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Putting It All Together: Two Examples of How to Manage Systems
As we’ve said before, human systems are complex and challenging to manage. In addition, they tend to behave in counterintuitive ways. (For example, we do something to fix a problem, but the problem just seems to get worse—and it just isn’t clear why.) Understanding the different levels of perspective can help us figure out when it’s time to design systems that will generate the kinds of events—and the kind of future—that we want. Using tools like causal loop diagrams can also be a powerful way to clarify our understanding of the systems we want to work on, and to communicate that understanding with each other. Let’s consider two focused examples of how to use systems thinking to grasp and manage a complex system.
WHY DRAW A DIAGRAM?
Systems thinkers work from a central premise: If you don’t know how you’re producing certain outcomes, you’ll have great difficulty determining how to produce better outcomes! Sound obvious? Well, because social systems are so complex, this is not as easy to grasp as it seems. Still, we tend to operate our organizations as if we really knew what implications our actions will have. Worse, we often do so without the benefit of both a diagram that shows us the “wiring” of our system and the proper tools with which to conduct the operation successfully.
A diagram of the reinforcing and balancing processes at work in the system we’re interested in can be an excellent first step to figuring out how the feedback is generating behavior that we want to change. And, it can help us address problems before breakdowns actually occur. Causal loop mapping is especially powerful when done in a group—because by sharing our understanding of how a system might work, we can get a fuller picture of reality and therefore arrive at much more powerful action plans.
So, whether it is our bodies, our cars, or our organizations, preventive maintenance is a worthwhile investment. There is a great deal of systemic truth in the old adage “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” (Likewise, “an ounce of systems diagrams are worth a pound of quick fixes”!)