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Asking the Right QuestionsSystems thinking is the bedrock for our approach to improving organizational performance. It allows us to ask the right questions about performance gaps and quickly understand your organization.Visualizing Systems - First Step to ImprovementVisualizing complex systems through diagrams enables everyone to see the big picture - often for the first time. One example of such a systems picture is this diagram of the Kalamazoo criminal justice system.Being able to put a finger on the different parts of a system, facilitates communication and substantially speeds up the planning and improvement processes. Another example is of a visual system map is this relationship map of a hospital system. Training - Not Always the SolutionTraining is one of the most expensive yet least effective ways for improving performance. Often, a perceived lack of knowledge and skills is not the real problem. Instead, something else is preventing people from doing their best work.Systems thinking helps us determine causes for performance problems. These causes may include a lack of information, "hidden" consequences, feedback that is too little, too late, or not meaningful (or all three), lack of appropriate tools, inappropriate performance measures, and task interference. The "Total" Performance SystemThe Total Performance System, developed by Professor Dale M. Brethower at the University of Michigan, shows that only seven basic elements are needed to understand any system: This is called a "total" performance system because unlike typical system diagrams, this model includes internal and external feedback loops. These feedback loops provide essential information for efficiently producing the outcomes valued by the stakeholders. Systems Thinking Publications and PresentationsSystems Thinking (and Systems Doing). Performance Improvement Journal, 38(1), 37-52. With D. M. Brethower, first author (1999).Systems thinking: What is it and how can I do it? With D. M. Brethower. Annual meeting of the Association for Behavior Analysis, Chicago, IL, 1999. Click here for presentation (PDF). Systems thinking (and systems doing). With D. M. Brethower. Annual conference of the International Society for Performance Improvement, Long Beach, CA, 1999. |
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