Event information
Course Objectives
When addressing a problem, a natural first move is to look for quick wins and easy solutions, although they may not be suited to tackling complex situations. Linear approaches can miss the bigger picture and the intricate relationships between a system’s elements. Breaking a complex challenge down into separate, smaller, simpler components may result in missing the relationships and interplay between its elements. Worse, the problematic situation may repeat itself, or may lead to creating further complex problems.
What if you could see the bigger picture, understand how all the pieces fit together, find effective and long-term solutions, and uncover hidden opportunities for innovation?
This workshop aims at providing you with practical system thinking tools to analyze, from various angles and points of view, the complex situations or specific challenges you are facing in your professional context. You will learn a dynamic and holistic approach to problem-solving which enables reframing issues, creating comprehensive system maps, understanding relationships and identifying pivotal leverage points for long-term significant change.
The workshop provides a hands-on experience, where participants can apply systems thinking to their own professional challenges. Taking part in the workshop will enable you to consider problems through a holistic and comprehensive lens to unlock creative, effective, long-term solutions.
By the end of this workshop, participants shall:
- Have gained an understanding of system thinking and its key principles, including feedback loops, causality, and the interconnectedness of a system’s elements;
- Be able to apply some system thinking tools to define, frame and map complex challenges and real-life situations;
- Be able to identify and interpret causal relationships within complex systems;
- Know how to identify leverage points in a system potentially triggering significant long-term changes;
- Develop their ability to holistically approach problems and solutions, considering the broader context, root causes and unintended consequences.
Methodology
The workshop spans over one day. In the morning, teams will identify the most pressing challenges they want to analyze systemically in the afternoon.
Participants are invited to bring to the workshop a real challenge they are currently facing.
The duration and scope of the workshop may be adapted to specific teams and situations, upon request.
Target audience
All staff members