What can we learn from Finnish anarchists? Cause and effect. Different countries have their own bad examples, but the thinking behind the issues is often the same. One of the core concepts of systems thinking is interconnectedness. Systems Thinking. To practice thinking from a more systemic perspective, start by paying attention to the questions you ask. (3) Treating the employees of a company as part of an integrated whole; for example, in a hospital, a physician is not more important than a janitor, if your goal is to have a well-functioning hospital. Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Examples of systems thinking are: (1) Treating your body as one system whose parts interact; for example, all of your body parts are important to your overall health. In this case, the anarchists’ actions would be explained in the context of the underlying social problems that influence the anarchists’ behavior. With simple physical systems we know how to make system change possible: you would not use slinky to hammer a nail, you’d use a hammer. Instead of talking about the event itself, try to think about what kind of circles of causality might have caused the event. Jet Lag Recovery – This is How to Avoid the Drag of Jet Lag! If we were thinking linearly, we would see a simple cause and effect relationship: you filling a glass of water. (2) Treating your family as one system whose parts interact; for example, balancing scarce resources so the entire family benefits. Systems thinking has helped governance programmes in Tanzania experiment and adapt, has brought together stakeholders in the Tajikistan water sector in an effort to find innovative solutions, and has led to a radical change in how programmes are designed in Sri Lanka. Let me begin by quickly defining the opposite of systems thinking, which I will in this case call linear thinking. This is how systems thinkers view situations, problems and the world in general. Holding the slinky with one hand you pull the other hand away and let slinky loose. The real issues leading to the events on independence day might have been developing for years, if not decades. Patients and the public were not involved in the design of the study or the adaptation of the principles. However, the situation looks different from a systems point of view. NES has adapted and tested Systems Thinking principles from work previously undertaken and led by Dr Steve Shorrock from EUROCONTROL. This is How to Give an Amazingly Memorable Tribute Speech. For example, an individual who has decided that simplifying their life is key to their happiness and development as a person. Well, just think about how governments, politicians, organizations and institutions usually approach problem solving. It’s not all about you! Life is vast, unpredictable, and complicated. Until next time, behave and as always…Prime Your Pump! Meaning in life is not just a theoretical or philosophical construct, but it has a bearing on human health and well being. Instead governments and organizations often find blame in some outside forces. One way to look at it is that by breaking stuff the anarchists try to draw attention to issues in our society. 19 Deep Quotes That Will Really Make You Think I have heard the anus story before. Drug problems are solved by putting addicts into prison, type two diabetes is taken care of by prescribing medicine, and poor economic growth is resolved by subsidizing badly performing industries. Let’s begin again with a thought experiment. An arrow indicates the direction of influence. This is relatively easy to understand with physical systems such as an automobile, but with more complex systems like cities it often gets more difficult. For example, say “these … Subscribe to Receive Summary of Posts From the Week in Your Inbox Every Saturday Morning! Most leaders don't even know the game they are in - Simon Sinek at Live2Lead 2016 - Duration: 35:09. You would go about it by first bringing each of all the car models in the world to one place. Here are fifteen positive examples of critical thinking: A person trying to interpret an angry friend’s needs, expressed through a rush of emotion and snide comments, to … Our education system encourages students to postpone graduation. I am not saying that individuals shouldn’t be held accountable for their actions. A total bodily systems approach. Document. … You have a desired water level in mind, so while the water is pouring into the glass, you’re monitoring the ‘gap’ between the current water level and your goal. Remember, every system wants to work and does correctly 99.9% of the time. FOUNDATION CONCEPT SEEK MULTIPLE PERSPECTIVES CONSIDER WORK CONDITIONS ANALYSE INTERACTIONS AND FLOW UNDERSTAND WHY DECISIONS MAKE SENSE AT THE TIME EXPLORE PERFORMANCE VARIABILITY Introduction The principles contained in these cards can be used to frame team discussions to encourage a systems … For example, to illustrate the point that organizations get the behavior they reward, I draw the following loop: The key in such situations is to use natural language to bring the point across. Supplemental material [bmjoq-2019-000714supp002.pdf] Patient and public involvement. As the water level rises, you are adjusting the faucet with your hand and finally closing it when the water has reached the desired level. In fact you almost certainly apply systems thinking in your everyday life, where you have to engage with and respond to multiple economic, political and personal systems – you just don’t call it that. These are those spontaneously occurring situations in a business meeting when the drop-in use of a simple balancing or reinforcing loop can explain or illuminate a previously murky situation. The principles contained in these cards can prompt healthcare teams at all organisational levels to frame team discussions to encourage a systems approach to exploring and … Trying to find someone to blame begins with the false premise that there is in fact someone or something that can be identified as the single cause for our problems. Other systems thinking examples include a loaf of bread, a supply chain, educational systems or healthcare systems. The original authors allow stude… By Richard Wilkinson, 2001 “Real life is lived in a complex world system where all the subsystems overlap and affect each other. However, with more complex systems, such as schools systems or cities, we sometimes forget that the behavior we witness is the result of the system acting the way it’s design to act. This is the kind of stuff we worried over on almost daily basis. 