Reflections upon ‘Systems Thinking’ for creating change in a complex world

How can taking a “systems” approach help create change and positive impact in the world?

I’ve been asking myself this question lately because in recent years I, like SO many others, have recognised the need for action in contributing to a more sustainable planet. But, to be clear, I don’t mean ‘sustainable’ in the context of sustaining the current economic and social paradigms that have landed us where we are. Rather, I have been reflecting upon how thinking needs to change to create systemic solutions that take account of individual, local community, regional and global-level challenges and opportunities.

It’s been ten years since graduating from the University of Oxford with an MSc in Major Programme Management. How time flies… Having had the good fortune to learn from some of the world’s leading experts in systems thinking and management of/within complex systems, I feel that I was able to apply much of the knowledge attained over the subsequent years. But the time has come to re-evaluate the purpose of that knowledge acquisition.

This is not an article specifically about the numerous challenges the world faces from negative environmental and/or social impacts; there is plenty of evidence of those challenges for anyone who cares to look. Instead, my current reflection relates to the need to form an understanding of systems complexity in the context of creating positive change. This is on the premise that, before we can effect change, or even identify where change is most needed, we must have some understanding of the system dynamics at play.

The idea here is that we don’t necessarily need to be able to derive ALL the answers, but we do need to be able to recognise that every challenge, and opportunity for change, is embedded in a complex system. This recognition alone can help us to begin to realise interrelationships between system parts such as, for example: individuals; corporations; and levels of government. But also other human constructs such as: societal norms, customs and religions; and institutional structures and biases.

This all sounds like a very “human-centric” approach so far, so we also need to consider how the human species fits within a system bigger than ourselves.

The concept of “planetary health” is one way to imagine a system, of which we are part, that has a great many interactive and interdependent parts and innumerable participants. Despite all the advancements in human knowledge and understanding of science (as we call it), many of us are just starting to realise how much we do not know about the planet on which we depend for our very existence.

How do we think and how can we make any sense of our complex world?

With so much to do in our daily lives, it is understandable that we like to think of the world in simple, linear, processes of cause and effect. It’s just so much easier to draw a straight line between points A and B isn’t it? And, in fairness, sometimes this is an entirely reasonable and effective approach as it is often instinctive or automatic.

Even when we inherently understand that an issue or situation is a little more complex, we often have inbuilt mental short-cuts (also called heuristics) that get us to ‘point B’ with relatively little effort. This is akin to what Psychologist Daniel Kahneman[1] refers to as “system 1” thinking.

But, as most of us recognise, the world is not quite as straight forward and, in reality, it is harder to understand cause and effect in many instances. Understanding relationships, even the existence of potential stakeholders, takes a more ‘controlled, effortful and deductive’ approach; what Thaler and Sunstein, in their book “Nudge”[2], refer to as using the “reflective” cognitive system.

The world in reality. The systems in which we live, both social and environmental, are extremely complex. Unravelling cause and effect is usually enormously difficult and takes great effort to identify all the ‘moving parts’, the interactions and the interdependencies at play. In a complex system, we cannot consider any part of the system, nor actor within it, in isolation. There are ALWAYS multiple pathways to follow in a complex system and getting a grip of where these paths lead can seem impossible.

This is where systems thinking can help to make at least some sense of a complex world; before we even start dealing with the other components of “VUCA”: volatility, uncertainty and ambiguity.

Conventional versus Systems Thinking

This summary is a neat way to contrast conventional thinking and systems thinking.[3]

Did you note two key points about systems thinking?

“Most quick fixes have unintended consequences: They make no difference or make matters worse in the long run.”

“In order to optimize the whole, we must improve the relationships among the parts.”

To me, these are important. Especially when we are talking about tackling some of the world’s seemingly intractable problems. Some commentators and academics have referred to these as ‘wicked problems’. For an interesting thought piece on wicked problems, and the definition and use of the term, see this article, by Maria Katsonis, where by one definition “these problems were seen as having:

• multiple possible causes
• dynamics that were not linear
• negative consequences for society if not addressed.”

So, in complex systems we need to be aware that many dynamics may be non-linear, obscure, or even unknown. To me, the first step in being able to apply any form of systems thinking is a realisation that we will not, and cannot, ever truly understand ALL the relationships — such as interdependencies and interactions — of all parts of a complex system. But, we can use some simple frameworks as a starting point from which to develop our thinking and understanding of how a system may work.

One example of such a framework that could start to frame some systems thinking is The Triple Bottom Line of Sustainability[4]

Yes, it’s a simple model; there are many others and many more complex. But as a starting point, note that the conceptualisations of society, economy and environment are inseparable and reliant upon each other to achieve ‘true sustainability’.

As I embark on the next phase of life-long learning with CISL Master's, I feel it helpful to remind myself of some of the basics of both systems thinking and sustainability. That is, we the people are inherently connected to a planetary system that we barely comprehend. If we are going to be truly sustainable as a species, we need to be a contributing party to planetary health, create a living economy that is regenerative rather than purely extractive, and create a global system that provides for the needs of humanity not just to survive, but to flourish.

This is where Systems Thinking is vital.

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Recommended Reading:

[1] I recommend his book: Daniel Kahneman, ‘Thinking, fast and slow’ (2011)

[2] Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein, ‘Nudge — Improving decisions About Health, Wealth and Happiness” (2009)

[3] Source: Innovation Associates Organizational Learning, cited in: Stroh, D.P., (2015), Systems Thinking for Social Change, Chelsea Green Publishing

[4] Source: Carbo, J.A., Dao, V.T., Haase, S.J., Hasgrove, B., and Langella, I.M. (2018), Social Sustainability For Business, Routledge Publishers