stephanie ryan
TRANSCRIPT
A Paradigm for Consistent Success in Sustainable Business
Opportunity GreenSaturday, November 8th
Stephanie Ryan 360-929-0073
Systems Thinking
Systems Thinking
A process for collective inquiry, which uncovers & helps people to see:
• Wholes rather than parts
• Interrelationships rather than things
• Interdependencies (circular causality) rather than linear cause & effect chains
• Processes of change (patterns) rather than snapshots
Value of Systems Thinking
• Surface assumptions which drive our actions.
• Learn about the consequences of our actions both intended and unintended over time.
• Increase our capacity for holding apparent opposites.
• Discover critical interfaces & leverage
• Builds shared understanding of complex issues which is critical for commitment and collaboration.
When to ApplySystems Thinking
Systems Thinking and Systems Sensing are useful when:
• Complex issues arise• Multiple points of view (typically different) need to be
understood• Collaboration across traditional boundaries is desired• Desire exists to understand critical factors that lead to
sustainable growth• Repeated attempts have been made to solve an issue and it
defies solution (chronic)
Acme Co. – One View
A
Sales
Errors
Profitability
Time
Problems
• Billing errors• Late deliveries• Systems poorly used• Excessive sales time on new accounts
Acme Co. – One View
A
Sales
Errors
Profitability
Time
Problems
• Billing errors
• Late deliveries
• Systems poorly
used
• Excessive sales
time on new accounts
Solutions
• Rewrite billing manuals & retrain
• Install automated delivery routing system
• Develop new/used interfaces and train
• Create new compensation packages
Acme Co. – Systems Thinking View
APoor Service
(billing & deliveryproblems)
Lost Customers(& Sales)
Efforts on New Accounts(Time per sale)
Burden on Service
Pledges & Promises Special Pricing, Non-Stocked Products, Delivery Delays Outside Area
EVENTS, PATTERN, AND STRUCTURE
Structure Is Harder to See
Events
Structure
The “Water Line”Trends and Patterns
Increased leverageand opportunity
for learningLike an iceberg,
the big, importantstructure is hidden.
OrganizationalStructures
InterpersonalStructures
Individual Structures(Mental Models)
• Market Positioning• Customer Interface• Product Strategy• Distribution Strategy
• Management Structure/Hierarchy• Strategic Planning Process• Reward System• Information System• Cultural Norms• Written Rules
• Relational Skills• Roles and Role Flexibility• Ability to Recognize & Capitalize on Diversity• Problem Solving/Decision Making• Unwritten Rules
• How I Think• How I View Myself and My Role• My Beliefs and Assumptions
Business Structures
Levels of Structure
What’s a B Corporation?
• A new type of corporation that uses the power of business to create public benefit
• B Corporations:– Meet high performance and legal standards– Build collective voice for ‘good companies’– 130+ B Corps; $1 Billion+ market; 30+ industries
Story Line:
A reinforcing loop creates growth in the system which is hampered by one or more balancing loops. Typically, the more vigorous the growth, the more vigorous the compensating process. The net result may be little or no improvement or even worse performance. The limiting loop becomes dominant.
Everything going great, “Why should we worry about problems we don’t have?”, A little later, “Sure there are some problems, but all we have to do is go back to what was working before.” Still later, “The harder we run, the more seem to be staying in the same place!”
Scent:
Description:
Growth, steady or rapid followed by a plateau or decline. People are trying to regain performance in the system by doing more of what worked before with little gain.
Limits to Success
Patterns of Behavior
Limits to Success
Time
Performance
Efforts
Limits to Success
Limits to SuccessPeople’s Express
Limits to SuccessLow Hanging Fruit
Limits to SuccessCollaborative Learning Cycle
Limits to Success Limits to Learning
Implications: • An LTS process grows and then growth slows. It can peak and crash/collapse.
• Nothing grows forever – who manages limits?• Anticipate limiting forces that may not yet be apparent.• Beware of doing more of what worked in the past; pushing harder
on the success loop will result in a harder fall.• Focus on reducing the limiting forces or constraints.
Areas of Leverage:
• Instead of putting more energy and resources in what worked before, look to remove constraints or limits of success (attention to Balancing Loop)
• Expand capacity before it's needed• Anticipate time delays of bringing additional capacity on line• Typical constraints you can expect to encounter and need to
anticipate: Physical/hard: design of building, equipment, information flows, resources & timeAbstract/soft: people's perceptions, ability to deal with resistance, diversity, people's capacity to manage
Limits to Success
Quiver of Questions:
• What explains our success in the past, what was our engine of growth?
• What barriers have we encountered to our success?
• To what extent are these barriers self inflicted?
• How are these barriers born out of our success?
• How can we remove these barriers or lessen their effect?
• What constraints would have to be altered to support the systems growth?
Limits to Success
Limits to Success Template
1. Identify the growth engine
2. Determine doubling time of those processes
3. Identify potential limits and B loops (list)
4. Determine required change to deal with limits
5. Assess time needed to changeIs there a discrepancy between the doubling timeand changes that need to be make to support growth?
6. Balance the growth. What strategies can be used to balance the growth engine with the time frame of the investments that must be made to sustain it?
7. Re-evaluate the growth strategy
Using Limits to Success As a Planning Tool
The Fifth Discipline Field Book, Page 150
Archetypes Tree
Quotes
David Bohm said…
“For fragmentation is now very widespread,Not only throughout society, but also in each individual; and this is leading to a kind of general confusion of the mind, which creates an endless series of problems and interferes with our clarity of perception so seriously as to prevent us from being able to solve most of them…
The notion that all these fragments are separately existent is evidently an illusion, and this illusion cannot do other than lead to endless conflict and confusion.”
Resources
Pegasus Communications: www.pegasuscom.comArchetypes Booklets, Books, CD’s..Newsletter & Conferences
B Lab- www.bcorporation.net
The Necessary Revolution: “How Individuals and Organizations Are Working Together to Create a Sustainable World” by Joe Laur, Sara Schley, Peter Senge…
The Fifth Discipline & Fifth Discipline Field Book by Peter Senge