‘Continuing to do what we are currently doing but doing it harder or smarter is not likely to produce very different outcomes. Real change starts with recognizing that we are part of the systems we seek to change. The fear and distrust we seek to remedy also exist within us – as do the anger, sorrow, doubt, and frustration. Our actions will not become more effective until we shift the nature of the awareness and thinking behind the actions.’
— Senge, Hamilton and Kania
Taking a Systems View
Organisations are often like icebergs with large portions hidden beneath the surface. These under-the surface elements include taken for granted beliefs and assumptions, norms and ways of seeing the world, in what has been called the ‘deep structure’ of organisations. These structures are not simply characteristics of individuals they are shaped by underlying social institutions and what has been called ‘institutional logics’ — organising principles and rules of belonging that shape what we see as important and legitimate.
Examples of deep institutional structures include the logics and values of financialised global capitalism, and those of patriarchal systems. Embedded in language, symbols, and norms and routines of behaviour, they ‘reflect power dynamics and keep them in place and, have an impact on decision-making and action’.
Deep organisational structures can act as ‘informal constraints’ on people’s behaviours, impede the functioning of the group and can ‘fail to correct the mistakes of their members.’ So, if we are interested in fostering a culture of learning and belonging, it is important to consider not just the above-the-surface ways of doing things, but also to surface and challenge what may lie below.
This part of the Blue Box, helps you to begin to think in a systems way, by introducing the thinking of some people that have studied and worked in a Systems Perspective for over 30 years:
Peter Senge and his colleagues at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Barry Oshry and his colleagues at Power and Systems Inc.
The purpose…….to get you thinking!
Watch the videos below from Peter Senge on Systems Thinking.
Senge on Systems
In his book “The Fifth Discipline”, Peter Senge outlines 11 Laws that will help you to understand business systems and to identify behaviours for addressing complex business problems.
- Today’s problems come from yesterday’s solutions
- The harder you push, the harder the system pushes back
- Behaviour grows better before it grows worse
- The easy way out usually leads back in
- The cure can be worse than the disease
- Faster is slower
- Cause and effect are not closely related in time & space
- Small changes can produce big results, but areas of the highest leverage are often least obvious
- You can have your cake and eat it too but not all at once. Not either/or, but both and -allow time for solutions to work
- Dividing an elephant in half does not product two small elephants
- There is no blame
Reflective Practice
Resource: Mapping Complexity in Your System
Where does this feel similar to your organisation?
Where does it feel different?
What do you see as the systemic factors that impact the Malta Allied Health Directorate as a learning organisation?
Make notes on each of the circles on the model and have a conversation with your Thinking Partner about what you have learned.
Seeing The People in The System
In his book Seeing Systems, Barry Oshry talks about Tops, Middles, Bottoms and Customers. On first reading I wondered if this was just too simple in terms of helping to understand the tangle, the drama and the chaos that can be organisational life.
However, if you want to get the full impact of the learning then reading the complete book is recommended. There are a number of headlines that can really support a different way of seeing things and understanding and developing empathy for others.
The central tenet of the book is that in certain interactions we are either Tops, Middles, Bottoms or Customers. Tops have overall responsibility for some piece of the action, Bottoms are on the receiving end of initiatives over which they have no control, and Middles are caught between conflicting demands and priorities. And in other interactions we are Customers, looking to some other person or group for a product or service we need.
So, even in the most complex, multi-level, multifunctional organisations, we are all constantly moving in and out of Top/Middle/Bottom/Customer conditions and contexts.
Click to engage with Barry’s thinking: What lies beneath, a human systems perspective:
https://www.quality-equality.com/what-lies-beneath-a-human-systems-perspective
Reflective Practice
Create a one-hour session with your Thinking Partner and each take turns to reflect on the consequences of reading the handout. What do you each think you need to change?
Finally send the document to everyone in your team (irrespective if you line mange the people or not) and ask them to reflect which of the types the most identify with. Thereafter get them together for an 90-120 minutes and using Rules of Engagement hear from each person.
You should go last, and then ask them what they would like to change that is within the gift of the team in terms of how they relate.
Resource: Seeing Systems