System Dynamics

Systems thinking in organisations was popularised by Peter Senge in his book The Fifth Discipline . He refers to system design or system dynamics and complex adaptive systems.

In the systems dynamics approach is to map the interactions between the parts that make up the whole system in focus. The idea is that you can then intervene to change some of the interactions and thereby influence the outcome. Just mapping the system promotes a shared understanding of what's happening where to produce what.

When the system is complex mapping it can be a difficult task and reveal few patterns to aid understanding. As a consequence, managers only have partial knowledge and end up behaving in non-systemic ways. The main strategy for change is best tackled by promoting learning about the organisation among senior managers.

The problem is that complex adaptive systems are not designable, simply because the possible connections are too numerous or diverse to make sense of, and the effect of these interactions is therefore difficult to predict. The future of a complex system just emerges from the multiplicity of interactions. It's more like birds deciding to flock than generals guiding their troups.

The interactions in organisations usually take the form of conversations. If we focus those conversations of a desired future the steps needed to create the desired future will emerge. This is the thinking behind the approach taken by Solutions in Focus. Given the chance to self-organise the people who do the work know how they must work together to get things done - they don't need to be told - they just need to agree some simple rules to give the many interactions a sense of common purpose.

This is the reason why change processes are so often messy, piecemeal and difficult to manage in organisations. Probably the reason why so many fail to achieve their objectives. The paradox in many organisations is they want creative thinking, but within clearly defined boxes.

All actions are in the interactions, so solutions can only be found through personal motivation, thoughts, intuition, capability and responsibility coming from the inside-out. For example, a feeling may alert us to some concern, which we may then talk about or act on. In contrast, we may respond to the conditions, influences and demands coming from the outside-in which cases us to react in a negative way.

From an inside-out perspective we can chnage the way we view and think about the world, whereas from an outside-in perspective we can change the way we do things so the doing get's amplified or dampened, and comes back to us in a way that shifts our inside-out perspective. If you think about we become who we are, and what we are, through our interactions with other people.

"People are people through other people." Xhosa Proverb

From the perspective of Systems Dynamics, everything is dependent on everything else. This means that as real change leaders we should be wary of attributing causality to any one aspect.. Indeed, often the effects are reciprocal. Your marale affects the morale of others, etc, etc. Interactions can have unintended consequences.

Systems do not respect artificial boundaries. This is why it is often helpful to get a microcosm of the whole in one place. This is the thinking behind Solution Labs and Large Group Interventions. It prevents the 'stuckness' or 'stickiness' found when solutions are imposed on a system. All the parts have not had a chance to adjust their connections and may feel their identity is threatened. They then to stop any change happening, simply because they were not involved in creating their future.

The system that contains the system in focus can never be ignored. Context is all important to the way we respond to each other. Not all the answers can be found inside us. See Intelligence & Extelligence