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It is vital, Peter says, the five disciplines develop as an ensemble. This can be challenging, as it is harder to
integrate tools than simple apply them separately But the payoffs can be immense. This is why Systems Thinking is
the fifth discipline. It is the discipline that integrates the other four disciplines, fusing them into a coherent body of
theory and practice. It keeps them from being separate gimmicks of the latests organization change fads. By
enhancing each of the other disciplines, it continually reminds us that the whole can exceed the sum of its parts.
For example, vision without systems thinking ends up painting lovely pictures of the future with no deep
understanding of the forces that must be mastered to move from here to there. If non-systemic thinking
predominates, the first condition of nurturing vision is not met: a genuine belief that we can make our vision real in
the future. Systems thinking also needs the other disciplines to realize its potential. Building shared vision fosters
commitment to the long-term. Mental models focus on the openness needed to unearth shortcomings in our present
ways of seeing the world. Team learning develops the skills of groups of people to look for larger picture that lies
beyond the individual perspectives. And personal mastery fosters the personal motivation to continually learn how
our actions affect our world. Without personal mastery, people are so steeped in the reactive mindset that are
deeply threatened by the systems perspective.
Lastly, systems thinking makes understandable the subtlest aspect of the learning organization - the new way
individuals perceive themselves and their world. At the heart of a learning organization is a shift of mind - from
seeing ourselves as separate from the world to connected to the world, from seeing our problems as caused by
someone or something "out there" to seeing how our actions create the problems we experience. A learning
organization is a place where people are continually discovering how they create their reality. And how they can
change it.
Like the other disciplines, this discipline has it own set of practices and principles that must be applied to become a
master of this discipline. Systems Thinking is a discipline of seeing wholes. It is a sensibility - for the subtle
interconnectedness that gives living systems their unique character. It is the antidote to this sense of
helplessness that many feel as we enter the "age of interdependence". A discipline for seeing the "structures" that
underlie complex situations, and for discerning high from low leverage change. That is, by seeing wholes we learn
how to foster health. To do so, systems thinking offers a language that begins by restructuring how we think:
- The real leverage in most management situations lies in understanding dynamic complexity, not detail
complexity. Improving quality, lowering total costs and satisfying customers in a sustainable manner is a
dynamic problem. Unfortunately most "systems analyses" focus on detail rather than dynamic complexity.
Situations with thousands of variables and complex arrays of details can actually distract us from seeing
patterns and major interrelationships. We believe that we need detailed solutions to increasingly "complex"
problems. In fact, this is the antithesis of real systems thinking.
- The practice of systems thinking starts with understanding a simple concept called "feedback" that shows how
actions can reinforce or counteract (balance) each other. It builds to learning to recognize types of
"structures" that recur again and again. Eventually, it forms a rich language for describing a vast array of
interrelationships and patterns of change. Ultimately, it simplifies life by helping us to see the deeper patterns
lying behind the events and details. People get confused about "feedback" because we often use the word in a
somewhat different way - to gather opinions about an act we have undertaken. But in systems thinking,
feedback is a broader concept. It means any reciprocal flow of influence. It is an axiom that every influence is
both cause and effect. Nothing is ever influenced in just one direction. The human actor is part of the
feedback process, not standing apart from it. This represents a profound shift of awareness.
- Reality is made up of circles but we see straight lines. What we see depends on what we are prepared to see.
Without a language of interrelationships, a language made up of circles, our habitual ways of seeing the world
produce fragmented views and counterproductive actions, especially when we need to see beyond events and
into forces that shape change.
- In mastering systems thinking, we give up the assumption that there must be an individual, or agent
responsible. Everyone shares responsibility for problems generated by a system.
- There are two distinct types of feedback processes: reinforcing and balancing. Reinforcing (or amplifying)
feedback processes are the engines of growth and it feels we are in a situation where things are growing.
Balancing (or stabilizing) feedback operates whenever there is a goal-oriented behaviour. If the goal is not
moving , then balancing feedback will act the way the brakes in a car do. In addition, many feedback
processes contain "delays", interruptions in the flow of influences which make the consequences of actions
occur gradually. All ideas in the language of systems thinking are built up from these elements. The systems
viewpoint is generally oriented toward the long-term view. That's why delays and feedback loops are so
important. In the short terms, you can often ignore them: they're inconsequential. They only come back to
haunt you in the long term.
- System archetypes. Reinforcing feedback, balancing feedback and delays are all fairly simple. They come into
their own as building blocks for the "system archetypes" - more elaborate structures that recur in our personal
and work lives again and again.
(To appreciate the readings here, refer to pages 68-91.)
An exercise: There is a reference to the war on terrorism on pages 69-72 with a conclusion reached on the issue
towards the end of pg 72. What's your reaction to the conclusion?
Question: What has been your own reactions to this discipline? How then do you practice the discipline in your life?
Talk about it in your communities and share your reflections with us.
- Look out for brand new links on the LOPN website here!
- Display posters on tools covered in the workshops
- Sign-up here to be on the LOPN mailing list
- For archives of the newsletter and other intersting articles, click the sitemap
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2009 LOPN NEWS!
Check out the network's programmes in the coming months here.
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EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES:
Employment connections, click here.
