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Applying

The observant reader has noticed a change in the title of this blog. Do you see the change? I have changed it because I want to emphasize the application of systems thinking even more. Thinking high and lofty thoughts are not enough. I am interested in changing the way things are to the better.

One reader asked me: what do you offer? I gave it a thought. I like to solve problems and find new ways. As a consultant I have many years of experience of building IT-systems to solve problems. But there is a bigger perspective. Information technology can produce a lot of “waste”; information that does not add real value.  They can also just reinforce bad ways of doing things. It is better to do right things than to do less of wrong things.

You are in a situation and you are not satisfied. There is a problem, an undesired behaviour or you want to move on and find new ways of doing things.  How can you proceed?

System behaviour

When we are looking for solutions, we have a tendency to single out one or two possible causes and attempt to correct them. We fail to see the big perspective and because of this, our solution does not lead to long-term change. It is as if what we trying to change have an inherent resistance to change. After a while things revert to the old conditions or get worse. We fail to see that material and immaterial things around us: habits, machines, people, programs, attitudes and culture are connected to each other and form a system. Different parts of this system depend on each other and interact. It is the system that probably produces the undesired behaviour and not a single part, a single process or a single person. I can help you to identify the relevant perspective.

We have a tendency to focus on certain details (abstractions) for optimization. This can be negative for other parts and for the whole. What we call side-effects are ordinary effects, just like the effects we desire. The abstraction exists only in our minds. For example, we have focused on transportation and considered pollution a side-effect. But this “side-effect” is biting us badly now.

Time

We need to increase the boundaries of the area we study and take into account the time factor. Systems have inertia and different parts interact through feedback. Changing one part might produce something unexpected in another part. Consequences might take a sudden turn and not behave as nice and calm as we thought.

We should recognize properties of connections and relationships as having real importance, just like the properties of the parts. Some strenghts only exist because of relationships. People are not like a container of competence that you can move around. We often talk about employees as resources. If you reorganize, have you considered what will happen with the relationships of trust within groups of people?

Leverage points

There are places in this mix of parts and connections where you can get the most long term change with minimal effort. These points are sometimes not so obvious and perhaps counter-intuitive. The discipline systems thinking calls these places leverage points. Efficient problem solving is done by studying the whole system and finding the leverage points. I can help you to find these leverage points.

Problem solving can result in a redesign of a system. It can also mean that we learn to navigate more efficiently in a system we cannot change. Actually we can control much less of our environment than we think.

How to do it

There is a practical approach of how to efficiently solve problems. It can be done with a series of meetings or modelling sessions where a group of people together with a facilitator meet. The facilitator guides the group through the process and together they co-create the solution. The outcome might be a process map, a vision statement, an informational model or just a bunch of good ideas. The dialogue during the sessions is very important. The journey is just as valuable as the result. By working together a shared view of the problem and the solution is built. I can help you by guiding you through the problem solving sessions.

Computer model

The system dynamics discipline takes it a step further by attempting to make a computer model of the relevant part of the system. During the modelling sessions we build a flight simulator where different policies that can be tested and evaluated. It may sound strange that is can be useful to build computer models with “soft” variables. But even a limited model is of great value, since during the work hidden assumptions are made visible. A shared “live” graphical model says more than thousands words and can be of great help in to learn to think systemic in a situation.

So what do I offer? I offer you help in solving problems and finding new ways by applying systems thinking.

My work with system dynamics triggered an interest in the broad perspectives of economy. Almost everything we do is affected by economic thinking or activity, whether we like it or not. And if we want to change how things operate, economic incentives are powerful.

Economics course

Because of this awakened interest I will take courses in National Economics the coming two terms. The courses will touch on micro- and macroeconomics, international and political economics. I would like to move inside the economic thinking and understand the underlying models and assumptions . I felt the best way for me to do that was to steep myself in economics with an open and curious mind; a better alternative than just peek into it with preconceived ideas. I have started reading the course literature (Parkin, Economics for example) and I can’t avoid noticing the authors’ enthusiasm and faith in the market economy principles.

Reinforces itself

You could think of the economic principles of supply and demand (Adam Smith) and model of the “economic man” that acts out of self-interest as facts; “this is how reality and man is”. Or perhaps “this is a very true model of reality”. This way of thinking developed over time and formed a culture inhabited with people that acts according to it. Institutions like stock markets, banks etc that supports the economic paradigm have evolved and shaped the way man thinks and act. Things work the way they do because we have made them to work that way. It is hard to tell what is cause and what is effect. The thinking reinforces itself. It produces people that behaves accordingly, like a self-fulfilling prophecy. We stand in the middle of this universe we have created and believe that this is the natural way the world operates.

