Performance-limiting
It’s derived from the repeating pattern                                                                    problem
across the many interaction types in
complex situations.
                                                                   opportunities
It is ideally suited for quick and easy                                                              Systemic breakthrough
problem solving, where the effort of                                                                       solution
modelling the entire situation isn’t
warranted.                                                                        Figure 22. Systemic problem solving

4.    Systemic decision-making

This application is so simple it runs the
risk of being simplistic, but it is very                             options
effective, because the options are really
solution options – and carry a sense of the                                                                  Optimal decision
problem they’re trying to solve within
them.                                                                             Figure 23. Systemic decision-making




8
 A simple process for teaching young children to think systemically is to ask for a possible solution; ask for alternatives; select two
solutions and then ask “What’s the same about solution A and solution B?”
www.probsolv.com                               Copyright © Probsolv International 2001                                   Page 12 of 14
5.   Needs and wants

Whether we’re dealing with a business or
personal relationship, the ability to quickly                business
                                                           requirements
identify the hidden needs that underlie the
visible and expressed wants is invaluable                                          Business need
in helping people in a meaningful way.
It’s easy to secure other people’s
                                                              personal
participation in determining what their                        wants
underlying need is – and satisfying to be
                                                                                    Personal need
able to take the expressed wants
(perceived needs) seriously in the
process!                                                    Figure 24. Business and personal needs

6.   Report/proposal writing

Next time you have a formal document to
write, whether it is a business plan,
business case or quarterly report, apply                                         Introduction
the systemic concept to your material.
You’ll be amazed to see what clarity                                             Section A
emerges – and how insightful the
document ends up being as a result.
Just list all the pieces of data you can                                         Section B
think of including under each section and
look for themes across them.
                                                                                 Conclusion
You can then use the central theme as the
main point of the section, the sub-themes
as subsections, and the elements you
listed to illustrate the point.                                Figure 25. Report/proposal writing




www.probsolv.com                   Copyright © Probsolv International 2001                     Page 13 of 14
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

                                                              Systemic thinking enables us to deal with
      Systemic Thinking                                       the elements of a situation in concert rather
                                                              than in isolation.
      Don’t                          Find the                 Its power lies in its simplicity and
 CHOOSE                            THEME                      effectiveness. It offers the potential to find
                                                              systemic focus in any situation. It enables
                                                              us to secure the dramatic benefits promised
                                                              by the systems thinking revolution.
                                                              The beauty of it is that anyone can use it to
                                                              gain deeper insight about anything.
                                                              The primary barrier to overcome is the
        There is ALWAYS a theme…..                            cognitive dissonance that arises from
               ….. ALWAYS!                                    searching for something before you know
                                                              what it looks like – especially when you
                                                              aren’t even certain it’s there.
        Figure 26. Systemic thinking in a nutshell




                           GIVE IT A TRY – WHY DON’T YOU?

                            THE RESULTS WILL AMAZE YOU!


Please contact the author, Gary Bartlett of Probsolv, for more information or help with finding
themes at gb@probsolv.com, or join the Systemic Thinking discussion group at
http://yahoogroups.com/group/systemicthinking.




www.probsolv.com                     Copyright © Probsolv International 2001                   Page 14 of 14

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UP LBL880 - Article on Systemic Thinking

