Visiting a forest will help you understand 2 principles of systems thinking that most people find hard to grasp.
Forests are fantastic places for a walk, but they also work great as an illustration for contextualising complexity.
We live and interact with hundreds of systems every day. Every system consists of interrelated elements working together to produce an outcome which is the purpose of a given system.
Most systems are connected with other systems, and all systems are a part of bigger systems.
Everything that works in a context is a part of something else, and this is the moment where things get counterintuitive.
Acknowledging non-linearity is the first mindset shift from linear to circular, as things in a system happen iteratively in a non-linear and multidirectional way everywhere at once.
This shift is tricky, and most people find it counterintuitive because its cause & effect may be separated in time and space.
In our traditional way of thinking, we believe that a deep understanding of something comes from focusing on the details.
This is often referred to as Tree-by-Tree thinking.
Once we understand the details, we can use an analytical approach and break bigger things into smaller ones.
This used to work great for linear problems, but it is not a very efficient way to work on bigger, more interrelated challenges we face today.
Instead of the details, the systems thinking approach contextualises complexity by focusing on the context of relations of elements in the system.
The systems thinking approach embraces the role of Forest Thinking, where knowing something means understanding the context of relationships.
In forests, lots of things happen at the same time. You must understand how things are connected to create any solution that could influence the system.
The second counterintuitive principle of systems thinking is emergence.
Kurzgesagt (a popular science YouTube channel) explains emergence as the force that creates complexity from simplicity. This intriguing phenomenon occurs when small, individual components come together to form larger, more complex structures that possess different properties than the sum of their individual parts. These emergent properties are not present in the individual components themselves but appear as a result of their collective interactions.
To better understand emergence, let’s take a look at the example of a forest.
A forest is not merely a collection of trees and other organisms. Instead, it forms a complex ecosystem with its own unique characteristics. When you examine a forest, you’ll notice that its complexity arises from the intricate relationships among its components, such as trees, animals, insects, fungi, moss and microorganisms.
These interactions lead to the emergence of a cohesive, living system that is far more sophisticated than just the sum of its parts.
This concept can be somewhat counterintuitive, as our brains naturally focus on individual elements rather than the connections between them.
In a forest, you can hug a tree, pick a mushroom, or listen to birds singing, but you cannot touch the forest as a whole. The forest exists as an emergent property that arises from the complex interactions between its components.
Emergence is a fundamental principle of systems thinking and can be found in all complex systems. From ant colonies, stock markets, traffic and public transit to human cities and societies, emergent properties arise whenever smaller components interact with one another in a way that creates something more significant and much more complex than the sum of individual parts.
Emergent patterns that were not explicitly programmed into the system are also the reason that makes conversations with the latest AI assistants (like GPT-4) so fascinating.
By embracing the idea of emergence, you can start to see the world as a series of interconnected systems, each with its own unique emergent properties.
This mindset shift is essential for understanding and addressing the complex challenges we face today, as it allows us to identify and work with the underlying connections and relationships that drive these systems “under the surface”.
The problems of tomorrow won’t be simpler or smaller.
New problems require new tools. Learning more about systems thinking is a great start to creating more value in an overcomplicated world.
Systems thinking expands your solution space, helps you work with bigger problems and offers a chance to shift the focus of your work from output to outcomes.
Researching, analysing and understanding complex systems becomes essential for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to design and develop effective strategies, services and products capable of addressing increasingly complex problems.
Go, the forest is waiting for you.
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