Part of a something greater

The economic principles are part of a dynamic social system and we have the possibilities to influence it and change it. Some say that economics should be considered by itself, separate from other areas. Perhaps that is true; you simplify and make it understandable. But this dividing up and analytical approach is also an assumption and just one approach. It will be very interesting to go deeper into economics with a system perspective. We can work on uncovering the hidden assumptions, combining ideas and promoting a holistic perspective.

Solving problems – economic incentives

I am very interested in how you can make policy changes the most effective way. If you have situation where people act in a certain way and you want to change it, what are the leverage points, the most efficient areas to alter? Economic incentives are likely to come up often. How do we solve  problems? We can have dreams about sustainability, but how can we actually make them come true? Understanding the economics part of the system is truly important .

So wish me good luck on this journey! I will report as I proceed.

Other posts about similar things you might want to read:
Me, a student
Systems dynamics learnings so far

Playing music

This year I celebrate 10 years as bass player. I haven’t blogged much about bass playing or music lately, but my band is quite active and keeps on playing at restaurants and parties in our region. I started with music because I wanted to try something new. I had no particular experience from younger years and it was scary in the beginning. All the other guys in the band had several years of experience, but all turned out very well.

Learning new things

This musical journey did something for my life, besides giving me a fun hobby. It showed me the possibilities and the joy of learning new things. It is easy to get stuck with the things you master or are familiar with. You operate safely within known limits. Dare to step out! This will keep your life fresh: every once in a while launch out into unfamiliar territory. I challenge the view that the older you get, the harder it is to learn something new!

Wholeness

Another thing bass playing did for me, was to open my eyes to wholeness and systems thinking. This may sound strange to you, but it is true. Music is primarily a right-brain activity and much of the ability to see the whole resides there. My first approach to playing music was a typical left-brain approach. I learned what to play piece by piece. My “linear” mind was very present in every step. I kept myself like to a rail road track. But as I moved on I found something different. I noticed that there could be a creative flow, birthed in each moment in which I could express myself. Together with other musicians you are part of a whole and your flowing together creates music. The whole is more than the sum of the parts. This is an incredible interesting area. I believe that by participating  in musical activity you nourish your own ability to understand and navigate in the systems that surrounds us, a much needed ability in these days.

And art?

Giving attention to music opened up a new perspective for me.  It  enhanced other areas in my life, like creativity and problem solving. Some time ago I asked myself; what if I push this a little further? Music is just one form of creative expressions. I suffer from a slight degree of colour-blindness (green-red). One day I realized that I hadn’t really paid attention to (man-made) art and design because of that. When it came to design I often let someone else do the work. I chose to handle the functional and practical aspect. I have always enjoyed nature. Walking slowly, just looking at all the beauty around is so refreshing. But man-made art has been a white spot.

Going further

I said to myself; what new perspectives will open up if I start to pay attention to form, colour and beauty. Perhaps there is a border possible to cross here. So I started paying attention and you know what …here is new, exciting territory I haven’t visited before. Fascinating! It is strange how you can look at things and don’t really see. Art has been an inseparable part of human history for as long as we know. Music is one of the expressions of the heart of man and art is the same. It is like a palette with many colours. I believe that art is a very necessary part of our culture and of our lives.

I am not limited by my background or by already discovered natural talents or absence of talents. Who am I? I am crossing a border. I am changing. Anybody out there doing this journey also?

Other posts about this subject you might want to read:
Musicians and systems thinking

Today I read an interesting article in the March issue of Systems Thinker. It is titled A Systemic Path to Lean Management by Thomas Johnson. He exposes the heart of Toyota’s Lean thinking and why so many have failed to follow their example.  Businesses have achieved temporary improvements, but the long term average for most of them has not been satisfying. Toyota on the other hand has managed to continuously improve their performance over a long time.

Go deeper

What is the difference? The reason for failure is, according to Johnson, that the Lean practitioners do not go deep enough and change their underlying thinking. The followers emulate, but does not see the system change needed. Most managers believe that to increase output they can manipulate the separate parts of the business operation independently. The prevalent idea is that the financial results is an linear addition of the contribution of the parts. A company could almost be condensed to, expressed in and controlled by a spreadsheet of financial results. The company is viewed as a machine.

When the management try to improve financial results, they will probably destroy relationships; the core of true business. They might have short term improvements, but the results will be devastating in the long run. This way of thinking of a company is influenced by the old concepts of Physics about mechanical processes and has been erroneously transferred to social systems.

A living social system

This is not the Toyota way, according to Johnson. They build their business as a system that itself naturally produces results. Business is most of all a human living social system, a system of relationships and improvement lies in nurturing and reinforcing the system of relationships that produces the desired results, ultimately for the customers.