  • 1. SYSTEMIC THINKING a simple thinking technique for gaining systemic focus presented by GARY BARTLETT at THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THINKING “BREAKTHROUGHS 2001” Final Draft Please contact the author with comments or questions or for a copy of the Systemic Modelling paper gb@probsolv.com +64 9 476-2530 www.probsolv.com Copyright © Probsolv International 2001 Page 1 of 14
  • 2. SYSTEMIC THINKING Systemic thinking is a simple thinking technique for gaining systemic insights into complex situations and problems. It puts the benefits of the systems thinking revolution within the reach of everyone. Distinctions Systemic thinking is different from both systematic thinking and systems thinking. Systematic Thinking Systems Thinking Systemic Thinking Thinking methodically. Thinking about how things A simple technique for finding interact with one another. systemic focus. Warning Much of the content of this paper will be familiar to you. The arrangement of that content probably won’t be. If you find the content familiar, I recommend you focus on the way it is arranged – it is easy to get hung up on the slightly different spin and perspective systemic thinking puts on things. Mind-space The diagram on the left will help you create a Analytical Systemic mental framework for understanding the thinking thinking systemic thinking concept. Conventional thinking techniques are fundamentally analytical. Systemic thinking is different – it combines Analytical Analytical Synthetical analytical thinking with synthetical thinking. thinking thinking thinking Analytical thinking changes only very slightly when used in conjunction with synthetical thinking, so the primary focus of this paper is on synthetical thinking, because of our society’s Figure 1. Analytical Vs systemic thinking weakness in this area. Acknowledgements The Systemic thinking concept has its primary origins in elements and abstracts of the following thinking techniques: • Creativity and lateral thinking: Dr Edward de Bono (generating alternatives, thinking as a skill and “mechanism of mind”) • TOC – The Theory of Constraints: Dr Eliyahu Goldratt (The “3-cloud” method and the single constraint) • TRIZ – The Theory of Inventive Problem Solving: Dr Genrich Altshuller (patterns in problems and solutions) • ST – Systems Thinking: Joseph O’Connor & Ian McDermott et al (system interactions) • NLP – Neuro-Linguistic Programming: various (mental modelling) Some illustrations of results achieved with systemic thinking • Doubled revenues in less than 6 months on lower costs: import/export manufacturer. • Losses transformed to wins within weeks: junior soccer team. • Key client threats converted to referrals within weeks: software development company. • Patient visit duration halved within a month: orthopaedic follow-up clinic. • Attitude and academic performance turned around within days: primary school student. www.probsolv.com Copyright © Probsolv International 2001 Page 2 of 14
  • 3. THE CONCEPT The fundamental assumption on which the systemic thinking concept is based, is that everything is systemic. In other words, everything interacts with (affects and is affected by) the things around it. Everything. If we want different outcomes from a situation, we have to change the system that underpins the situation in such a way that it delivers different outputs. In other words, we have to deal with things systemically. Figure 2. Everything is systemic We can’t deal with the parts of a situation in isolation; we have to deal with them in concert. We have to deal with both the elements of a situation and how they interact with one another. There is nothing new in this – it’s common sense. In the business world, for example, everyone knows that price, cost, volume, quality and profit are interrelated. Everyone knows that we can’t change or expect to change one of those elements without impacting on or having to change some of the others. We all deal with things systemically all the time. In fact, everything we do is systemic. A successful solution or strategy indicates that our mental paradigm (the model of the system in our minds) reflects the situation (real system) well. A failed solution or strategy indicates that our mental paradigm doesn’t reflect the situation well. Systemic thinking is as much about troubleshooting our own mental paradigms as it is about troubleshooting the situations we face. We need another thinking tool In spite of our awareness that everything’s systemic, our society’s primary thinking tool is analysis – taking things apart. Make no mistake, analysis is a powerful thinking tool – for understanding the parts of a situation. It’s just not that crash-hot for understanding how those parts work together. When we break things down into smaller and smaller components, we tend to lose sight of the interactions between them. It’s a case of “When the only tool you don’t have is a hammer, every problem begins to look like a nail” – and we understand end up with analysis paralysis. Analysis paralysis is when a vicious cycle is set up. Analysis makes the interactions less analyse visible, so insight diminishes, so we analyse things further – and things go from bad to worse. Figure 3. Analysis paralysis www.probsolv.com Copyright © Probsolv International 2001 Page 3 of 14
