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13 views9 pages

HHMI-systems-thinking-slides

Uploaded by

amirhossein
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Systems thinking and

research assessment – how


might we work with wicked
problems?

Lou Woodley
Director – Center for Scientific Collaboration
and Community Engagement

[email protected]
@LouWoodley
Why is change so hard?

Culture change
…is often a “wicked” problem:

• Requires addressing the whole system


• Likely involves addressing multiple underlying structural elements
• Requires more than one intervention – strategies that target a single issue are
unlikely to be effective alone
• Has multiple interconnected elements
• One size doesn’t fit all – need to understand the contexts in which we’re
working

Ever feel like you’re playing whack-a-mole with a system at equilibrium?

DORA / HHMI Research Assessment meeting – October 2019


Where does systems
thinking come in?

Systems Thinking
…is an approach that encourages us to a take a more holistic or systemic view of
how different factors relate to one another within a whole.

• Encourages us to move away from a focus on individual events or simplistic


cause and effect scenarios to focus on the bigger picture
• Allows us to see multiple components in relationship at once
• Can indicate inputs we may have missed
• May make it easier to understand delays – or escalations - in the system
• Can suggest points of leverage for interventions

DORA / HHMI Research Assessment meeting – October 2019


How do we adopt a systems perspective?

Three shifts are required to get to a systems


perspective:

BIG PICTURE - Move from focusing only on our part


of the system to seeing more of the whole system.

PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY - Move from hoping


others will change first to identifying where we
have agency to change ourselves.

SYSTEMS STRUCTURE - Move from focusing on


individual events (fires, crises) to understanding
and redesigning the deeper systems structures that
cause these events.

- “Thinking in Systems” by Donella Meadows

DORA / HHMI Research Assessment meeting – October 2019


Two ways to start working
with systems thinking

1. Systems archetypes
Systems Archetype: Success to
the Successful -“rich get richer”

Success Success
s of A of B s
s o Tips and Diagnostic Questions
• Diagnostic Question: Why was the system
Allocation to A
constructed to have just one winner? Can teams
R1 R2 be encouraged to collaborate instead of compete?
instead of B

• Diagnostic Question: Are there incentive


Resources to Resources to
A B structures in place that force competition where
an organization desires collaboration?
s o

Key
S arrows – indicates a causal link where change in the first item results in a change
in the second in the same direction.
O arrows – indicates a causal link where a change in the first item results in a
change in the second item in the opposite direction
R loop – a “reinforcing” feedback loop that amplifies change

DORA / HHMI Research Assessment meeting – October 2019


Two ways to start working
with systems thinking

2. The iceberg model


The Systems Thinking Iceberg
Exercise
Events • Start at the top of the iceberg, by
What just
happened?
describing a current challenge that
you’re encountering
Patterns/Trends • Work down the iceberg asking each of
What’s happened over
time? the questions in turn to undercover
Underlying Structures
the mental models/values supporting
How do the parts relate? What’s the status quo
influenced the trend?

Mental Models
See also:
What assumptions and beliefs are keeping
https://socialinsilico.wordpress.com/2017/11/27/rea
the system in place? ding-for-leading-14-exploring-the-iceberg/

DORA / HHMI Research Assessment meeting – October 2019


Further reading

• Thinking in Systems – Donella Meadows

• The Fifth Discipline – Peter Senge

• Systems Thinking for Social Change – Peter Stroh

• The Systems Thinker website: https://thesystemsthinker.com

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