Seeing and shifting systems
Systems thinking, leverage, emergence and sensing.
A half day on seeing and shifting systems: systems thinking, mapping and leverage points, then what systems leaders do in complex adaptive organisations and Theory U.
- Level
- Explore
- Learning time
- 5 hours 30 minutes
- Where
- Systems Leadership
- Price
- £129
When you step up to a higher level, what you paid in the last 12 months for lower-level courses inside the bigger course comes off its price, in proportion to how much of each is inside it, whichever topic it's from. Courses at the same or a lower level don't give credit against each other. A Focus course or above always costs at least £15. Read the full terms
Certificate of Completion, or Certificate of Completion and Assessment with a short assessment
Overview and Outcomes.
Who It's For
Public service leaders working on persistent, cross-cutting problems
Overview
Leaders across public service are asked to tackle problems no single organisation can solve. This programme builds both the eyes and the practice for that work over a half day. It starts with the foundations of systems thinking, from Meadows and wicked problems to stocks and flows, the iceberg and mapping with the people affected, then works through Senge's archetypes and Meadows's leverage points. It moves to emergence and leadership: organisations as complex adaptive systems, what systems leaders actually do, Heifetz's adaptive work across boundaries, and sensing what wants to emerge through Scharmer's Theory U.
Aims
The aim is to develop leaders who can both see systems clearly and act wisely within them. It is for public service leaders working on persistent, cross-cutting problems who want to move from diagnosis to intervention, shape conditions rather than impose solutions, and help groups let go of habitual answers.
In summary, you will be able to:
- Diagnose a persistent problem using stocks and flows, feedback loops, system maps and archetypes, and identify the structures that keep it in place.
- Assess where and how to intervene using leverage points, simple rules and enabling constraints, recognising the limits of control in complex systems.
- Lead adaptive work across organisational boundaries, using practices such as the balcony, deep listening and prototyping to help groups move beyond habitual answers.
What you'll develop
Across this Explore, you will develop the ability to:
- Explain what a system is, using elements, interconnections, purpose and boundary, and distinguish tame problems from wicked ones.
- Distinguish rich pictures, causal loop diagrams and actor maps and choose the right one for the stage a group has reached.
- Describe the six common system archetypes and identify the loops, delays and side effects that drive each one.
- Explain the properties of an organisation as a complex adaptive system and compare the machine and weather models of leadership.
- Describe the core capabilities, dimensions and disciplines of systems leadership set out by Senge, Hamilton and Kania, Ghate, Lewis and Welbourn, and Senge.
- Describe the five movements of the U and Scharmer's four levels of listening, from downloading to generative.
Built from 4 parts.
5 hours 30 minutes of learning.
- 01Seeing the wholeSystems thinking and system mappingBitesize3 modules
- 02Where a small push goes farSystem archetypes and leverage pointsBitesize2 modules
- 03Leading what no one controlsComplex adaptive systems and systems leadersBitesize2 modules
- 04Sensing what wants to emergeAdaptive leadership and Theory UBitesize2 modules
Keep going.
Part of the Systems Leadership topic, also sold whole as Leading the whole system.
Go deeper, and pay only the difference
- You are hereExplore, 5 hours 30 minutes, £129
- The whole topicImmerse, Leading the whole system, 11 hours, £249. Already own the Explore? You pay £120.
When you step up to a higher level, what you paid in the last 12 months for lower-level courses inside the bigger course comes off its price, in proportion to how much of each is inside it, whichever topic it's from. Courses at the same or a lower level don't give credit against each other. A Focus course or above always costs at least £15. Prices per person. Read the full terms
Also part of: Beyond our own walls