If your work involves you wanting to achieve better outcomes where there are many people, groups or organisations present, you are working in a system that is complex. In such a system there are things happening that will affect you achieving your outcomes. Co-design methods will not uncover these dynamics solely. Instead, you are going to need to adopt a systems approach together with human-centred design thinking as well as co-design thinking.
Hallmarks of a complex system
"A “system” can be defined as elements linked together by dynamics that produce an effect... Changing the dynamics of a well-established and complex system requires not only a new way of examining problems, but also bold decision making that fundamentally challenges many organisation and public sector institutions mindsets and approaches." 'Systems Approaches to Public Sector Challenges: Working with Change’ OECD 2017
A system is interconnected, interdependent people, groups and organisations ('agents') that organise themselves in such a way that they achieve something (a function or purpose).
The behaviour of the system arises from many decisions, every moment as system agents act and react to feedback they are getting and what is going on around them.
In the system, there are blocking conditions that keep the system operating in a manner that isn’t desirable and that are caused by any range of things.
Solutions to blocking conditions are not always obvious because cause and effect can be distant in time or ‘space’.
How do we understand and respond to the influence of the dynamics of the system?
A systems approach refers to a set o mindsets and methods that aim to uncover and respond to the dynamics of the system that will have an effect on your work.
To begin, define your system of interest to put a boundary around your work – but be open to seeing things outside of this boundary if they come up.
You will need a vision of a desired future state noting the outcomes you want the system to do better at.
Build comprehension of the system at a high level by engaging directly in the system. You will need both subject matter experts and a diverse cross section of other agents.
Use abstraction and visuals to starting make sense of the structure of the system as a team. These visuals are also used to tell stories to other people about what is happening inside, and as a result of, the system.
Next, you need to seek out blocking conditions – these are the things stopping the system from delivering the outcomes you desire. Trace cause and effect across the system to get to root causes of these conditions.
A variety of responses need to be generated, rapidly tested and assessed to target the root causes.
Given no-one can predict how agents will react in a complex system, a number of ‘safe-to-fail' experiments with learning loops need to be deployed to respond rapidly to both intended and unintended consequences.
Other important aspects of system work are socialising and testing your thinking by engaging diverse perspectives, creating rich narratives for people across the system and understanding the team’s own biases you bring to this work.
We're helping people understand systems thinking and approaches in our virtual and face to face masterclasses.
We also have a new personalised 'learning by doing real work' service aimed at project teams wanting to activate a complex system project. We help a team of up to 6 people over a three-week period get to grips with their challenge and map out a program of work. Click 'Let's talk' if you want to discuss this option with me for your team.
Go well.
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