Systems
It is sometimes the case that I find myself returning to a subject about which I have written before. Upon reflection, perhaps in a different context, I realize that my perspective is faulty or incomplete. It becomes necessary, then, to take up the topic again and examine it from different angles in order to find what else I might learn from my explorations. On occasion, this exercise reveals a glimpse of knowledge previously hidden from me.
This process is central to systems thinking, a way of studying phenomena in order to perceive and understand the interconnected, interdependent, interrelated components of a complex whole. At its core, systems thinking employs the essential management skills of analysis and synthesis. One breaks apart a process into its component subsystems and elements before reassembling it. This approach is central to problem solving and innovation. It takes the function of workflow in an organization context to a macro level. It is critical to developing and testing theories about why things operate in the manner in which they do.
My recent application of systems thinking is personal. I was wondering whether my physical condition is a function of natural aging, flawed design, or planned obsolescence. I suspect I will conclude that some combination of all three contributes to conditions that necessitate my use of prescription drugs and medical devices to carry on the routines of daily living.
The human body is a system of systems. I was exposed to these in high school biology class: the skeletal system; the circulatory systems; the digestive system; the nervous system; etc. More recently, I have been fascinated by what has been learned about the contributions of the human biome to my health. I am not only providing nutrients my body needs to function optimally when I eat; I am feeding the microbes that call my body home. I am an ecosystem and I am responsible for sustaining it.
When I step back from myself in order to take a wide-angle view, I recognize that my appreciation for the body as a complex system of interrelated systems and processes is incomplete. I am a social animal, one whose existence requires connections with others.
I spend a significant number of my waking hours engaged in the life of an organization offering local government programs in a community. My effectiveness in that role depends in part on my recognizing the organization as comprising processes and people that intersect at critical junctures with a goal of providing essential services in an efficient and responsive manner.
If I see the organization only in terms of its component departments, I risk overlooking the nodes at which the departments intersect with one another. In what ways do public works and public safety work together to accomplish their respective missions? How do they depend on finance operations in order to obtain necessary resources?
I must drill down further in my analysis to see departments in terms of the individuals employed to perform the day-to-day tasks central to the departments' operations. What motivates the police chief to show up to work each day? What is the nature of the relationship between the public works director and the laborers he supervises? What do they need and expect from me?
I find that I need to step back still further to comprehend the environment within which the local government is situated. It is an institution in a community and interacts with other institutions and organizations: county government; the school system; the Chamber of Commerce; an economic development agency; and more. From an even wider vantage point, I recognize the role of state government in local finances and in adopting statutes that determine what local government can and cannot do.
Systems thinking positions the local government organization within the broader context of the national economy. There is competition for labor influenced in part by the demand for and supply of skills sought across sectors. The organization is also affected by a political environment and traditional and social media that highlight discord and dysfunction, driving prospective candidates to seek jobs in other fields.
At some point in the analysis or a system, the number of data points becomes unmanageable and some generalization must occur. Shortcuts will be taken. I will settle for good enough.
There is a question that remains, however, when considering the nature of systems thinking: how does an executive gain proficiency in performing it? I am not certain I have a satisfactory answer. I suspect, like most skills and techniques, one gets better through practice. In order to know to practice, however, one must first develop a systems thinking mindset. One must get in the habit of looking for relationships and connections. One must continually ask why something works the way it does and what opportunities exist to make it work better. This will be an iterative process, one that requires drilling down to ever lower levels while simultaneously pulling back to gain a higher vantage point.
Effectiveness in using systems thinking, because of the inherent complexity of things worthy of analysis and synthesis, will require searching for those junctures that are most critical to the system's operations and which will offer the greatest opportunity, when changed, to generate the most beneficial impacts. One must avoid change for change's sake and focus one's time and energy on what will optimize the use of resources in furtherance of one's goals.
This perspective, this mindset, can be brought to an examination of the human body, the organization, the community, and beyond.