Accounting

Johnson challenges the usual management accounting practises, by saying that one-dimensional quantities can only describe a living system. They cannot successfully be used to explain what is going on or used to control multidimensional interactions going on in the business. Toyota dispenses with the usual production control and accounting control for daily operation. They do it differently. Johnson says:

The prevalence of management accounting control systems in American business probably contributes more than any single thing to the confusion of levels that causes managers to believe they can run operations mechanically by chasing financial targets, not by nurturing and improving the underlying system of human relationships from which such results emerge.

This is very interesting stuff, isn’t it? Lean thinking and systems thinking, hand in hand. It deserves a closer look, especially how Toyota implements it. Does Johnson have a too idealistic view of Toyota? He continues to discuss this subject in Profit beyond Measure. This book ended up in my wish list at Amazon immediately.

I have been busy studying system dynamics during the last few months and I have invested almost every spare hour into modelling scenarios of different characters. The course at UNESCO have come to an end. I have only good words to say about it and the head of the course, Juan Garcia.

The course started with a short theory part followed by a number of modelling exercises. I put some extra work into the practical modelling and policy testing to really digest it. The exercises consisted of descriptive text and a careful guide how to go about modelling it in Vensim. There were also a number of questions to be answered to deepen your understanding. I found it very challenging and rewarding to work from the text and I tried to do as much modelling as possible before following the guide. I had many interesting conversations with the professor why things behave as they do.

I strongly believe that in order to really understand systems thinking you have to study system dynamics. It is not enough to read about archetypes and general systems solutions. I also believe that in order to understand system dynamics you have to do practical modelling on your own. Not until you have wrestled with trying to express real situations or textual descriptions in a dynamic model you will begin to understand with the meaning that you see things in a new way. It is like learning a new, richer language.

I continue my system dynamics studies by working my way through the Jay Forrester DVD seminar and it is very rewarding. I highly recommend it.

My top resources among those listed here for system dynamics so far are:

Sterman, Business Dynamics – Systems Thinking and Modeling for a Complex World

Morecroft, Strategic Modelling and Business Dynamics

Meadows, Thinking in Systems

Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya and practical work with Vensim

Jay Forrester PhD Seminar in System Dynamics, DVD, 11 disc set

Other posts about this subject you might want to read:
System Dynamics Video course
Update on the system dynamics course
Me, a student

In an interesting article in Culture Change called “Living now, naturally and sustainably via relocalizing“, Dave Ewoldt traces the root of our global crisis back to a fundamental disconnection from the natural world.

He describes the dominator paradigm that our industrial civilization has been built upon.

The systemic root of our disconnection from nature can be directly traced to the dominator paradigm which started conquering and subverting egalitarian cultures 6-8,000 years ago, and was firmly ensconced by 2,000 BC. As detailed by author Riane Eisler, this paradigm consists of force-based ranking hierarchies of control (humans over nature, men over women, one race over another) that are built on and maintained by fear.

In this paradigm individualism reigns and “the others” are thought of as inferior and thus morally acceptable to exploit for personal profit. We in our civilization, even assume that we must use this control for the sake of human progress and prosperity.

The root has to be removed. A fundamental change of paradigm is needed.  The antidote is to reconnect with nature in a systemic way.

Healthy ecosystems can be looked to for providing the models and metaphors humans require for becoming sustainable and creating mutually supportive relationships.

Sustainability is a key. The author defines it as

integrating our social and economic lives into the environment in ways that tend to enhance or maintain ecosystems rather than degrade or destroy them; a moral imperative to pass on our natural inheritance, not necessarily unchanged, but undiminished in its ability to meet the needs of future generations; finding, and staying within, the balance point amongst population, consumption, and waste assimilation where bioregions, watersheds and ecosystems maintain their ability to recharge and regenerate.

The other antidote is to relocalize

In the human built environment and in the social institutions we create, the process to become sustainable — to holistically integrate our activities with the natural world — is provided by a systemic concept known as relocalization. This is the antithesis as well as the antidote to corporate globalization. Relocalization includes the concepts that we must rebuild our local economies to be self-reliant; recapture our sense of place and belonging; reclaim our sovereignty; and restore our communities of mutual support.

The author describes the need to return to local autonomy, to bio-regional networks of interdependence where production and distribution of food, goods, services and energy is as close to the point as consumption as possible. Living organisms have a strong tendency to self-organize into mutually supportive relationships. Nature is resilient and we need to build our society that way.

Using the four core Natural Systems Principles — mutual support and reciprocity, no waste, no greed, and increasing diversity — to inform the process of relocalization, we can replace the dominator paradigm with a paradigm of partnership, and we can overcome and heal our disconnection and separation from the web of life.

Reconnecting to nature and relocalizing are effective strategies for the future, according to the author. The dominator paradigm should be changed to a partnership paradigm.

Here are some more articles published by Dave Ewoldt.

