Category: Articles
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From Mechanistic to Social Systemic Thinking
Each of us has a theory of reality, a concept of the nature of the world which is referred to as our worldview. Our…
Connecting Systems Thinking and Action
Everything is connected. A child randomly kicks the elephant on the mobile hanging over her crib, and the other members of the aerial zoo…
Communities of Practice: Learning as a Social System
You are a claims processor working for a large insurance company. You are good at what you do, but although you know where your…
Productive Conversations: Using Advocacy and Inquiry Effectively
We can gain leverage for improving conversations by paying attention to advocacy and inquiry. Advocacy is stating one’s views. Describing what I think, disclosing…
Revitalizing the Schools: A Systems Thinking Approach
Fortune magazine recently labeled the U.S. school system “our most endangered institution,” highlighting a growing national concern about the quality of education in America. Steadily…
Check-in Check-out
Your daughter was sick last night and you didn’t get much sleep. Tony’s car was rear-ended on the way to the office. Vivian has…
Building Communities of Commitment
Creating learning organizations takes more than a collection of individuals working toward the same cause; it requires building a community of learners who are…
Using Organizational Learning Tools to Build Community
The Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC) is the largest two-year technical college in the U.S., serving nearly 70,000 students with an annual budget of…
Can Learning Cultures Evolve?
There is much agreement that one of the key characteristics of the 21st-century organization will be its ongoing ability to learn. In fact, it…
Structure-Behavior Pairs: A Starting Point for Problem Diagnosis
There are many possible starting points for drawing a systems diagram. One way to begin is by telling the story behind the problem, and…