Systems Thinking for Leaders Training Course

Participants can define a useful system scope and identify the interests shaping its behaviour.

• Purpose statements tested against actual measures, incentives and decisions
• Stakeholder maps identify actors, beneficiaries, decision rights and influence
• Boundary critique examines what evidence, groups and effects remain excluded
• Formal and informal rules identified within the operating system
• Performance measures assessed for conflicting goals and unintended behaviours
• Customer, employee and regulator perspectives compared within shared system scope
• Assumptions documented before selecting causes, data and intervention priorities

Participants can construct and interpret causal loop diagrams for complex organisational issues.

• Causal loop diagram conventions: variables, arrows, polarity and loop labels
• Variable names written as measurable conditions capable of increasing or decreasing
• Reinforcing loops explain escalation, growth, decline and self-perpetuating patterns
• Balancing loops explain targets, constraints, corrective action and stabilisation
• Loop stories tested against observed behaviour and stakeholder evidence
• Cross-functional causes connected without confusing correlation and causation
• Diagram clutter reduced through subsystem maps and disciplined variable selection

Participants can analyse accumulations, rates and delays that drive system behaviour over time.

• Stocks represent accumulated workload, cash, skills, trust or inventory
• Inflows and outflows quantify rates changing critical organisational stocks
• Backlog dynamics linked to demand, throughput, rework and capacity
• Time delays identified between decisions, actions, outcomes and corrective responses
• Stock-and-flow diagrams distinguish levels from rates and performance measures
• Service capacity decisions examined through queues, utilisation and response delays
• Trend graphs used to test whether proposed explanations fit evidence

Participants can diagnose common recurring patterns using systems archetypes.

• Fixes That Fail identifies short-term relief creating longer-term deterioration
• Shifting the Burden exposes dependence on symptomatic or external solutions
• Limits to Growth reveals constraints restricting early performance gains
• Success to the Successful examines unequal resource allocation and widening gaps
• Tragedy of the Commons diagnoses depletion of shared capacity or resources
• Escalation maps competitive responses that intensify costs, risk or conflict
• Archetype selection tested against evidence, feedback loops and stakeholder accounts

Participants can surface assumptions and improve decisions through disciplined systems inquiry.

• Mental models identify beliefs shaping attention, interpretation and management action
• Ladder of Inference separates observations, meanings, assumptions and conclusions
• Advocacy-and-inquiry conversations test competing explanations without defensive debate
• Assumption mapping distinguishes high-impact uncertainties from established evidence
• Disconfirming evidence sought before committing resources to preferred solutions
• Decision criteria balance service, cost, risk, equity and long-term capacity
• Divergent stakeholder views converted into testable system hypotheses

Participants can select interventions that change system behaviour rather than shift problems.

• Leverage points ranked by their likely influence on system behaviour
• Policies assessed for feedback effects, delays and unintended consequences
• Interventions target information flows, incentives, rules, capacity or goals
• Pilot boundaries defined with leading indicators, safeguards and review dates
• Scenario testing compares expected outcomes under plausible operating conditions
• Countermeasures designed to prevent problem shifting between teams or customers
• Implementation ownership assigned across decision-makers, operators and affected stakeholders

Participants can lead cross-functional learning cycles for complex and uncertain challenges.

• Adaptive leadership distinguishes technical fixes from systemic adaptive challenges
• Learning loops connect action, observation, reflection and policy adjustment
• After-action reviews capture system effects, assumptions and emerging risks
• Leading indicators selected before lagging results expose intervention failure
• Cross-functional governance establishes escalation routes and shared accountability
• Psychological safety supports reporting of weak signals and inconvenient evidence
• Communication plans translate system maps into decisions for diverse stakeholders

Participants can consolidate a systems analysis into a practical leadership action plan.

• Priority challenge defined with measurable outcomes and a clear decision context
• System boundary, stakeholders and critical assumptions documented on one page
• Causal loop findings summarised as evidence-based explanations of recurring behaviour
• Archetypes used to challenge proposed actions and anticipate adverse effects
• Intervention options compared using impact, feasibility, timing and ownership criteria
• Ninety-day action plan sequences pilots, reviews, communications and governance
• Personal leadership commitments specify inquiry habits and stakeholder conversations