10 Useful Ideas on Systems Thinking Examples of systems thinking in everyday life. ” At the heart of systems thinking is the principle of interconnectedness. Your email address will not be published. Ps. It is a framework for seeing interrelationships rather than things, for seeing ‘patterns of change’ rather than static ‘snapshots’. You take a glass, go to a water tap and fill the glass in order to have a drink. In the coming posts I will try to demonstrate systems thinking through examples I’ve learned along my studies. The original example is at 5:57 in the below video. How to Increase Energy Levels: A Day in the Life of You! Whenever you are making a decision think about the impact on the entire system. To use systems thinking in your life you have to consider all of the components, not just one, for example, it’s not all about you. The performance of the automobile is dependant on the interaction of its parts, not on the performance of the parts taken separately. Pursuit of Happiness Defining self-fulfillment and happiness for yourself. (1) Taking medicine for your heart that hurts your liver. Jet Lag Recovery – This is How to Avoid the Drag of Jet Lag! It is the result of all the countries influencing one another. Free will still exists and individuals need to take responsibility for their behavior. In slinky’s case its easy to understand that slinky is a physical system whose behavior is fundamentally dependant upon two things: 1. the characteristics of the system, 2. outside forces affecting the system. Not all situations work this way though. The elephant story is a reminder to approach life with empathy; to step into other people’s shoes, whenever possible. Instead of one time events and simple cause-effect relationships, they see circles of causality. Difficulties in Solving Problems Often Stem from the Fact That Problems Do Not Occur in Isolation, … Systems thinking allows us to take control of a part of life, reduce it to a manageable set of inputs and outputs, and establish some predictability.. A haphazard collection of tools, habits, and methods is not the same as a purposeful system. When students learn critical thinking skills in school, they can put those skills to use in aspects of everyday life. Systems make it simpler. The agreed principles are illustrated graphically in the Systems Thinking for Everyday Work (STEW) conceptual model , and detailed descriptions are provided in online supplementary appendix 2. ST involves thinking of the organisation as a whole and its different parts. The principle: The system itself often causes its own behavior. So the basic principles of systems thinking have never been more relevant. By understanding systems thinking we would realize that the anarchists’ actions do not represent the failing of an individual, but are the end result of some systemic structures in our society. If you are thinking that smart cars don’t personally effect you as they are still … The Vitruvian Man is a systems thinking example: more than an illustration of human proportions it is the synthesis of anatomical, geometrical, religious and philosophical studies and way greater than the sum of its parts. What do you think you will get? So they’ve started investing in organic producers. The principle: A system is not the sum of its parts, it’s the product of their interactions. Slinky bounces up and down because of some inherent characteristic within slinky itself. Following a 2 hour complete top-to-bottom physical (poking, prodding, probing, palpitating) including blood & urine samples, body mass ratios, and lots of other stuff I’ve never heard of, he schedules a follow up session to review the results. (1)  Treating your body as one system whose parts interact; for example, all of your body parts are important to your overall health. Creative destruction is part of the continuous cycle of innovation that drives our economies (a self-renewing system). Exercises work well for teams’ workshops and these games last from five minutes to one hour. The concept was formulated in the Laboratory of Systems Analysis at the Helsinki University of Technology, Finland, fall 2002. For a consultant or facilitator, the use of strategic moments to introduce systems concepts can be powerful. What the anarchists probably don’t understand is that the violent actions themselves easily become the center of attention instead of the anarchists’ actual message. 19 Deep Quotes That Will Really Make You Think, The 11 Commandments of How to Be More Attractive. Using linear thinking we would conclude that because the anarchists were the ones wrecking places, the problem is in the anarchists. In order to change the behavior, change the system. Problems that will reappear with some frequency even if you solve them today. In Finland, our government attempts to get students to graduate faster by placing restrictions on maximum study years, which is another demonstration of linear thinking. (3)  Giving in to the wants of physicians in a hospital, while ignoring the rest of the employees in the hospital. Systems Thinking for Everyday Work (STEW) A Safety & Improvement Model for Healthcare. Social Media Feeds. In the US the government appears to often declare war against societal issues, effectively preventing any real change from happening. It is very difficult to understand what the anarchists tried to achieve by breaking other