  • 4. What our society needs is a thinking tool specifically designed for making sense of interactions – a thinking tool for making sense of how things work together. That tool is synthesis – seeing how things work together. Synthesis is more than putting things back together again after you’ve taken them apart: It’s understanding how things work together. Analytical thinking enables us to understand the parts of the situation. Analysis Synthesis Synthetical thinking enables us to understand how they work together. We need both analysis and synthesis. Each is of only limited value without the other – in a systemic world. Systemic thinking is nothing more than a combination of analytical thinking and synthetical thinking. Figure 4. Analysis and synthesis Analytical thinking is the easy bit. We’ve been taught to do it from birth. Synthetical thinking is harder because we haven’t been taught to do it deliberately. We do it unconsciously all the time, of course – we wouldn’t get very far if we didn’t – because everything is systemic and needs to be approached systemically. The reason we haven’t been taught to think synthetically could well be because synthetical thinking is a lot harder than analytical thinking. Interactions are harder to deal with. Not only are they often invisible to the naked eye, they’re also dynamic rather than static. They change all the time and affect each other differently every time they do so. It’s no wonder we find dealing with interactions – and consequently with entire systems – hard: how on earth can one get one’s mind around a plethora of interactions that are changing all the time? The Fractal Phenomenon: the repeating patterns concept The key to synthetical thinking – and consequently to systemic thinking – is the Fractal Phenomenon1: systems are made up of repeating patterns. The Fractal Phenomenon is both a commonsensical and a counter-intuitive concept. It’s commonsensical because it’s easy to think of examples of common patterns (like rules of thumb, mental paradigms and the benefits of experience). It’s counter-intuitive, because, until you’ve found the pattern in a particular situation, it doesn’t seem as if there could possibly be one. Figure 5. The Fractal Phenomenon 1 My term, originating from and/or supported by TOC’s 3-Cloud, TRIZ’s limited solution set, ST’s archetypes and Chaos Theory. www.probsolv.com Copyright © Probsolv International 2001 Page 4 of 14
  • 5. Notice how the pattern in Figure 5 is part of a larger version of itself – and made up of smaller versions of itself. That’s the essence of the Fractal Phenomenon. It’s like systemic DNA. Thinking is about pattern management. We see patterns in things. We learn how to manage those patterns – which in itself is a pattern: a management paradigm. A management paradigm is really a solution pattern for solving a pattern of problems in the situation we’re managing. The problem is that, before long, the solution has solved all the problems it can solve and all that’s left are the problems it can’t solve, many of which the solution created itself. It’s difficult to change management paradigms – to think outside the box – because we live within our management paradigm. It is the box within which we think. Systemic thinking enables us to identify the pattern (draw the box) so that we can think outside of it. Synthetical thinking Synthetical thinking is deliberately finding repeating patterns (or common themes) across a system or situation. Although analytical thinking enables us to find those repeating patterns and common themes too, it doesn’t do so directly – or anywhere near as effectively – because analysis is more focused on identifying differences than similarities. Because it’s counter-intuitive that there should be a pattern, we seldom make a conscious effort to find one and so we discover patterns more by serendipity than design. It seems likely that the brain uses common parts of its neural network to deal with the similarities it encounters while analysing things – and at some point it dawns on us that there is a pattern. The implications of us being unaware, consciously, of patterns that we are aware of subconsciously – or at a neural network level – are interesting, to say the least. The important thing to realise is that we can train ourselves to think synthetically in a deliberate way. The primary barrier to overcome is the cognitive dissonance that arises from searching for something before you know what it looks like – especially when you aren’t even certain it’s there! The systemic thinking concept The basic idea in systemic thinking is to list as many different elements as you can think of, then look for similarities between them. Conventional analytical thinking is different. The basic idea in analytical thinking techniques is to list a handful of elements, compare them, rank them and then select the best one, discarding the rest. This is all very well, unless the rest secure benefits that the selected option doesn’t. elements elements Best option Repeating pattern / common theme Figure 6. The systemic thinking concept Figure 7. The analytical thinking concept Analytical thinking breaks things down into their component parts; synthetical thinking finds the patterns across those component parts. Analysis is about identifying differences; synthesis is about finding similarities. www.probsolv.com Copyright © Probsolv International 2001 Page 5 of 14
