Great leadership happens when we ascend our thinking above the ground floor. In other words - get out of the weeds of the individual and small group interpersonal dynamics, and start thinking systemically.
Systemic thinking is the process of observing and interpreting the way the entirety of a group of people (ex. a team, a department, a whole organization) interact and function.
The goal with systemic thinking is go beyond the focus of one person, or a small group of people within the larger sum of the group/department/organization. Instead, the focus would be on the group at large, thinking of said group as a system itself. Ask questions like "what can i observe from the dynamics of the system as a whole?", or "what is the system's part of the mess?" when it comes to leadership challenges.
Let's use a common example in our own homes to illustrate this. If Dad's unsafe driving is of concern to the family, its easy to put the focus on Dad alone. After all, he's the one with the poor driving! But simply telling Dad to stop driving is not likely to work. This will likely cause Dad to raise his guard and get defensive. It may end up achieving the opposite result, and someone could really get hurt.
We could take it to the next level and observe how Mom and Dad interact about his driving. Mom constantly scolds Dad for driving, to which Dad argues and defends himself. The result is both end up mad at each other and do not resolve the issue at hand - Dad's unsafe driving. Mom thinks Dad is being a stubborn jerk, whereas Dad thinks Mom is being overbearing and too critical of him. Dad becomes even more defensive when his driving is brought up in defense of Mom's point of view, leaving Dad to feel like the world is against him. Dad shuts down and refuses to speak with you and your siblings, while still continuing his bad driving habits.
With no success focusing on the individual and interpersonal interactions, let's try to look at the system's dynamic - the family as a whole. When we look at the family as a whole, we can observe a few things:
Daughter Daria feels Mom and others are forcefully removing Dad's independence, leaving her to empathize with her father.
Son Steven wants to see Dad stop driving but is afraid to confront him directly about it. Steven is well respected and liked by his father. Steven fears losing Dad's respect and admiration for him.
Son Stanley wants to see Dad stop driving and has no trouble telling him so. However, he does not think his mother's approach is "strong enough". Stanley wants to use the legal system to forcibly remove Dad's license to drive, and ultimately sell Dad's car. Stanley thinks he knows best, as he has always been the "protector" of the family.
Daughter Dawn wants to see dad stop driving but is not happy with how her mom or her siblings are approaching this situation. Dawn feels Mom and Stanley are being too aggressive in their approach with Dad. She also thinks Daria is standing up for Dad for the wrong reasons, knowing the result may lead to Dad's passing. Finally, she thinks Steven is not speaking up enough, and could help the situation if he expressed his concerns. Dawn holds sway as the oldest of the children but is feeling frustrated with all members of the family for not communicating better.
Why does Systemic thinking matter?
By understanding all the key stakeholders, and how they interact with each other, you can get a better idea of how the system works. Some voices speak the loudest. Other voices remain quiet. Some people may conflict with each other in front of everyone in the room, while others speak only around the water cooler to each other - complaining about what has gone on in public. The dynamics of the system are much more complex to understand, but they do offer a new set of observations and interpretations to consider.
Going back to the family example, the dynamics between Dad, Mom, and the siblings provides a whole new set of questions we can ask:
How does Daria's empathy for Dad affect the ongoing challenge of Dad driving?
How does the inaction of Steven and Dawn affect the family dynamics?
What might Dawn's view of the challenge look like if she felt more empowered to speak up? How about Steven?
How does Stanley's actions impact the rest of the family?
What might the system be tolerating (versus addressing)?
What might everyone's losses be if they changed how they approached the challenge of Dad's driving?
Who in the family holds the most informal authority?
What members of the family feel disenfranchised by another family member's actions?
The list can go on and on. But the point is this: the observations and interpretations that come from systemic thinking are data that you might otherwise have not considered in order to better take on your organization's challenges.
The Takeaways:
Your leadership skills can greatly benefit from thinking systemically. With the additional data from the system level, we can better see who needs to be involved in the process of change (aka stakeholders and their respective constituencies they hold influence over), what needs to be addressed with each stakeholder (values, loyalties, and their losses that may occur/has occurred), and how to take action on the challenges the organization faces going forward (what experiments can used with multiple interpretations to consider?).
Please note - this article is not meant to totally dismiss individual and interpersonal contributions. Rather, it is to bolster the need for more systemic thinking in addition to viewing a challenge from the previous two perspectives
If nothing else, I hope the main takeaway is this: always find more observations and interpretations to consider before taking action. That is what makes great leaders stand out from the good, the bad, and the ugly!
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