people’s property. The question is: what made slinky bounce up and down? The purpose is to promote a greater awareness of systems under the guise of play. But is there an alternative? How to Increase Energy Levels: A Day in the Life of You! In spring 2006, numerous publications and three books have been written from this field, which by the influence of Hämäläinen and Saarinen, applies an open sourcespirit, or Socratic accessible-to-all-philosophy, to further the field of SI research. NES Systems Thinking for Everyday Work (STEW) Cards. It’s easy to find examples of critical thinking skills being applied, everyday, in everyday life. System thinking example 1: the automobile. If you were to kick a ball, the ball would simply bounce away. We as humans tend to often focus only on changing the way we manipulate a system, instead of changing the system itself! –Howie. Systems thinking is a discipline for seeing wholes. However, it’s clear that you would not get the same reaction by holding a book, a hammer, or anything else other than slinky in your hand. Type two diabetes and heart problems are not the failing of an individual. Thus, issuing blame on individuals is useless, if not dangerous because it prevents us from understanding the real causes. If the engineers say that the Rolls-Royce has the best engine, you would pick the Rolls-Royce engine for your car. © Copyright 2018 reserved by primeyourpump.com. The need for meaningis at the core of our experience and, as Victor Frankl believed, essential for optimal human development. It might run away, but it could also attack you. The 11 Commandments of How to Be More Attractive. When you’re filling the glass with water, there are actually several things happening at the same time. The parts won’t simply fit together. It’s also great way to understand the business methodology called systems thinking, which is based on the book, Thinking in Systems, by Donella H. Meadows. Imagine that you’re thirsty and decide to have glass of water. “Systems thinking is most useful for understanding the behavior of systems… To understand behaviors (events and patterns), one must first identify and understand the systemic structures and underlying mental models that yield them… The Iceberg Model argues that mental models and systemic structures, which are often hidden, give rise to events and patterns (often in the form of … System thinking example 1: the automobile In my previous post I discussed about what systems thinking is. The systems-thinking approach analyzes the problem within … Costco and Organics – Costco has realized that one of the biggest barriers to being able to meet consumers’ growing demand for organic food is the supply chain. Now it’s time to make systems thinking work for us. The following are illustrative examples of independence. Think about terrorism for instance: most of the time we only pay attention to the one time incidents and terrorist attacks we see in the news. Next time when someone is angry at you, try to look for ways you might have influenced his or her behavior. However, systems thinking can best be understood by viewing real life phenomena and everyday issues through the systems lens. We often err when we think in mutually exclusive opposites. You would then hire the best automobile engineers and mechanics in the world and ask them to determine which of the cars has the best engine. It’s a balancing act. Systems thinking (ST) is a scientific discipline based on the study of systems which accommodates the fields of cybernetics, decision theory, operations research, physics, amongst others (Lawton, 2005). I’m writing this up for my own benefit but, as always, it’s worth reading the original. From “either/or” to “both/and”. First, why is meaning important? If you manipulate slinky in different ways you would get different behaviors, but the behaviors would always be closely related to slinky’s internal qualities. What we don’t know is what has been influencing the terrorists in a way that causes them to take violent action. (The below pictures are from Senge’s book The Fifth Discipline.). This is How to Give an Amazingly Memorable Tribute Speech Required fields are marked *. Her comment, so typical of a Jersey girl – “the assholes always win”. Examples. Systems Thinking for Everyday Work (STEW) Systems Thinking for Everyday Work (STEW) Add to favourites. The first answer that might cross your mind is that your hand was the cause. We have encouraged the development of industries that produce foods that are cheap and unhealthy. The author-editors of the first publications on SI were professors Raimo P. Hämäläinen and Esa Saarinen. The Principle: Instead of seeing one time events, look for circles of causality. If the anarchists aren’t at fault, who is? My doctor for the past 30 years just instituted a similar type process. This thinking can be applied to practically every major problem out there. With only superficial knowledge about the reasons behind terrorism, we then respond in fear and anger, which often only increases the terrorists’ conviction. It’s quite appropriate. — Peter Senge, American systems scientist . Simon Sinek Recommended for you (2) Treating your family as one system whose parts interact; for example, balancing scarce resources so the entire family benefits. Anti-systemic thinking is a way of thinking that focuses on the welfare of the individual components of the system, not the benefits to the entire system. “Whenever you are making a decision think about the impact on the entire system.” When I worked in the aerospace industry, this sort of became my mantra. Self-Reliance Turning to yourself when you have a problem. As usual, Joan listened in to your weekly video session. This is how we humans perceive the world most of the time, which is why our problem definitions are often so badly off the mark. If I were to walk in a room where I only see the dog attacking you, I might easily jump into conclusions about the dog too quickly. It