Systems Thinking offers simplicity, and therefore the possibility for agility both in the development and the implementation of strategies. Looking at an organization as a group of systems within a series of external systems is clearly a good start for creating agile strategies. Further, applying a practiced evaluation of the organization by identifying INPUTS-THROUGHPUTS-OUTPUTS with…
The growing popularity in Lean Agile techniques compel us to reassess how we can use the various tools presented by these relatively recent additions to our “management toolboxes.” In today’s world of nearly “instant” everything, we tend to drive decisions based on “gut feelings”, or simply in reaction to requests or directives. Too often we…
Let’s talk about justifying the recent Baltimore looting and violence. I pose the following example of not using Systems Thinking, and invite your remarks. While listening to the news about the Baltimore looting, I caught a piece where an African-American man was interviewed about the looting. This situation was triggered by the suspicious death of…
By Eric A Denniston, Managing Director, Denner Group International 2-20-2-13 Takeaways: Leadership and systems thinking go hand in hand. Start by seeing the larger picture and creating a common vision and common goals before taking action. Be disciplined about keeping things simple rather than making them complicated. Help your stakeholders understand the outcomes for themselves…
By Eric A Denniston, Managing Director, Denner Group International 4-8-2012 Part C – PLAN Now, as we begin to plan what we’re going to do about deploying our tablet initiative in our warehouse, let’s keep our parallel involvement process going to mitigate any other potential unintended consequences. This is a key Systems Thinking tool. A…
By Eric A Denniston, Managing Director, Denner Group International 4-8-2012 Part B – THINK As we move into the THINKING stage of this exercise, let’s consider what the thought styles should be. How you think is really important in achieving results. We are engaged in a project that is intended to have a lasting effect…
By Eric A Denniston, Managing Director, Denner Group International 4-8-2012 Part A – LEAD Join me as we touch on all four stages of Lead, Think, Plan, Act in a tour of the now very hot tablet market. What I’m talking about are those book or folder-sized computers that include the ubiquitous iPad and Kindle…
By Eric A Denniston, Managing Director, Denner Group International 11-18-2011 Takeaways: Systems Thinking is an excellent tool to stay ahead of changes in the world around us. Understanding and applying it in organizations improves communication, reduces unintended consequences, and changes the internal culture. What is Systems Thinking and why should it be important to ALL…
By Jeri Denniston, Chief Marketing Strategist, Denner Group International 4-12-2011 Takeaways: Both passion and purpose are needed for building a world class organization. It’s important to know the difference between passion and purpose. I’ve been reading Michael Gerber’s E-Myth Mastery to see how his recommendations dovetail with systems thinking. He is, after all, a systems…
