In simple terms, a system is an organised collection of parts (or subsystems) that are highly integrated to accomplish an overall goal. The system has various inputs which go through specific processes to produce certain outputs, which together, accomplish the overall desired goal. So, a business is made up of many functions, products, services, groups and individuals. If one part of the system is changed, the nature of the overall system is often changed as well. Whatever the situation, understanding the power of Systems Thinking is significant. It is critical to problem solving and performance in many walks of life.
Why Should we Think about Systems Thinking?
Translating complexity is about thinking very hard about what is valuable. It’s about gathering insights that will help answer the question we are being challenged to solve. We have seen many issues with a large majority of people within organisations today – they do not ‘think critically’. It isn’t that they don’t want to think. We believe there is no real process that encourages it. So we enable individuals to think and operate within a much bigger picture. And to think differently and appropriately about what is next as well as what they have learned and now need to unlearn. To succeed in the future, organisations need clear thinking around every aspect of what they do. There are no right answers about where to start and there is no single way to do it. You need to approach it with an open mind, a willingness to learn and a passion to make things better.
Our approach is designed to challenge current organisational thinking and to help business work better. It provides a platform focused on achieving significant, measurable change. We provide a range of Systems Thinking programmes including seminars and workshops to create awareness, facilitated interventions to address knotty problems, and coaching.
Our role is to support managers, leaders and managers to synthesise their methods and techniques to create a more transformational impact on the wider organisational system. One of the biggest breakthroughs is in how we understand and guide change in organisations. This means delivering coherent interventions which fit the organisational context and its values. Our programmes enable clients to engage with and help others to see systems; to learn techniques for diagnosing and understanding systems; and to re-design – simulate ‘what if’s’. Using ‘action labs’ and other techniques delegates can act out processes, relationships and behaviours of alternative system designs in order to evaluate and select those with the most promising and sustainable behaviours and outcomes.