Introduction
Systems Thinking is an approach that helps groups to understand complex systems by examining their patterns, relationships, and influences. It allows groups to gain a deeper shared understanding of the bigger picture and how different elements interact with each other, which can lead to innovative solutions and effective change.
What is a System?
A system is an interconnected set of elements organised to achieve a goal. Every system, whether the human body or a sports team, has unique components, connections, and objectives. For instance, the digestive system comprises various organs that work together to break down food and extract nutrients.
Systems Thinking Principles
These principles can provide insight and understanding to help navigate complex systems effectively.
Wholeness:
A system should be viewed as a whole rather than a collection of parts. This principle emphasises understanding the entirety of a system, recognising that its components interact and contribute to its overall behaviour. Just as a cat’s behaviour cannot be fully grasped by examining its organs, a system’s functioning is best understood as a cohesive entity.
Interconnectedness:
All parts are interconnected, and each part relies on something else to survive. Just as humans depend on air, food, and water, systems rely on various elements for their existence. This interconnectedness fosters feedback loops, wherein changes in one part of the system can reverberate throughout, either reinforcing or balancing its states. Acknowledging these interdependencies is crucial for comprehending a system’s dynamics.
Feedback:
Systems are nonlinear, and understanding how feedback works is vital. Feedback mechanisms play a crucial role in regulating system behaviour, either amplifying or dampening changes within the system. By recognising and analysing feedback loops, one can gain insight into the system’s stability and adaptability, thereby facilitating effective interventions or adjustments.
Emergence:
Complex behaviour can arise from the interaction of simple components. Much like how new conditions emerge from the interaction of elements within a system, complex behaviours or properties can emerge from the interplay of its constituent parts. This principle underscores the importance of considering emergent phenomena when studying or managing systems, as they may exhibit behaviours not readily predictable from the characteristics of their individual components.
Multiple Perspectives:
Considering different perspectives can lead to better systems initiatives. Embracing multiple perspectives allows for deepening the shared understanding of a system. By incorporating diverse viewpoints, stakeholders can uncover hidden dynamics, identify potential risks or opportunities, and develop more robust strategies for managing or improving the system. This principle encourages inclusivity and collaboration, recognising the value of varied expertise and experiences in tackling complex systemic challenges.
Systems Mapping Activity
Causal loop diagrams are valuable aids in visualising and understanding systemic dynamics. These diagrams delineate the subtle relationships between variables, illuminating feedback loops, delays, and emergent behaviours within a system. Through collaborative exploration, teams can gain deeper insights into the systemic forces at play, paving the way for informed decision-making and strategic interventions.
Preparation:
Draft a problem statement, gather the team, organise the venue, prepare materials, and circulate any prereading before the session to ensure everyone is well-prepared.
- Draft problem statement – We typically use the How Might We… format. Your statement might change during the session, but having a starting point to focus attention is useful.
- Gather the team – You can run this collaborative activity with groups as small as three and for as many as your space allows. The sweet spot is between 5 and 8 people. So once you have over eight, divide participants into subteams. Think about forming a well-rounded team with diverse perspectives, strong commitment, and practical insights. The ideal participants for a system mapping activity should be:
- deeply informed about the problem;
- directly impacted by the outcomes;
- genuinely interested in the topic;
- personally invested in its success;
- And likely to play a role in implementing the solutions.
- Organise the venue – You need a venue that allows enough space for subgroups to gather comfortably around tables while also being able to see each other and the facilitator at a central point.
- Prepare materials – Preprinted systems circle canvas for each subgroup. We recommend A1 size at a minimum. If you have to work with groups larger than 8, the A0 size works better. Participants each required a pack of small sticky notes and a thin black marker. Each subgroup needs 3-4 thin coloured markers, one thick highlighter, and a pack of large rectangular sticky notes.
- Circulate prereading – Before the session, share the aim, agenda and any additional prereading. Depending on the issue’s complexity, the participants’ background understanding, and the time you have for the session, you may need to circulate prereading. However, our preference is to keep this to a minimum. If you have to explain too much of the issue, you may not have the right people in the session.
Step 1: Welcome and Open | 15 – 30m
Bring the group together, share the purpose (using your issue or opportunity statement), and confirm timings. Outline the activity process, desired outcomes, and how this activity fits into any broader initiatives. Run a check-in activity and invite everyone to share a word or two, commenting on the goal and the process or behaviours that will be important to make the session successful.
Step 2: Deciding the Arena | 5-15m
This step further defines the exploration arena. It involves groups selecting a specific system, arena, or problem space to explore together. With larger groups, you might explicitly invite subgroups to focus their work on different aspects of the larger problem/opportunity.
You can share a springboard story to better orient the group to the problem space, invite key speakers to share different perspectives to inspire new thinking, or dive straight in and allocate problem/opportunity statements to each group as their arena.
Step 3: Capture the Elements | 5-15m
With the arena defined, participants begin brainstorming the various elements or variables that make up the system. Define elements as things in the system that can increase or decrease and be measured somehow. On small sticky notes, participants jot down elements and place them around the circle on the canvas.
Here’s a template you can use; Systems Links Canvas.
Give some relevant examples to bring the concept alive. Things like “customer satisfaction,” “stock level,” or “communication transparency” can all increase or decrease. Another way of thinking about these elements is as things you can measure: time, quality, volume, ratios, costs, numbers, etc.
Explain that the goal is to quickly generate a list of elements or variables related to the chosen system. Have participants use the write, stick, say method to capture elements. Set up the activity as generative, not evaluative. You don’t have to agree on the elements at this stage; just capture them. Explain that you are going for volume quickly and that the groups will have a chance to check quality and refine it later. Explain the three steps. If you think of an element, write it on a note, stick it on the canvas and then say what you wrote out loud – don’t explain it, just read it out. This process limits duplicates, invites balanced contribution, enables builds and alterations from each other’s thinking and generates a high volume of outputs in a short period by removing the evaluation element.
Check understanding, set groups on their task and monitor time. You want all groups to have around 20 elements on their canvas. Once they do, have them go back and check the quality of their elements. Ensure they are written neutrally as a measure that could increase or decrease. If the group has more than can comfortably fit around the circle canvas, have them deprioritise a few.
Step 4: Connect the Elements | 20m
Once the variables have been identified, participants move on to the next step: drawing connections to show causation. Describe the two different causal links and show how to represent each. Same direction relationships are where one variable moves in a direction and the other moves in the same direction. Represent these by drawing a line connecting the variables with an arrowhead at one end to show direction and an (S) symbol to show the type of causation. For example, in the case of smoking and lung cancer, same direction relationships would be represented by an arrow pointing from the smoking variable to the lung cancer variable, indicating that as smoking increases, the risk of lung cancer also increases.
Use an (O) symbol to represent opposite direction relationships. These show situations where one variable changes and another changes in the opposite direction. For instance, when studying the relationship between exercise and weight, we show an opposite direction relationship with an arrow pointing from the exercise variable to the weight variable, indicating that increasing exercise leads to a corresponding decrease in weight.
When they identify elements with causal connections but the action and impact seem delayed, explain that this can be shown by drawing two parallel lines across the connection, indicating a pause. [//]
Invite groups to start drawing in their connections and discussing them as they do. Once again, give permission for groups to draw multiple connections that they might not all agree on. Explain that the discussion here is most important, and the purpose is to raise collective awareness and understanding of not only what actually happens in the system but also what each other thinks happens in the system.
Check understanding, set groups on their task and monitor time. You want all groups to have made many connections on their canvas.
During this step, you guide the group in stages. The first stage is to ensure they understand and can represent the different types of causation. The next stage is for them to all be engaged and draw potential connections between variables. The final stage is encouraging them to start capturing multi-point causation stories. This is where one variable impacts another, which then impacts a third, etc.
Step 5: Notice the Trends | 10-20m
As the diagram takes shape, participants step back to observe the emerging patterns and trends. They look for feedback loops—cycles of cause and effect that either reinforce or balance each other within the system. These loops may reveal areas of growth or stagnation, as well as potential leverage points for intervention.
This point in the process is an opportunity to explore system archetypes. A system archetype is a pattern or structure that helps us understand how a complex system behaves. It is a valuable tool for identifying issues and solutions in a system. Different types of archetypes describe different relationships and behaviours within a system. Understanding these patterns can help teams address problems more effectively. If you have this background knowledge, you can bring it in and invite participants to identify potential archetypes in play. If not, keep the discussion general and ask the group to notice patterns of repeated behaviour that seem important. Here are some questions to ask groups to consider:
- What recurring patterns or trends seem most significant?
- Are there any variables or relationships that have a disproportionate impact on the system as a whole?
- Are there any elements in the map that influence each other in a circular or feedback loop?
- Can you describe any instances where the system behaves in a way that surprises you or goes against expectations?
- Based on the observed patterns, are parts of the system particularly resilient or vulnerable?
- Can you identify any areas of growth or stagnation based on the feedback loops you see?
- Do any elements in the system counterbalance each other? How might this affect the system’s behaviour?
- Do you see any similarities between the observed behaviour of the system and known system archetypes?
- How might understanding these patterns help us address challenges or identify opportunities for intervention within the system?
Step 6: Capture Insights | 10-20m
Finally, participants discuss and capture insights gleaned from the Systems Mapping exercise. They reflect on the relationships and feedback loops identified, considering how they might impact the system’s functioning as a whole. Through this dialogue, participants uncover new perspectives, insights, and potential next steps for driving positive change. Have them discuss and capture their responses to questions like these:
- What did you learn from mapping the system together?
- What are the most critical insights to take into action?
- What tangible steps might we take to make a positive impact?
Step 7: Review and Close | 15-30m
As the Systems Mapping activity ends, participants gather for a final debrief. Invite them to reflect and capture their final thoughts about the topic, collaborative experience, or next steps. Run a final checkout activity to share their final thoughts. Thank the group, link to the next steps in the broader initiative, and close the session.
Harnessing the Power of Systems Thinking
Through activities like Systems Mapping, participants can unlock a deeper understanding of their systems, uncovering insights to drive meaningful change and innovation.
To find out more about how to upskill your leaders in facilitation, codesign or for support with your next codesign project, reach out to us via info@soji.com.au.
Photo by olena ivanova on Unsplash
