Systems Thinking: A Matter of Preference?
By Jeff Frakes and Nalani Linder
Those of us who use systems thinking in our work frequently find ourselves with a need to share this powerful worldview and toolset with others. From our experience, this process can
become rather frustrating, as it seems that quite a few people “just don’t get it” despite their often significant efforts at attempting to learn these practices. We believe that one possible reason for this difficulty might stem from how one prefers to gather and process information.
We decided to test this assumption by collecting data from a sample of people with different Myers-Briggs typologies. Two hundred and seventy-one people completed a questionnaire in which they provided their MBTI types and evaluated how effectively they utilize 17 practices of systems thinking. Our purpose was to assess whether significant differences might occur among participants’ comfort in utilizing systems thinking practices based on their MBTI type preferences.
We discovered that a number of significant differences do exist. In particular, those who identified as “Intuitive” tended to apply 12 of the 17 systems thinking practices. We also found that those who identified themselves as “Perceiving” reported implementing 6 of the 17 practices. And respondents high on both the Intuitive and Perceiving scales were significantly more comfortable with “big-picture” thinking than were people with different profiles. The other dimensions of the MBTI bore little differentiation among the respondents regarding their comfort with systems thinking practices.
We believe that some value of our research lies in simply suggesting that people’s preferences in gathering and processing information may cause them to more or less easily embrace systems thinking. For those of us who "naturally" see the world through a systems lens, this awareness can be reassuring and help us to be patient when others may show a more linear and mechanistic mindset. For people looking to develop systems thinking skills, our research may also help them pay special attention to the specific practices that may be outside of their normal preferences.
As a result of our research, we decided to identify tools that trainers and others might use to help build familiarity and capacity for each of the systems thinking practices as needed. Some tools include those well known to the Pegasus community, such as the (Root) Beer Game to help understand accumulations and the Triangles activity from the Systems Thinking Playbook to understand interdependencies. Other tools use approaches better known in organizational development circles, such as the Variance Matrix, another way to identify leverage points.
Just as knowledge of MBTI types can be useful in team building, we propose that knowledge of systems thinking preferences may be equally useful. For example, team members could share their MBTI types and discuss how their preferences might affect their inclination to apply a systems thinking approach. Those with a greater natural inclination toward thinking and acting systemically could assist others as appropriate.
We continue our efforts to identify tools and techniques to enhance the practice of systems thinking in organizations. We invite others to make suggestions and comments on what they have found to be useful in encouraging the application of this important approach.
Jeff Frakes, Ph.D., serves as CEO of Performance Innovations, Inc., which provides coaching and conferencing in the human and organization development fields. He is a field faculty member for the organizational management program at Fielding Graduate University. Jeff has more than 20 years of experience as a human resources executive. He has contributed extensively to the use of Statistical Process Control and the administration and monitoring of drug dosages for those with neurological diseases.
Nalani Linder is founder and principal of N P Linder Consulting, providing organizational development and systems thinking resources to organizational and community change agents since 2005. Nalani has been teaching systems thinking workshops since 2008. She currently divides her time between facilitating organizational change efforts for clients and consulting to Washington State K–12 educators about integrating systems thinking into their curriculum. Nalani received her master’s degree in Whole Systems Design from Antioch University–Seattle.
Jeff and Nalani are offering a webinar Big Picture by Nature? Facilitating Systems Thinking in Groups.