Systems Thinking Part 5— How to Change Any System

In Part 1 of this series, we learned about the basic features of every system — elements, interconnections, and goals. In Part 2, we saw how these features interact with each other through stocks, flows, and feedback loops. In Part 3, we learned that all of these different components tend to assemble themselves in regular systemic patterns or archetypes. And in Part 4, we identified some common reasons why we fail to notice these different systemic patterns.

In the fifth and final article in this series, we’ll look at a handful of ways that we can change just about any system. As we learn how these different interventions work, we will move from the least to most effective approaches, and we will start by looking at traffic.

#6 Changing the elements

So far we’ve seen that elements — or the actual “stuff” in a system— usually have the least impact and influence. With traffic, the system’s elements are cars, drivers, roads, and traffic signs.

Even though we tend to focus on elements like other drivers’ behavior, light changes, etc., if we really stop and think about it, hopefully we recognize that…