‘Continuing to do what we are currently doing but doing it harder or smarter is not likely to produce very different outcomes. Real change starts with recognizing that we are part of the systems we seek to change. The fear and distrust we seek to remedy also exist within us – as do the anger, sorrow, doubt, and frustration. Our actions will not become more effective until we shift the nature of the awareness and thinking behind the actions.’
— Senge, Hamilton and Kania
Taking a Systems View
Organisations are often like icebergs with large portions hidden beneath the surface. These under-the-surface elements include taken-for-granted beliefs and assumptions, norms and ways of seeing the world, in what has been called the ‘deep structure’ of organisations. These structures are not simply characteristics of individuals, they are shaped by underlying social institutions and what has been called ‘institutional logics’ – organising principles and rules of belonging that shape what we see as important and legitimate.
Examples of deep institutional structures include the logics and values of financialised global capitalism, and those of patriarchal systems. Embedded in language, symbols, and norms and routines of behaviour, they ‘reflect power dynamics and keep them in place, and have an impact on decision-making and action’.
Deep organisational structures can act as ‘informal constraints’ on people’s behaviours, impede the functioning of the group and can ‘fail to correct the mistakes of their members.’ So, if we are interested in fostering a culture of learning and belonging, it is important to consider not just the above-the-surface ways of doing things but also to surface and challenge what may lie below.
Senge on Systems
In his book “The Fifth Discipline”, Peter Senge outlines 11 Laws that will help you to understand business systems and to identify behaviours for addressing complex business problems.
- Today’s problems come from yesterday’s solutions
- The harder you push, the harder the system pushes back
- Behaviour grows better before it grows worse
- The easy way out usually leads back in
- The cure can be worse than the disease
- Faster is slower
- Cause and effect are not closely related in time & space
- Small changes can produce big results, but areas of the highest leverage are often least obvious
- You can have your cake and eat it too but not all at once. Not either/or, but both and – allow time for solutions to work
- Dividing an elephant in half does not produce two small elephants
- There is no blame
Watch the videos below from Peter Senge on Systems Thinking.
Theory of Systems Thinking
Systems Thinking in Complex Organisations
The system as a whole can be very different from the sum of its parts. Complex systems have the following characteristics.
Constantly changing: based on visible and unseen feedback loops, assumptions and blindspots.
Tightly coupled and interconnected: with the various ‘actors’ interacting strongly with one another and with the current systems narrative.
History dependent: many actions are irreversible (you can’t unscramble an egg).
Governed by feedback: our decisions alter the state of the organisation, causing changes and triggering others to act, thus giving rise to a new situation, which then influences our next decisions.
Nonlinear cause-effect relationships: socially constructed norms and narrative around; trust, power and autonomy.
Self-organising: small, random actions/inactions are amplified and moulded by the feedback structure, generating patterns in space and time.
Adaptive and evolving: with the capabilities and behaviours of the people in complex systems changing over time.
Characterised by trade-offs: with the long-run response of a system to an intervention is often different from its short-run response. Cause and effect are not related in time and space.
Counterintuitive: our attention is drawn to the symptoms of difficulty rather than the underlying causes, and high-leverage policies are often not obvious.
Policy resistant: many seemingly obvious solutions to problems fail or worsen the situation.
Holism: systems have many interconnected parts, but the system is more than the sum of its parts.
Openness: systems receive input from and send output into the external environment.
You will no doubt recognise at least some of these elements within your own organisation.
Adopting a systems approach allows us to recognise the inherent interconnectedness among people in the system and the need to combine resources and efforts towards a collective purpose. Systems thinking requires us to see how our actions feed back to shape the organisation and its culture. It allows leaders to take a step back to see the wider context of our work, and to acknowledge all of the parts that make up the system. It also allows leaders to understand the root causes of problems, rather than the fault of any individual.
Systems Leader Mindset
Reality and relationships are socially constructed.
Organisations are social networks of meaning-making.
Systems leadership shapes how meaning is made and especially the narratives which guide people’s experience.
Organisations are continuously changing, in both intended and unintended ways, with multiple changes occurring at various speeds.
Groups and organisations are inherently self-organizing, but disruption is required for transformational adaptation and change.
Adaptive challenges are too complex for anyone to analyse all the variables and know the correct answer in advance, so the answer is to use emergent change processes.
Leading emergent change requires mobilising stakeholders to self-initiate action, and then monitoring and embedding the most promising initiatives.
What happens when we don’t see the system?
Click on the link and enjoy this fun film about Blind Spots and Unintended Consequences.
When have you been in a situation like this?
Seeing The People in The System
In his book Seeing Systems, Barry Oshry talks about Tops, Middles, Bottoms and Customers. On first reading, I wondered if this was just too simple in terms of helping to understand the tangle, the drama and the chaos that can be organisational life.
However, if you want to get the full impact of the learning, then reading the complete book is recommended. There are a number of headlines that can really support a different way of seeing things and understanding and developing empathy for others.
The central tenet of the book is that in certain interactions, we are either Tops, Middles, Bottoms or Customers. Tops have overall responsibility for some piece of the action, Bottoms are on the receiving end of initiatives over which they have no control, and Middles are caught between conflicting demands and priorities. And in other interactions, we are Customers, looking to some other person or group for a product or service we need.
So, even in the most complex, multi-level, multifunctional organisations, we are all constantly moving in and out of Top/Middle/Bottom/Customer conditions and contexts.
Click to engage with Barry’s thinking: What lies beneath a human systems perspective:
https://www.quality-equality.com/what-lies-beneath-a-human-systems-perspective
Reflective Practice
Create a one-hour session with your Thinking Partner and share thinking about what has been valuable in exploring this part of the toolbox.
What have you learned and what do you need to let go?
Resource: Seeing Systems