I believe the main reason we have to start thinking in this direction is that we live embedded in a larger system. Our civilization is part of something bigger, whether we like it or not. We can perhaps create our own rules to a certain extent and for a period of time, but sooner or later the laws of the surrounding system will enforce themselves.

We like to look at things in small and understandable pieces and we trace simple paths from cause to effect. We see the causes of our problems as something “out there”, instead of something “in here”. In reality our band-aid solutions only creates further problems, because our perspective is too narrow. Our only real option is to see ourselves in a bigger context and find out, cooperate with and learn from the surrounding system..

How could relocalizing be expressed concretely for a country or a city? What steps could we take to realize it?

Other posts about this subject you might want to read:
Ishmael
The necessity of diversity
Connecting to nature

A few days ago I found a parcel from the System Dynamics Society in my mailbox. No surprise, because I can’t stop looking for interesting sources regarding systems thinking. The System Dynamics Society has a DVD series with a PhD seminar in System Dynamics with Jay Forrester from 1999. The series consists of 11 sessions, one DVD for each session. Each session is 3 hours long. You also get a CD with recommended readings (pdf format) for each session. Jay Forrester is the father of System Dynamics, which is in many ways, is foundational to systems thinking. This first DVD was very interesting. The series will be a nice complement to the course from UNESCO which is very hands-on. I like to hear and read about a subject from different viewpoints.

The series consists of
A  What is System Dynamics?
B  World Dynamics
C  Corporate Growth
D  Non-linearity
E  Theory Underlying Modeling
F  Group Model Building
G  Confidence in Models
H  The National Model
I  Ethics in Modeling
J  System Dynamics in Management Education
K The Future of System Dynamics

In a few days a PSL course will start in Stockholm with me as one of the participants. PSL means Problem Solving Leadership and this is what it’s all about.

For 34 years, Jerry Weinberg has continuously kept improving the Problem Solving Leadership workshop, which he invented together with his anthropologist wife Dani Weinberg back in 1974. The almost week-long (sunday to friday) workshop is about how to think and act clearly, creatively, and congruently – even in chaotic situations. Johanna Rothman and Esther Derby are co-hosting the PSL workshop with Jerry. Esther and Johanna are both internationally renowned consultants and writers; but most importantly for this workshop: they are the best facilitators there are for this setting. One thing should be stated early about PSL: there are no powerpoint slides, there is not even a projector. The PSL workshop is about simulations, observations, and reflections, while solving hard problems with others. This is multichannel communication. This is experiential learning.

Sounds exciting, doesn’t it! Jerry Weinberg wrote the book Introduction to General Systems Thinking and I know that he as well as the other leaders on this course are people that apply systems thinking.

We have many interesting initiatives in Sweden; I have written about Tällberg Foundation earlier. We also have the Stockholm Resilience Centre, which was started in January 2007. It is an international centre that focuses on research for governance of social-ecological systems with a special emphasis on resilience. The term social-ecological means that humans  must be seen as a part of, not apart from, nature.

What is resilience? Wikipedia says:

Resilience is the property of a material to absorb energy when it is deformed elastically and then, upon unloading to have this energy recovered.

Stockholm Resilience Centre defines it this way:

Resilience refers to the capacity of a social-ecological system both to withstand perturbations from for instance climate or economic shocks and to rebuild and renew itself afterwards.

A resilient system is prepared for change and can deal with it and survive. It bounces back after challenges and shocks. Its goals are sustainability. Nature is designed this way.

Most of our man-made systems have developed in the other direction. We desire efficiency, maximized production and monetary profit. Diversity is suffocated. Healthy buffering is removed and just-in-time is what counts. The result is short-sightedness. We get fragile and nervous systems. In economical turbulence, when one fall – many others fall. We have to identify the dangerous policies and exchange them for resilient policies, whether it be in the social, economical or any area.

Stockholm Resilience Centre have a lot of interesting videos at their site, many interviews and some seminars. For example, have a look at an interview with Buzz Holling, a well-known researcher on this subject.

I have been busy the last weeks studying. Every minute I could spare during the holidays I would jump into the System Dynamics course and work with modelling. It’s so incredibly interesting! I decided that I didn’t want to stay on the level of just knowing about systems thinking and appreciating a fine theory. I wanted to go deeper and get my hands dirty with system models. I believe that not until you have wrestled with dependencies, feedbacks and non-linearities and tried to describe their behaviour and consequences, you begin to realize the true meaning of  a system.

I have worked with growth models and spent some hours fiddling with exponential simulations and suddenly I realized that I had not understood the impact of exponential growth. We look at an exponential curve and really see and act as though it was a linear one, with sometimes disastrous consequences. Most of us are untrained when it comes to complexities and feedback, how the world really works and this is reflected in the policies that are made.