  • 6. Synthesis needs analysis – how can you find the similarities across different things, if you hadn’t first listed the different things? Analysis needs synthesis – understanding how things behave in isolation is pointless. We have to understand how they behave in concert in order to intervene intelligently. Analysis, in the context of systemic thinking, is different from analysis outside of that context. Outside of the systemic thinking context, the tendency is to list only a manageable handful of elements, in order to reduce the workload. (Remember that analysis breaks things down into their component parts, so you get more and more things to think about. This creates a tendency to list only a handful of elements). Within the systemic thinking context, it’s desirable to list as many different elements as possible, in order to ensure the most representative pattern possible. Systemic thinking combines analytical thinking and synthetical thinking. Step 1. Analyse Step 2. Synthesise The first step is analytical: list as many List the Find the elements as you can think of. elements theme The second step is synthetical: find the common theme / repeating pattern across those elements. Figure 8. The systemic thinking steps It would be foolish to assert that synthesising doesn’t happen in conventional analytical thinking. Of course it does! It just happens unconsciously – almost unintentionally – while you’re taking things apart and putting them together again. It’s a bit like Dr Edward de Bono’s lateral thinking concept – people had lateral thoughts long before he discovered, named, defined and promoted the concept. What Dr de Bono gave us was general awareness and understanding of lateral thinking – and a way of developing it as a thinking skill. This enabled everyone to consciously and deliberately generate lateral thoughts, ideas and solutions – virtually on demand. The purpose of this paper is to do for systemic Analytical thinking Systemic thinking thinking what Dr de Bono Analysis Synthesis Analysis Synthesis did for lateral thinking: identify and define it to Deliberate equip our society to think systemically and synthetically in a conscious and deliberate way instead of merely in an Unconscious unconscious and accidental or casual way. Figure 9. Moving from analytical thinking to systemic thinking Another warning The difference between analytical thinking and systemic thinking might appear clear with the above diagram in front of you, but experience has shown that the systemic thinking concept has what I call “a half-life of one sleep”. It’s true! Test yourself on the systemic thinking concept tomorrow morning – you’ll barely remember half of it. Test yourself the next day, without revising it, and you’ll be lucky to recall a quarter of it! The following comparison will help you to remember the distinction. www.probsolv.com Copyright © Probsolv International 2001 Page 6 of 14
  • 7. A comparison of systemic and analytical thinking The key differences between the two thinking systemic thinking techniques are: elements List as many Find the • Systemic thinking lists as many elements as possible theme as possible (to ensure that the theme is as representative as possible), while analytical thinking lists only a handful of analytical thinking elements (to make the workload Select elements List a one manageable). handful • Systemic thinking finds and focuses on the theme across the elements, while analytical thinking selects and focuses on Figure 10. Systemic Vs Analytical thinking the most attractive or promising element. Key Systemic Patterns There are many patterns in any situation. Here are two highly significant ones: The performance-limiting problem2 issues This is the repeating pattern across all of the Performance-limiting issues we face. problem Unless we solve this problem, we can’t improve the situation much – if at all. Figure 11. The performance-limiting problem Many creative thinkers regard problem solving to be at odds with creativity. While it’s true that analytical problem solving inhibits true creativity, systemic problem solving is different. It doesn’t define the problem narrowly, but systemically. In other words, it helps one define one’s frame of reference (the box, mindset or management paradigm) clearly, thereby creating a freedom that ignoring that frame of reference can never create. Unless you’re able to draw the box, you can have no certainty that you are thinking outside of it. In fact, it’s unlikely that you can think outside of it. Once you’ve drawn the box, you can escape it and this is where the second critical pattern becomes invaluable. The systemic breakthrough solution opportunities This is the repeating pattern across all of the Systemic breakthrough solutions to the performance-limiting problem. solution It solves the performance-limiting problem and improves end-to-end performance dramatically. Figure 12. The systemic breakthrough solution The systemic breakthrough solution is very different from the symptomatic (“band aid” or “fire- fighting”) solutions that are typical of the non-systemic approach. Systemic solutions address the broader system in a profound, self-perpetuating and reinforcing way. 2 This concept has its origin in The Theory of Constraints. www.probsolv.com Copyright © Probsolv International 2001 Page 7 of 14
