The Art Of Thinking In Systems: Improve Your Logic, Think More Critically, And Use Proven Systems To Solve Your Problems Strategic Planning For Everyday Life pdfdrive com

How do you use systems thinking?
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Begin by asking new questions. People are naturally inclined to want to assign
blame for a problem. It is a quick and easy “fix” and it makes us feel better. It
has been said that “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and
over and expecting a different result.” While there is some debate over the origin
of this quote, it offers us important insight into systems thinking. We need to
break free from the blame game and instead be willing to ask the tougher
questions like, “What is it that we are missing?” or “What don’t we understand
about the problem?”
When you begin your systems thinking analysis, it is entirely possible that the
data and information before you will just be the tip of the iceberg. There is so
much more that you can discover beneath the surface by examining not just
events that occur, but also patterns of behavior and the structure in place
responsible for driving those behavior patterns over time.
Be sure to speak with everyone in the system so that all of their viewpoints are
represented. In the beginning, everyone will see the problem through a different
lens. It is only by being willing to listen to all perspectives that you can truly get
to the heart of the problem. Once you have gathered all of the information you
need, then you will ultimately update everyone as to your findings so that is

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possible to all be on the same page moving forward.
When you begin laying out visual representations of the problem so that you can
look at it in a new way, start with causal loop diagrams. Start out small and keep
things simple. You can always add more elements to the loop as you need them.
Keep the story broken into small, digestible parts for as long as possible without
trying to overcomplicate the loops with too many details (especially if the details
are about things totally beyond your control or inconsequential to the problem
before you). It is hoped that the causal loops will reveal connections between