New Words - New Thoughts - Systemic Thinking
Posted by bethrobinson on April 13, 2008
I just met these words, even though I’ve been keeping company with the concept my entire career.
The Words
Systemic, or systems, thinking focuses on the connected nature of any problem, concept, or situation.
Interconnecting elements are the reason I chose to go into materials science. My undergraduate education at Virginia Tech emphasized how a material’s measurable properties, its internal structure, and the process by which it was made were all dependant on each other.
Realizing that a corporation is composed of interconnecting elements on a larger scale is what drew me to become interested in business, an outcome I didn’t expect a decade ago.
If I look back at the goals I set myself, which were the trigger point for this blog, then I see that they could be combined into a simple statement of “think more systemically.”
The Meeting
I started following Steve Roessler’s blog All Things Workplace a couple months ago and he’s currently in the middle of a series about systemic thinking. It didn’t register at first, not until I wanted to comment on one of his posts. When I went back over the recent material, to make sure I was answering intelligently, the term clicked in my head. A quick google search revealed how much material was out there.
I’m a firm believer that the way we are able to describe things, whether verbally, visually, or otherwise, changes the way we perceive them. I’m looking forward to seeing where this discovery of a new term - and the paths that it opens up for me - leads.
April 14, 2008 at 5:34 pm
Hi Beth,
Reading a little about you and see that you are a writer too, I understand why you are interested in words. Like you, not having a name for it and now with the name comes the logic and even more understandable. Thanks!
One that threw me for a loop (Back a few moons.) was ‘synergy’ and trying to understand that together there was more than the sum of the total. Now I am able to see the results, as well as even designing it to happen.
Thanks again for pointing me to Steve Roesler, and on his elaboration on the word. Oh YEA! Kudos, for your name being in the third paragraph of his recent post. Does that count for more than ‘TC’ rank on Caroline’s site?
Have you written a book or is your forte in the tech field only? I am endeavoring to get a book on paper/MEM now tho a ways to go yet. I can see that I need to apply ‘Systemic’ thought to the whole ‘Elephant’, you might say! (Hey, that worked better than ‘Enchilada!)
Somewhat new to Blogging and Internet Business I appreciate reading the mail and comments too! Hope to be doing more and commenting myself!
You did such a great job on Steve’s site, I would beholden to you if you would take a look at mine and give me some pointers. I do know that I have a long way to go, yet just doing it now, reaps satisfaction. IYKWIM?
Anyway, I will be back, so keep the ‘Info’ coming, as I am a sponge!
Have a great day! DP http://tinyurl.com/2d88ck for more!
April 14, 2008 at 8:05 pm
Thanks for the comments, D.P. I have not written a book, although I would like to some day in the future (me and everyone else it seems!). I hope you enjoy reading my blog in the future. I took a look at your site will be sending you an email.
April 14, 2008 at 8:21 pm
DP
I looked at your website and tried to comment but it required me to be logged in. I tried your contact email and it didn’t work. You might want to fix those things, because they tip the appearance of dramatic sales letter over to spammy, at least in my opinion. Below is what I tried to send you.
The whole sales letter mentality - and yours for the guerilla
marketing techniques seemed a good one - just bothers me. I like pitches directed at me to be simpler, without all the drama, but from statistics I’ve seen, I’m in the minority. So I’m not exactly your intended audience.
When I look at your blog I see a series of short sales letters, even though not all the blog posts are about this. I think I get this impression from the variation in fonts and sizes and colors. If that’s what you’re going for, great, if not, then you might want to consider more consistency.
I would suggest a wider range of posts geared toward “making a
difference and helping other people reach their goals.” You might get more traffic - and an audience more receptive to the sales pitches - if you offer more generic advice, such as breaking large goals into small steps. There’s a lot of this on the web, but your writing style is distinctive and I think you could make the topic stand out. Offering transcripts of those expert teleconferences might be a good
idea, too.
Just a few thoughts. Good luck with your endeavors.
Beth
April 15, 2008 at 7:48 am
Hi, Beth,
Thanks for the kindness regarding the systemic thinking series.
Something that has struck me over the years is the fleeting nature of once-popular (and meaningful) words and phrases. It looks as if “systemic thinking” falls into that category, so I’m glad we’re resurrecting it here.
We live in a sound-bite culture where companies too often latch on to the catch-phrase of a popular book or speaker, without delving into the soul of what has been said and seeing it through. Viewing life and work in an integrated, systemic fashion is more than a sound bite; it’s adopting a consistent approach to situations that causes one to always ask “What else and who else is connected to this in some way?”
How often have we heard someone jump up in a meeting and ask, “Why wasn’t I in the loop?”
There is actually no satisfactory answer (unless you are working for the CIA). If someone says they wanted to be connected in some way, they probably should be.
April 15, 2008 at 9:25 am
Hi Steve,
Thanks for commenting back.
As I’ve been looking into the wording a little more it seems to have reached a peak in popularity in the late 90s, at least in regards to the number of books published with a variation of the term in their titles.
And yes, I’ve been in those meetings too!
Beth