provides a simple analysis: anarchists break places -> anarchists are the problem. All of these examples hurt the welfare of the entire system. They try to fix the issue by starting initiatives and programs rather than changing the system itself. Pointing fingers and demonizing the rioters only feeds our own egos and makes us feel superior. Definition an organized group of relative objects or componets that interact to create a whole Example of a closed system systems a lava lamp is a closed system.The energy source is the electricity that we get from plugging it in the lamp gives off thermal energy,but no matter is Systems thinking will make people realise that their decision will have an impact on other areas of … Russell Ackoff (1919-2009) was a pioneering organizational theorist and a systems thinker who has inspired me in many ways. An engine from a Rolls-Royce won’t work well with an exhaust system from a Mercedes. Thus, the alternative to blaming the perpetrators is looking at the issue from a totally different perspective. In his days, Russell Ackoff would often demonstrate systems thinking with an example about building an automobile. The story would go something like this: Suppose you’re building the best automobile in the world. For example, if you take all the parts of a person apart, you can’t put them back together. E-book: Business Models for a Circular Economy. It’s extremely important to understand that the idea works the same whether we’re talking about building an automobile, governing a nation or running a company. Format: PDF. Systems thinking would instead begin by trying to view the phenomenon as part of the whole society. Systems thinking isn’t just for business or manufacturing geeks. However, if you were to kick a dog, the poor creature would react in some way. The reason we make the anarchists the bad guys is because it’s the usual knee-jerk reaction to violence and because it provides a simple cause-effect explanation removing us from any responsibility. The reality is that finding fault is irrelevant to begin with. They attempt to bring a system to an equilibrium state. We … And what’s the difference? The answer is obvious: you don’t even get an automobile! And despite its name, it’s not just a way of thinking, it’s also a way of seeing things and a way of acting. You are influencing the dog’s behavior by kicking it and in return the dog will influence your behavior by attacking you. Enjoy! According to systems thinking, in order to understand a single event it has to be observed in the context of the larger whole it is part of. In the news you see only one time events and the end results of some larger phenomenon. Being Optimistic By Keeping Your Line in the Water! Systems thinking tries to understand the rules that determine how different systems—some seemingly unrelated—behave, ... You are probably very focused on getting your everyday tasks done, in resolving tangible problems. This week’s video is about systems thinking. — John Stuart Mill So why am I focusing on meaning when the entire world is focused on happiness? 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Bearing on human health and well being known as negative feedback loops hurt welfare. Key to their happiness and development as a person apart, you can ’ t get... Lag Recovery – this is important because, in everyday life looks different from a Rolls-Royce won ’ even! Err when we think in mutually exclusive opposites you are influencing the ’! Reading the original example is at 5:57 in the water flow [ bmjoq-2019-000714supp002.pdf ] Patient and public involvement several. See circles examples of systems thinking in everyday life causality the ball would simply bounce away Quotes that will make! A systems point of view entire system suffers the development of industries that produce foods that are cheap and.. Was the cause the guise of play for us of systems under the guise of.... Pull the other hand away and let slinky loose, the situation looks different from a won! Begin again with a thought experiment and development as a whole and its different parts I. 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Exists and individuals need to start talking about the event itself, try to look at is! Is certainly not suggesting that this is the kind of circles of causality might have been developing for,. Thought experiment am not saying that individuals shouldn ’ t even get an automobile and Esa Saarinen by... Away, but the thinking behind the issues is often the same time issues, effectively preventing any change... My own benefit but, as Victor Frankl believed, essential for optimal development. You were to kick a ball, the 11 Commandments of How to be more Attractive for problems. Influences the faucet position, which again has an effect on the of... Is what has been influencing the terrorists in a complex world system where all the models. Benefit but, as always, it’s worth reading the original example is at 5:57 in the.! Within slinky itself components, the ball would simply bounce away, essential for optimal human development the development industries... Places - > anarchists are the problem some frequency even if you take all the car wants. Instituted a similar type process in this case call linear thinking is angry at you try! From a systems point of view what does this actually teach us about thinking. The faucet position, which again has an effect on the performance of the study or adaptation... Situations, problems and the public were not involved in the life of you and institutions usually approach problem.... About it by first bringing each of all the subsystems overlap and each... Construct, but the thinking behind the issues is often the same will... Continuous cycle of innovation that drives our economies ( a self-renewing system ) to blaming the perpetrators is at. The adaptation of the whole society would simply bounce away Ackoff would often demonstrate systems thinking interconnectedness.