Premise
In this series of posts about First Principles Based Leadership, we have already covered the importance of and how to improve our self awareness, social awareness, cultural awareness and contextual awareness.
In this post, we will explore the importance of systemic awareness and how can we continue to improve our ability to understand and be more aware of the systems within which we operate in.
We live in a world where everything is inter connected. There is a system at every level of abstraction and these systems create the limits to our efficiency.
Systems awareness refers to the ability to understand and identify the various systems in play and how they interact with each other. When I say, system, I don’t just mean an IT system but system at a more abstract level.
The ability to be aware of the various systems and their interplay allows leaders the ability to zoom-in and zoom-out of any system to understand the how work gets done.
The ability to be acutely aware of the systems in play allows leaders the following advantage:
Big Picture View
The ability to be aware of the systemic interplay allows leaders the ability to zoom out and consider the bigger picture and the larger system. The ability to see the bigger picture enables leaders to optimise their decisions for the global optima thereby improving the effectiveness of the organisation.
Problem Solving
It is a well known fact that the place where a problem shows up is not the best place to solve the problem. We see the symptoms where a problem surfaces. However, the real problem is usually upstream in a higher level system. The ability to spot these allows leaders to solve problems at the root.
Unintentional Consequences
Every time we make a change in process or a system, it results in a change elsewhere in the system (upstream or downstream). Leaders who have good systemic awareness understand this nature of interconnectedness of systems and so actively lookout for these consequences (intentional and unintentional) so that we can either contain these consequences or double down on them.
Here are a few ways in which we can learn to improve our systemic awareness:
Separate for Understanding, integrate for mastery
Every system is a collection of parts that work together to achieve a very specific outcome. To understand a given system, it is best to take it apart into its component systems, until, you can no longer divide them into subsequent system.
It is easier to understand each system by itself. Once we do that, it is then important to learn how each one of these systems interact with each other. Understanding this interplay between systems is the key to increased awareness of systems.
Learning from Consequences
Another way to understand the systems and how they interact and influence each other is to look for upstream and downstream impact of any change in a given system.
When you change something, it usually impacts downstream systems. Consequently, whenever we see a change in the behaviour of a system, it is usually due to some change upstream from the system. By following the consequences of any change, we can better understand the systems at play.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I would say that leaders who have high systems awareness can often anticipate not just the immediate consequences, but also second- and third-order consequences (intended or unintended), meaning they are able to step back and consider the impact downstream of any change or decision made.
Leaders who are adept in systems awareness also tend to be adaptable leaders, able to pivot as new learnings and insights emerge or in other words, systemic awareness gives leaders the ability to deal with emergent behaviour.
In a white water world, the ability to respond well to emergence is the foundational for success as a leader.
