If I win then you must lose. This has been a predominant belief that governs interactions in the business world and beyond. What can I gain without giving? It is a zero sum game. Just this week, a tweet from economist Robert Reich informs us that the typical worker in the 100 lowest-paying US corporations earned $34k last year while the average CEO pay was $14.7m. This gap in pay demonstrates a lack of cause-and-effect thinking about how any organization produces results. While the wealth of a tiny minority of people increases exponentially, food banks have never been in such demand.
The problem is not simply whether this is right or wrong or “immoral”. The issue is that it does not make sense scientifically.
Over the last fifty years, a rapidly increasing number of fields of human knowledge, from science to medicine, from epistemology to environmental studies have turned to systems theory and systems thinking to gain a deeper insight into the basic mechanisms of life and its evolution. Rigorous study has proved that not only are divisiveness and individualism unsustainable in a globally interconnected world, but they are also contrary to the basic biochemical fabric of our very existence.
What can we do to adopt a systems approach?
So what can we DO? We can design and run our businesses with new business models that harness the knowledge and understanding from systems science and network theory. We can build offerings for the market that are win-win and that foster cooperation instead of competition. We can create paths for people to develop their competencies in an atmosphere of collaboration. We can keep the work of leaders tightly connected with the work of others by replacing traditional top-down hierarchical structures with correctly designed interdependencies. In this way, everyone sees how they contribute towards the goal. We want to do this not because it feels good (it actually does) but because it makes more sense in the long run. It is the sustainable way to do business.
Where to start with a systems approach?
Where can we START in practice? Learning to think systemically can be greatly enhanced with the Thinking Processes from the Theory of Constraints. The Conflict Cloud trains us to think about the other’s needs in any given situation where we are stuck. It is also a template for true innovation because it prompts us to surface assumptions we can challenge to find breakthroughs.
Once we learn to adopt a systems approach in our thinking, it makes sense to apply it to how we design, manage and operate our organizations. This has been our work with the Decalogue management method for nearly three decades. We guide companies to design and run their businesses harnessing the knowledge and understanding of complexity from systems science. We help them see and map their interdependencies as a system. Our unique contribution is to build and map that system around a strategic leverage point or constraint. This provides the focus and an operational means to convert energies into the desired result. We guide them to see they are intrinsically part of a larger network of value and to build offerings for that network that are win-win. This systemic business model provides the people working within it the opportunity to learn, evolve and be involved in a way that traditional models struggle to achieve.
Greed is not good
To contradict Gordon Gekko in the movie ‘Wall Street’, greed is not good. The cultural and spiritual background of Dr. Eliyahu Goldratt who developed the systemic Thinking processes that are the “hard core” of the Theory of Constraints proposes the practice of tzedakah. This is often translated as charity but it more correctly means “justice” or more simply, the right thing to do. This is the natural antidote to any unbridled greed we see in action.
Goldratt’s Thinking Processes feature throughout the new business novel by Angela Montgomery published by Routledge. The story is a journey that starts off in Wall Street and charts the progress of a team of executives as they introduce a new, systems approach to business and a systemic organizational model. We hope the book may serve as guidance and inspiration for a new generation of courageous entrepreneurs who go beyond the zero sum game and create businesses that provide not just profits but also hope.
‘The Human Constraint: How Business Leaders Can Embed Continuous Innovation, Conflict Resolution and Problem Solving Into Daily Practice’ is now available from Amazon or directly from the publisher here: https://bit.ly/4dwaqRc
To find out more about ten guided steps to a systemic leap ahead for your company, contact Angela Montgomery at intelligentmanagement@sechel.ws
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Intelligent Management works with decision makers with the authority and responsibility to make meaningful change to optimize your company for the digital age. We have helped dozens of organizations to adopt a systemic approach to manage complexity and radically improve performance and growth for over 25 years through our Decalogue management methodology. The Network of Projects organization design we developed is supported by our Ess3ntial software for multi-project finite scheduling based on the Critical Chain algorithm.
See our latest books: The Human Constraint from Taylor & Francis; From Silos to Networks: A New Kind of Science for Management from Springer; Moving the Chains: An Operational Solution for Embracing Complexity in the Digital Age by our Founder Dr. Domenico Lepore, and ‘Quality, Involvement, Flow: The Systemic Organization’ from CRC Press, New York by Dr. Domenico Lepore, Dr. Angela Montgomery and Dr. Giovanni Siepe.
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