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2009 COMMUNITY EVENTS AND CONFERENCES:
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2009 GLOBAL SOCIETY FOR ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING (SoL) AND RELATED GROUPS
 | | SOCIETY FOR ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING (SoL Global) DATES:
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"For a long time I had felt like a mouse on a corporate treadmill and I was curious to find out how the programmes was going
to provide me with some new insights and fresh perspectives. As the days unfolded, I thought the program was pleasant,
relaxing and a good opportunity to recharge the battery. It wasn't until I came home, however, when it suddenly dawned on
me that I had subtly changed. It was as if in this moment of stillness in Vermont, I had changed a lens on my mental camera
and was looking at the world in a different way. As if in a moment of connection with life and the universe, I finally understood
that our greatest power to change the world lies in our power to see beyond the veil."
- Recent Participant
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"Enhancing our capacity for generative conversation, especially in dealing with highly contentious issues, is vital in building
learning organizations. The work of Action Design is an essential foundation in building this capacity."
- Peter Senge, Society for Organizational Learning.
The work of Action Design has grown out of their immersion in deeply rooted practice traditions that combine intervention and
scholarship. A distinctive feature of the approach they have built on these foundations is that it integrates three domains:
how people interact and form relationships, how organizations function, and how individuals learn and develop. We believe
that integrating these three domains is essential to helping people create more effective organizations. The Action Design
Institute offers three-day and five-day open enrollment programs. A seminal work I find is the programme: "Creating
Productive Conversations with Chris Argyris"
"The Action Design Institute is among the most powerful developmental experiences I've had in my career. I now have tools
and approaches to help me understand dilemmas, appreciate the perspective of others and know how to help when the
conversation appears stuck. - Global Quality Manager, BP Solar. .... "I really enjoyed the Action Design workshops when I
took them but I also noticed that they had a 'time release' quality in my life. It's been a gradual process but I have actually
caught myself seeing things very differently." - An Organizational Development Director.
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Human Dynamics is the term given to new understanding of human functioning developed by Dr. Sandra Seagal and her
associates at Human Dynamics International in the course of continuing research since 1979. This investigation has involved
more than 80,000 people from over twenty-five cultures.
Dr. Seagal and her team have explored the interaction in people of three universal principles - the mental, the emotional (or
relational) and the physical (or practical). In the human system, the mental principle is related to the mind - to thinking values,
structure, focus, objectivity, perspective. The emotional principle is more subjective. It is concerned with relationships - with
feelings, communication, organization, and synthesis. The physical principle is pragmatic. It is the making, doing,
operationalizing part of us.
Of the greatest significance is the discovery that the mental, emotional and physical principles combine in a dynamic interplay
in people in specific ways, to form distinct personality dynamics or ways of being, each characterized by fundamentally
different inner process and ways of functioning in the world. Five such personality dynamics predominate in Western
cultures, and three in Eastern cultures in relatively consistent, although not equal, proportions.
The personality dynamics do not appear to be determined by culture, age or gender. They appear in every culture; they
characterize men and women in equal numbers; and they can be observed at every age level. The distinctions are so
fundamental that they can be identified even in babies.
Each personality dynamic constitutes a whole way of functioning. Members of one personality dynamic differ distinctly from
those of another personality dynamic in the way in which they process information, learn, communicate, problem-solve,
function on teams, and become stressed. Each personality dynamic has specific requirements for learning, maturing and
functioning optimally. Each has characteristic gifts and affinities. And the path of development is different for each.
To know someone's personality dynamic, therefore is to know a great deal about that person. Each person constitutes a
whole system,.
It is important to note that each personality dynamic is of equal value. Anyone of any personality dynamic may be more or
less intelligent, compassionate, skilled or gifted. And every personality dynamic has an unbounded capacity for maturation.
But the way in which the members of each personality dynamic function is completely different.
The lack of recognition of these differences in human functioning has led to much misunderstanding, conflict, and wastage of
individual and group potential - in the classroom, in the work-place, in the home. Awareness of them, however, offers new
opportunities: for greater individual self-understanding and growth; for greater understanding of others; for improved
communication and cooperation; for more effective teaching and learning; and for the conscious development of balanced
teams in which all of the personality dynamics are represented, and in which the participants are able to work in creative
synergy through consciously respecting each other's inherent processes and utilizing each other's gifts.
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For details of annual conference (Nov 2-4, 2009 (Mon-Wed)), click here.
Join Peter Senge, Linda Booth Sweeney and a diverse learning community who know why systems thinking and systems
action are now more important than ever.
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| | GREENLEAF 19TH ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE FOR SERVANT-LEADERS AND ASPIRANTS OF SERVANT | | | LEADERSHIP
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The phrase “Servant Leadership” was coined by Robert K. Greenleaf in The Servant as Leader, an essay that he first
published in 1970. In that essay, he said:
"The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious
choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is leader first, perhaps because of the
need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions…The leader-first and the servant-first are two
extreme types. Between them there are shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety of human nature."
"The difference manifests itself in the care taken by the servant-first to make sure that other people’s highest priority needs
are being served. The best test, and difficult to administer, is: Do those served grow as persons? Do they, while being
served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And, what is the
effect on the least privileged in society? Will they benefit or at least not be further deprived?"
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July 8, 2009 (Wed)
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