  • 8. Case study 13 A public utility had just been privatised and was attracting highly critical media attention because of the pricing policies it was forced to take to retain revenues in the face of changed legislation. The repeating pattern (performance-limiting problem) across the issues it faced, was found to be the difficulty in treating – and being seen to treat – different customer groups fairly. For example, low- usage customers weren’t happy to be J subsidising high-usage L $ customers by paying a $ high service charge, while high-usage J L customers weren’t happy to be subsidising usage low-usage customers usage Figure 13. High service / low usage by paying a high Figure 14. Low service / high usage usage rate. The theme across the potential solutions was to treat (charge) each of the parties involved differently – based on their usage – and automatically change their “deal” to the most favourable one for them if those needs changed. This allows the utility to billing period. divide its customers into usage categories and charge The bill reflects what they • lower-usage customers a J would have paid if they’d lower-fixed charge with a J been charged the formula higher usage rate and $ J applying to the usage • higher-usage customers J category on either side of theirs. a higher fixed charge with a lower usage rate This is to prove that they’re Customers are automatically usage getting the fairest deal possible – and ensures the billed according to the usage Figure 15. The utility pricing solution perception of fairness. category they fall into for that Implications of the systemic problem and systemic solution patterns Even if they were the only patterns in a challenging situation (they aren’t, of course!) the implications would be staggering. The fact that there is a single performance-limiting problem and a single breakthrough solution to it – and having a simple process for finding them deliberately and predictably – is highly significant. It’s significant, because it guarantees dramatic improvement in system performance by providing systemic focus. 3 This case study focuses on only one facet of the business – the solution concept applies to many other parts of it. www.probsolv.com Copyright © Probsolv International 2001 Page 8 of 14
  • 9. Systemic Focus First, having a systemic focus point enables one to focus on the element of the situation that will improve the entire situation the most rather than on the element of the situation that can be improved the most. Did you get that? We don’t want to focus on the place that we can improve the most, but on the place that will improve the entire situation the most. Second, focus may be everything, but focus on everything is focus on nothing. Defocus is essential to focus. In business terms, systemic focus and defocus secures dramatic performance improvement on the bottom-line. Focus secures a significant increase in revenue, while defocus secures a significant reduction in cost. Returns, both on investment and on capital employed, are impacted dramatically as a consequence of systemic focus/defocus. Here are some analogies to illustrate the focus/defocus concept: Performance-limiting problem $ (The weakest link) $ Performance-limiting problem $ $ (The bottleneck) $ Breakthrough Solution Breakthrough Solution - FOCUS widen the bottleneck - FOCUS strengthen the weakest link - DEFOCUS stop widening the - DEFOCUS stop adding weight to the other links $ non-bottlenecks Figure 16. The Chain Analogy Figure 17. The Bottleneck Analogy The tendency, with a non-systemic approach, is to strengthen the links of the chain that we can strengthen the most – or widen the part of the channel that we can widen the most. The parts that can be improved the most – or most easily – will never include the weakest link or bottleneck. Weak links and bottlenecks exist because they were hard to find or fix in the first place. Implications of the Fractal Phenomenon on systemic focus and defocus The equivalent of the weakest link in the chain or the bottleneck, is more than just a $ $ department or person. $ $ $ It is a systemic issue and so everyone within the situation faces a version of it4. $ If, for example, the weakest link in the chain is communication of benefits, this weakness will not be restricted to marketing or sales, it $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ will be evident throughout the organisation – $ $ $ $ $ $ and even extend beyond it. Even customers $ $ $ will be unable to express those benefits. Figure 18. Implications of the Fractal Phenomenon Systemic focus resolves the dilemma between focusing on the detail and focusing on the big picture, by enabling one to focus very precisely on the same thing everywhere. 4 In the first case study, for example, the issue of being fair and being seen to be fair – and the solution concept of treating each interest group as their needs dictate – is applicable across just about every area of the business. www.probsolv.com Copyright © Probsolv International 2001 Page 9 of 14
