We Live in Loops: How To Be a Systems Thinker?

Being a systems thinker takes observation. First, it requires us to look at belief systems from throughout the world over time. Systems are not new, and have been described as metaphors for millennia. Think Greek Gods. Systems are mental constructs that change over time and do not exist in the wild. We create them. Earth conforms to life, cycles, and seasons.

 The fundamental systems that govern and influence the health of people and the land today began as just the thoughts of a few people. The interests, assumptions, motivations, and perceptions of a few were set into motion, and began influencing the masses. We live within and a part of a multitude of complex systems with feedback loops that affect everything and everyone whether we are aware of it or not. It basically means “this causes that” or actions/decisions/changes alter the state of a given system. We can consider every aspect of them, even our own role within them. What is it that we do when we do what we do?

Information informs a system, and contributes to invisible effects, causes, and correlations. There are always positive feedback loops (reinforcment i.e. exponential growth or exponential decline) and negative feedback loops (goal seeking). Both negative and positive feedback loops can change, and hook together creating momentum based on behavior, structure, and the causes in between. There can also be open loops that lack consideration for feedback, nor react to outputs.

Many of the systems we live within lack consideration for health outcomes for people in the name of profit and power for a few. Are these open loop systems? Exploiting without reciprocity or care. Who is controlling these systems, and with what goal? No human decision is made outside the context of a system loop.

Thinking in terms of systems when considering the societal structures that control our lives means understanding that all being, knowing, and doing is relational. Everyone has their own history and tradition of understanding, which influences how we think and act.

Systems thinking is a practice. We start with a situation or a system of focus. We see this system a certain way- likely a choice. We then consider and articulate the feedback loops (components, connections, and outcomes), identify where change can be made, and take action in a purposeful way.

To know how to think, plan, and act from a systems perspective means to question who makes the rules and why. What are the outcomes? Who gains? I think it is important to cultivate the ability to sit with this a bit. Notice the parts we play as consumers, citizens, organizations, and businesses. We’re all in this together.

Britt

If you want to understand the deepest malfunctions of systems, pay attention to the rules, and to who has the power over them (Ison 2017, p.73).

Reflecting on ideal systems practitioners: "Being able to deploy more choices when acting so as to enhance systemically desirable and culturally feasible change has important ethical dimensions" (Ison, 2017, p. 83).