Perspective
Systems are entities, or things. They are sustained by the ability of their parts to interact in a way that contributes to the system’s overall performance. By this definition, the engines in our automobiles are systems. Human bodies are systems. So are our families. And most businesses and organizations are systems—if the business includes an aggregation of ideas, actions, or people that interact. This section first defines what “systems” are, then talks about how leaders can orchestrate change within them. Systems leaders have to learn to use both hard data and intuition to affect change in a system. Usually they have less, rather than more, data than they need and they have to rely on what the military experts refer to as coup d’oeil, or incisive intuition, to determine how to make an impact on big, complicated systems. Seeing systems is a crucial skill of successful leaders. Leaders who recognize systems are able to transcend their work-a-day perspective in order to see the bigger picture. They understand that everything is connected to something, and that everything in a system is influenced by everything else. Leaders who are effective in seeing and influencing systems have another more subtle skill: they suspend their own biases about what they are seeing. They are aware of their “windows on the world” and understand how important being open-minded is. |