Systems Thinking

How to recognise and avoid potential problems in complex situations

Have you noticed that many solutions that are implemented in your organisation somehow create more problems that they solve?

Like a money-saving solution turning into a losing-money problem.

You can see this happening in many business areas - in manufacturing, operations, human resource, information technology, marketing and management. Done with good intentions, many of these solutions eventually turn into problems and unintended consequences.

This situation can be avoided if you know how good solutions become potential problems.

This workshop will show you how to use systems thinking tools to recognise system patterns that lead to problems and how you can avoid them.

Systems Thinking

In today's world, there are many changes that are creating tremendous shifts in our lives, institutions and organisations. While these changes bring benefits to our lives, they also bring chaos and problems into our society.

To solve these problems, most of us use analytical thinking. We break down the problems into their smallest elements and attempt to solve each one separately. But this does not give long-term solutions as the elements are interlinked. Changing one will affect another.

By shifting to systems thinking, we move away from seeing single elements, functions and events, to seeing the processes in which they inter-relate with one another. It is through this process of thinking that will help us find more effective and longer-term solutions to our complex problems.

From an early age, we are taught to break apart problems in order to make complex tasks and subjects easier to deal with. But this creates a bigger problem. We lose the ability to see the consequences of our actions and we lose a sense of connection to a larger whole.
Peter Senge, The Fifth Discipline

Benefits

At the end of this workshop, you will be able to:

• Understand the characteristics of systems
• Draw causal loops that will help you analyse system flows
• Manage your business using systems thinking archetypes
• Foresee possible unintended consequences
• Improve your organisation's objectives and functions
• Recognise and avoid potential problems in complex situations

Who should attend

This workshop is designed for business managers, executives, problem solvers, school principals and heads of department interested in using systems thinking tools for problem solving and improving systems flows. 

Registration

If you need more information or you like to attend the Systems Thinking workshop, please fill in the form below and we will email you the workshop details: