MODULE 1 & 2 SYSTEM'S THINKING

• System thinking


  Recognizing that a sum is greater than its parts — that all the pieces of an organization connect, interact and play a part in outcomes
• Systems perspective


  The opposite of "working in a silo" - a situation when individuals and teams are working on the same objective but don't communicate enough
• When to use systems thinking

  • The issue is important
  • The problem is recurring
  • The problem is familiar and has known history
  • People have unsuccessfully tried to solve the problem
• Key elements of system thinking

  • Interconnections
  • Emergence
  • Synthesis
  • Feedback loops
  • Causality
  • Systems mapping
• Characteristics of system thinkers

  • Are curious
  • Find root causes
  • Have an open mind
  • Are good listeners
• Creative thinking


  Enables a person to conceive new and innovative ideas by looking at them from a different perspective
• Analytical thinking


  Those who think analytically have a structured and methodical way of approaching tasks
• Critical thinking


  A person exercises careful evaluation or judgment
• Concrete thinking


  It's about practical thinking only, always literal, and to the point
• Abstract thinking


  Able to relate seemingly random things with each other and make the connections others find difficult to see
• Divergent thinking


  Take the path of exploring an infinite number of solutions to find one that is the most effective
• Convergent thinking


  A person will focus on finding one, well-defined outcome
• Thinking types framework

  Developed by Mark Bonchek and Elisa Steele, it looks at focus and orientation of thinking
• Levels of thinking

  • Remember
  • Understand
  • Apply
  • Analyze
  • Evaluate
  • Create
• Ways to improve thinking skills

  • Forget - Forget previous learning, keep an open mind, re-learn
  • Active - Participate and engage, take notes, ask questions
  • State - Be aware of your current mental and physical state
  • Teach - Learn by teaching
• • FOCUS - Where you typically focus most of your thinking on
• ORIENTATION - Whether your orientation of focus swings toward the micro (the details) or the macro (the big picture).
• • Interconnections - Projects and people are connected
• • Synthesis - Combining two or more things to create something new
• • Emergence - A larger idea or outcome is born from smaller parts
• • Feedback loops - Illustrate via charts or diagrams the feedback between various parts of a system
• • Causality - Looks at how one thing influences another in an interconnected system
• • Systems mapping - The chart or flow that will inform decision-making
• • Forget - Forget previous learning, keep an open mind, re-learn
• • Active - Participate and engage, take notes, ask questions
• • State - Be aware of your current mental and physical state
• • Teach - Learn by teaching
• • Remember - Recall foundational or factual information
• • Understand - Explain main ideas and concepts, make meaning
• • Apply - Recognize or use concepts in real-world situations
• • Analyze - Break a topic into components or examine from different perspectives
• • Evaluate - Make judgments based on criteria and standards
• • Create - Put elements together to form a coherent or functional whole