  • 10. Case study 2 A developer of customised software dominates the New Zealand market in its field, but was battling to secure the same results internationally. Systemic thinking discovered that the company was being held back by its focus on development speed. This was understandable given the huge demand of the international market. Although development speed is important, the real performance-limiting problem was establishing the client’s real need, in terms of functionality. No two clients use this company’s software in exactly the same way – and clients can’t possibly specify their requirements without knowing what the software is capable of. The common theme across the solutions offered was to involve the customer in the continuous customising of the software before too much time was spent refining things that would later be discarded. The systemic breakthrough solution was a simple prototyping technique which we call Explore. Explore takes three times as long as previous “needs analysis” techniques took, but decimates development times and, more importantly, enables the “explorer” to establish the real customer need very accurately – before charging off to “deliver”. Explore has been trialled in a number of areas of the business (it has yet to be implemented company-wide), with staggeringly good results, for example: • A key client in a strategic market changed threats to referrals within a week. • A product-marketing manager was able to reduce a 3-month backlog to manageable proportions within 24 hours – and reverse her personal credibility within the company dramatically in the process. • The product development cycle on a key product was reduced from six months to one month. THE SYSTEMIC THINKING PROCESS The systemic thinking process is straightforward: 1. List as many elements as possible. 1 2 3 List the Group into Find the 2. Group the elements into sub-themes. systemic sub common 3. Find the central theme – the common elements themes theme theme across the sub-themes. In a sense, systemic thinking is the reverse of analytical thinking. Analytical thinking breaks things apart in stages – systemic thinking groups things together in stages. Figure 19. The systemic thinking process This grouping of things together in stages is the first trick for dealing with the greatest barrier to systemic thinking – the cognitive dissonance from the conditioned belief that there is no pattern. A second trick is to realise that the message from your brain saying “there is no theme and it’s pointless looking for one!” is really nothing more than an indication that your brain hasn’t found the theme yet. A third is to develop a library of systemic solutions – they all follow a similar pattern, so once you’ve seen or developed a few, things get much easier. Finally, it’s worth noting that progress is better than perfection with systemic thinking. The benefit of the feedback generated when you trial a solution – conceptually or for real – is inestimable! www.probsolv.com Copyright © Probsolv International 2001 Page 10 of 14
  • 11. Case study 3 An orthopaedic follow-up clinic was suffering from a 12 year, 14-failed-attempts Waiting Room “capacity problem”. Orthopaedic consultants, nurses, Reception Desk radiographers (that do x-raying) and patients all complained of excessive wait- times. This repeating theme – wait-times – led us to realise that everyone was waiting for everyone else. Downstream units were waiting for upstream units to “process” patients. Patients were waiting for other patients to be processed5. Consulting X-ray units Plaster beds The performance-limiting problem wasn’t Rooms processing speed, as everyone had assumed, but scheduling – because it’s difficult to predict exactly how long a Figure 20. Simplified clinic schematic process is going to take6. The solution had to reduce waiting – not improve processing speed. The primary themes across the solutions offered were: • Schedule appointments more rigidly – to stop queue jumping and reduce patient waiting. • Schedule appointments more flexibly and get patients to arrive early – to reduce the wasting of unit time, especially consultants’ time. The systemic breakthrough solution we developed was simple: • schedule clinic appointments – not unit appointments. • process patients at each unit in clinic appointment time order – not unit arrival time order – unless a downstream queue is being starved. In practical terms this involved • colour coding patient folders – by orthopaedic consultant • marking clinic appointment time on the patient folder on arrival • ensuring that patient folders join queues ahead of everyone with a later appointment time • advancing folders of a particular colour if a downstream queue is running short. The result? Average patient visit duration is reduced from nearly three hours to less than one hour and total capacity has improved by more than 20%7 – on the cost of a colour-coded sticker to write the appointment time on! As one would expect, given the Fractal Phenomenon, versions of the performance-limiting problem and the systemic breakthrough concept are applicable elsewhere in orthopaedic healthcare and healthcare in general, including operating theatre capacity and the national waiting list problem. 5 For example, if a patient has a long session at plaster, the queue at x-ray has had a long time to grow – and the patient gets a double penalty. Worse, the long wait at x-ray means that the queue at the consultant has had time to grow too: triple penalty! 6 Total processing time in a 3-process scenario amounted to only 45 minutes; the rest of the 3-5 hours was spent waiting! 7 The average amount of consultant time no longer being wasted by waiting for patients held up at other units. www.probsolv.com Copyright © Probsolv International 2001 Page 11 of 14
