3 Challenges To Maintaining A Systems Perspective

Leadership Workshop (8 of 12) – Spread Systems Thinking

Leading at Light Speed is a groundbreaking leadership book by Eric Douglas describing the 10 Quantum Leaps which build trust, spark innovation, and create a high-performing organization.

In Chapter 7, Spread Systems Thinking, Eric talks about 3 Challenges to Maintaining a Systems Perspective.

First, because we live in an era of accelerating change, it’s easy to become distracted by the daily influx of events and issues – “to spend 24 hours a day fighting fires,” as the vice president of a health care system told me. Almost by nature, people tend to focus on the things right in front of them: on the people who aren’t performing, budgets that aren’t met, or logistical issues that need attention. It’s easy to become bogged down in the details and forget to use systems thinking to create leveraged solutions.

Second, people don’t get training in systems thinking. Few companies offer it. Few human resource managers recognize its value. It simply isn’t a priority. The outcome being, no forum, no conversation, for leaders and managers to engage in systems thinking together. Opportunities and benefits are easily missed when lacking a dialogue around systems thinking.

Thirdly, as one can be easily distracted by day-to-day details and lack of training, human nature is to avoid confronting deeply-rooted problems. “There are some issues I’d just as soon leave alone,” one manager said. “We have to pick our battles.”

That may be human nature. But a leader’s action must be focused through a systems thinking lens. Failing to listen to data, to challenge assumptions, or to use systems thinking to address underlying issues ultimately imperils the organization. One need look no further than General Motors, Lehman Brothers, or Enron. In contrast, think about Porsche, which has single-mindedly focused on engineering high-quality cars for five decades. Consistently, Porsche has remained amongst the word’s most profitable automobile companies. And, not surprisingly, managers at Porsche put a premium on core values, on disciplined performance, and on analyzing their customers and their competitors from a systems perspective. It’s this kind of thinking that builds high performing organizations in a time of accelerating change.

Helping people address hidden issues, are systems thinking. To steer clear of problems and focus their attention where it can have the greatest impact, leaders use different frames to identify problems, such as understanding traps like the assumption of causality, feedback delays, and the substitution fallacy.

Better able to tackle problems at their core, are leaders who understand their own mental maps and the system of forces.

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