DEVELOPING SYSTEMS THINKING IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR

Everyone has seen a promising project flounder in the vast complexity of modern government. Another department unknowingly working at cross-purposes. Elected officials too focused on the next election or the needs of wealthy donors to think about long-term needs. Neighboring jurisdictions with different priorities. A permit inexplicably denied. Bids that come back at double the estimate. And on and on and on.

The jurisdictional silos that characterize government are a big part of the problem. Planning Departments may not know or care what Public Works is up to, Environmental Services has their own agenda, and Health Services is in constant crisis mode. Cities may not care what the county wants, and the state and feds seem out of touch with everyone else. There are endless examples.

Work in the public sector long enough and you meet people that seem to have a handle on it all. They understand the vast interconnected web of relationships and responsibilities which must be navigated to bring a major project to success. They always know who to call, what the steps are and where the landmines hide that might blow up a project. Those people are like gold, and are highly sought after. What is it they are doing that’s so unusual? And why are they so rare?

I was fortunate early in my career to spend some years in a large university with unusually few institutional boundaries. It was big enough to have bureaucracy and silos, and small enough to have an informal culture which allowed development of personal relationships across formal borders, as well as an entrepreneurial approach to management. I devoted myself to understanding all the myriad parts of the institution, how they interrelated, and how they functioned within the larger industry legal and political environment. I didn’t have a name for my approach, but in 1990 MIT professor Peter Senge’s groundbreaking book, “The Fifth Discipline” gave me one. It turns out I had been using systems thinking the entire time.

The origins of systems thinking are the subject of much debate. There’s little doubt that advanced thinkers have been using it for a long time, whether they ever used the label or not. One of the first to name the approach was Ludwig von Bertalanffy, an Austrian biologist who was frustrated at the reductive approach of much scientific endeavor, analyzing ever-smaller pieces of a vast interrelated reality which could only be understood in a more integrated manner.?Senge’s predecessor at MIT, Jay Forrester, touted the newfound ability of computers to analyze complex systems in the fifties. Leaders of growing corporations and government institutions took some notice, as many were struggling to maintain a handle on organizations which had grown larger and more complex than any that preceded them.

Senge’s book propelled systems thinking into the mainstream, and prompted numerous imitators, sequels and spin-offs. Consultants utilizing the growing power of computers promised a “systems thinking” approach to the problems of complex clients. A new world of successful management of bewilderingly complex institutions beckoned. And then…not much happened. There have been some proudly-touted successes, but mostly small-scale and short-term. The wholesale reimagining of management of complex institutions never took place. Why not???

In many cases, the very problems systems thinking is designed to address hinder its adoption. Busy staff and managers barely have time to handle their own responsibilities, much less analyze where the fit within the larger ecosystem. Senior managers who might be expected to naturally take such an approach?are bogged down with problems of their own – budgets, regulations, reports, personnel management, endless meetings, not to mention crisis response ranging from the pandemic to literally putting out fires. It would be nice to have enough resources to manage all this and still take the time for thoughtful institutional analysis, but that’s probably a vain hope. So how do we get there from here?

There are plenty of consultants who will offer you days-long workshops intended to accomplish this. You will fill the walls of your conference room with complex diagrams showing all the interconnections within and without your organization. Post-it notes will proliferate adding details. MBAs and computer algorithms will generate a report documenting your institutional culture with clues about how to be more effective. These can be very helpful, but usually result in little change. Transformation is hard, and we’re just too busy. Is there another way?

The good news is it’s already happening. Look at the top performers in your organization. Chances are they have a deep understanding of the environment beyond the narrow confines of their job. ?Notice how they reach out to stakeholders you wouldn’t have thought of, invite unexpected people to meetings and to join project groups, suggest checking in with key players you didn’t know existed. Some of these folks may be senior managers, whose skill and savvy brought them to the top of the organization. Others may be men and women who have been quietly and effectively getting things done for so long that they have learned all the ins and outs of your organization and often beyond. Consider yourself fortunate to have systems thinkers on board. But make the most of them.

Most organizations offer employee development programs, whether it’s sexual harassment training, promoting a safer workplace or personal wellness. These all have their place, but they are not the approach that will turn an ordinary workplace into one that hums and crackles with energy and effectiveness. Consultants can sometimes help, but often the best resources you have are already on your staff.

Conduct a survey. Who are the top performers in the organization? Who seems to have a deep understanding of how things work? Who consistently reaches beyond institutional boundaries to get things done? Those are the people you need. Now of course, those folks are busy, working hard every day at what makes them most valuable. But some day they’re going to leave, whether for retirement or another job, and they will take all that hard-won knowledge with them. Don’t let that happen before you give them a chance to share it. Offer them a week’s sabbatical to put together a presentation on what they have learned, and what they can share that will help everyone be more effective. Encourage staff to attend. Give them lunch. Make it a regular event. Call it “[your organization] University.”

Some people come to systems thinking naturally, through natural inclination, hard work and accumulated wisdom. Use them to develop the practice throughout your organization. Teach people not to always keep their heads down focused on their work, but to occasionally look up, look around, see the bigger picture. You’ll be glad you did.?