  • 12. APPLICATION Systemic thinking can be applied just about anywhere. In any situation in which there are one or more “less than ideal” options, systemic thinking can be used to gain systemic focus. It can be applied by global trouble-shooters and young children8. Systems can always be optimised. They are always made up of repeating patterns. They always have performance-limiting problems. They always have systemic breakthrough solutions. Here are some illustrations of the uses of systemic thinking: 1. Systemic modelling Systemic modelling is using systemic thinking to model complex situations. The idea is to model many interactions of a particular type and find the repeating a a a A pattern or common theme across those. b c b c b c For example, Probsolv Comprehensive – B C the most powerful version of Probsolv’s systemic modelling technique – has Figure 21. The Systemic Modelling concept models for the three primary systemic interaction types: conflict, feedback loops and flow constraints. Any model can be used: Covey’s 4-quadrants; Porter’s 4-P’s; Senge’s systems archetypes; de Bono’s PMI or Six Hats; cause-effect diagrams; whatever models you normally use. (The 3-component model in Figure 21 is merely illustrative of the concept and has no deeper meaning.) Please see the Systemic Modelling paper for more detail on this application of systemic thinking. 2. Systemic problem solving This is a simpler version of the systemic modelling concept mentioned above. issues Performance-limiting It’s derived from the repeating pattern problem across the many interaction types in complex situations. opportunities It is ideally suited for quick and easy Systemic breakthrough problem solving, where the effort of solution modelling the entire situation isn’t warranted. Figure 22. Systemic problem solving 4. Systemic decision-making This application is so simple it runs the risk of being simplistic, but it is very options effective, because the options are really solution options – and carry a sense of the Optimal decision problem they’re trying to solve within them. Figure 23. Systemic decision-making 8 A simple process for teaching young children to think systemically is to ask for a possible solution; ask for alternatives; select two solutions and then ask “What’s the same about solution A and solution B?” www.probsolv.com Copyright © Probsolv International 2001 Page 12 of 14
  • 13. 5. Needs and wants Whether we’re dealing with a business or personal relationship, the ability to quickly business requirements identify the hidden needs that underlie the visible and expressed wants is invaluable Business need in helping people in a meaningful way. It’s easy to secure other people’s personal participation in determining what their wants underlying need is – and satisfying to be Personal need able to take the expressed wants (perceived needs) seriously in the process! Figure 24. Business and personal needs 6. Report/proposal writing Next time you have a formal document to write, whether it is a business plan, business case or quarterly report, apply Introduction the systemic concept to your material. You’ll be amazed to see what clarity Section A emerges – and how insightful the document ends up being as a result. Just list all the pieces of data you can Section B think of including under each section and look for themes across them. Conclusion You can then use the central theme as the main point of the section, the sub-themes as subsections, and the elements you listed to illustrate the point. Figure 25. Report/proposal writing www.probsolv.com Copyright © Probsolv International 2001 Page 13 of 14
  • 14. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION Systemic thinking enables us to deal with Systemic Thinking the elements of a situation in concert rather than in isolation. Don’t Find the Its power lies in its simplicity and CHOOSE THEME effectiveness. It offers the potential to find systemic focus in any situation. It enables us to secure the dramatic benefits promised by the systems thinking revolution. The beauty of it is that anyone can use it to gain deeper insight about anything. The primary barrier to overcome is the There is ALWAYS a theme….. cognitive dissonance that arises from ….. ALWAYS! searching for something before you know what it looks like – especially when you aren’t even certain it’s there. Figure 26. Systemic thinking in a nutshell GIVE IT A TRY – WHY DON’T YOU? THE RESULTS WILL AMAZE YOU! Please contact the author, Gary Bartlett of Probsolv, for more information or help with finding themes at gb@probsolv.com, or join the Systemic Thinking discussion group at http://yahoogroups.com/group/systemicthinking. www.probsolv.com Copyright © Probsolv International 2001 Page 14 of 14