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Systems Theory in Action

Developing and using a systems perspective enables us to gain an overview, and immediately stimulates us to look at a bigger picture. We see interrelationships, and impacts and wider affects of our work.

A system is a map of component parts showing their interrelationships. It is not possible to remove parts of the system or we destroy the system; the parts of the system are interdependent. To develop or evolve the system, it is possible to alter the nature of the interrelationships between the parts.

Think of your work system: your team, your role, other groups within your company, your clients, and your suppliers, you can immediately see how these groups inter-relate. Changes in one area impact on another. A systems perspective enables us to see the whole picture. This is essential when we think of 'change, improvements, and development.' A system approach emphasises patterns in the organisation, and we then know where to focus our attention.

Changing relationships

If we change the relationships between 2 aspects of a system, this affects the overall system, e.g. if a child has become out of control, angry and distressed, family therapists will work with the parents, individually and together, to develop new patterns of responding to each other, and / or to their children in stressful or distressing situations. With this approach parents report noticing their children responding positively to them and their peers at school.

Similarly with teams and team members: e.g. a team is stuck: by developing new approaches to one other this affects team members relationships. In turn, this affects how they work together. People become attracted to the team and what they are doing. For example, a team member might present a problem, what isn't working, she has lost heart and her enthusiasm, and is absorbed in the problem. If we alert her to the other areas of her work / life that are going well, we can tap into the whole system she is operating within, she becomes more alert and more able to bring freshness and vitality to the problem area.

Changes bring problems

A familiar scenario I encounter in my work is one where team members, usually experienced, skilled and passionate about their work, encounter problems when there are changes in their working environment, or new members or team leader joins the team, or new performance expectations are put in place. Minor problems become magnified, team members lose their ability to articulate what the problem is, or lose heart in their own or their team leader's ability to solve problems. The team leader feels unappreciated and rejected, team members feelings are hurt, they feel devalued and that their concerns are invisible. The relationships between the team leader and team members break down, as they do between team members, and subgroups develop. What ever happens seems to feed the negative view of the other.

If we take a systems perspective, we notice the players haven't changed, however the relationships between the players and the work has. Sometimes it is the relationship between the team members personal life and their professional world that is affecting work and relationships.

Systems thinking helps

Systems thinking enables us to see beyond what appears to be isolated and independent incidents to notice patterns and related events and responses. Systems thinking doesn't present you with value judgements in response to what is occurring. When we recognize the patterns and connections between events or behaviours, we are better able to understand why they are present, what is driving them, and therefore how we might then influence them.

When a team is besieged with problems and the relationships are breaking down, a systems approach is to build up the individual players and tune into what is working well. We can do that by identifying success criteria for the team, and by giving regular feedback to both the team and to individuals. Then we are able to identify which problems we need to resolve, and work together to do this, looking at different options.

Sometimes new skills need to be learned; e.g. asking for help, and offering help, and new perspectives developed. We learn to recognise one another's contributions, notice what is a problem and what isn't; what can be resolved individually and what is a dilemma for the team. Expectations of one another can be clarified. Sometimes a simple 'thank you' goes a long way to bringing the systems perspective alive, human and heartfelt.

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