Systems Thinking for Busy Managers

The business world today is in constant and rapid change. As a result, the success and viability of any company is dependent on the ability of its managers to learn and to respond to the changing environment. In the words of Revan, ‘for an organisation to remain viable the rate of learning internally must be equal to or greater than the rate of change in its context’. Revan alludes to the well concept of the need for requisite variety within organisations.

Managers who are often skilled in technical fields find themselves quite challenged by the ever increasing rate of complexity and demands when dealing with the softer people issues. Unfortunately though, classical management approaches have tended to be rather linear and do not provide the skills to manage complexity that arises when dealing with the unpredictable human factor. Yet it is this human factor that often determines the success and viability of companies. Managing effectively in an ever changing context requires a different way of thinking. It is here that insights from the field of systems thinking provide a helpful angle to managers, enabling them not only to manage the obvious rational processes but importantly to understand the emotive elements that accompany change. Systems thinking also equips managers with the ability to see the interconnected nature of society and organisations and to factor this in their business efforts. It is vital to equip the managers with the skills to think systemically as well as with some tools to enable them better understand and manage the complex situations that confront them in a way that leads to higher organisational performance.

It is in response to the above need that we have developed a very practical three day course on Systems Thinking for Busy Managers specifically aimed at top and middle managers. The three days can be structured to the needs and timelines of an organization. For example, creating space between days 2 and 3 enables managers to implement what they have learnt in the course and to report back and reflect on their experiences on the third day.

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Managing for High Performance

OVERVIEW

Course Description

New managers often feel overwhelmed by the task of managing others especially when they have been promoted from among their peers. Many of them fail to adequately make the transition from manager of self to managing others. They also do not realize that their success depends on the success of the people they manage. Drotter highlights this transition as one of the greatest challenges that managers face. A failure to effectively make the transition often leads to senior managers who still function as managers of self. Inevitably, the managers end up doing tasks that their subordinates should be doing which ends up demotivating the supervisees.

This course seeks to enable the managers to gain a better understanding of themselves in order to enhance their sense of self worth. Further, the course then equips them with skills to better relate to and manage others. The course is built on concepts around self-differentiation as developed by Edwin Friedman.

 

Topics include:

Topic 1 Self- Awareness

Key Issues:

  • Self- Differentiation
  • Core Identity and values
  • The ice berg model of personality
  • Emotional Intelligence

Topic 2 Self Management

Key Issues:

  • Choice
  • Barry Oshry’s work on the challenges of being in the middle
  • Clarity of purpose

Topic 3 Managing others

Key Issues:

  • The Leadership Pipeline
  • Power relationships in groups

Topic 4 Communication

  • Dynamics of communication
  • Empathetic Listening

Topic 5 Leading and Managing Change

  • Understanding dynamics of change
  • Managing anxiety in times of change
  • Stuckness and organizational change

Topic 6 Team and team performance

Key Issues:

  • Teams or groups?
  • Team development
  • Situational Leadership
  • Transactional Analysis
  • Coaching for performance

 

AIMS & OBJECTIVES

The aim of the course is to promote the transition from being a manager of self to being a manager of others. The course seeks to promote a secure sense of self identity and worth as a base for healthy relationships in the work place.

 

FORMAT

The course runs over 2 consecutive days. The course is practical and reflective with times for individual reflection and small group processing. A number of video documentaries relevant to the course are used to enrich the learning experience.

 

METHOD OF ASSESSMENT

Individual assignment

The individual assignment is around applying the learning on managing for high performance in the work place.

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Leading in Turbulent Environments

OVERVIEW

Course Description

The business world today is in constant and rapid change. As a result, the success and viability of any company is dependent on the ability of its managers to learn and to respond to the changing environment. In the words of Revan, ‘for an organization to remain viable the rate of learning internally must be equal to or greater than the rate of change in its context’. Revan alludes to the well-known concept of the need for requisite variety within organizations. The inability to understand and to meet the demands of this ever increasing and rapidly changing business context has led to the demise of many business entities.

 

Managers who are often skilled in technical fields find themselves quite challenged by the ever increasing rate of complexity and demands especially when dealing with the ‘softer’ people issues. Unfortunately though, classical management approaches have tended to be rather linear and do not provide the skills to manage complexity that arises especially when dealing with the unpredictable human factor. Yet it is this human factor that often determines the success and viability of companies. Managing effectively in an ever changing context requires a different way of thinking. It is here that insights from the field of systems thinking provide a helpful angle to managers, enabling them not only to manage the obvious rational processes but importantly to understand the emotive elements that accompany change. Systems thinking also equip managers with the ability to see the interconnected and interdependent nature of society and organizations and to factor this in their business efforts. The course works with case studies that are derived from the participants in the course. In that way, it provides an opportunity to the students to engage with a complex and messy real life situation that they face in their workplaces. The course is also very interactive and reflective enabling the participants to apply the lessons learnt to their own lives as well.

 

Topics include:

 

Topic 1 Self-differentiated leadership

Key Issues:

  • Personal mastery
  • Leadership pipeline
  • Emotional Intelligence
  • Followership
  • Self- awareness and management

 

Topic 2 Complexity in the world of work

Key Issues:

  • The fast pace of global change
  • The key drivers of the change and complexity in the world of work
  • The implications of the complexity on businesses
  • The implications of the complexity on leaders and managers

 

Topic 3 Traditional approaches to management

  • The origins of mechanistic thinking
  • The challenges of mechanistic thinking

 

Topic 4 Systems thinking

Key Issues:

  • Concepts in systems thinking
  • How to ensure viability in organizations
  • How to manage diverse stakeholders in organizations
  • Managing power relations in organizations
  • An overview of various disciplines within systems thinking

 

Topic 5 Systems thinking and organizational change

  • Understanding dynamics of change
  • Managing anxiety in times of change
  • Stuckness and organizational change

 

Topic 6 Team and team performance

Key Issues:

  • Teams or groups?
  • Team development
  • Situational Leadership
  • Coaching for performance

 

Topic 7 Systems thinking for di(solving) messy situations.

Key Issues:

  • Working with questions
  • Organizational culture
  • Measures of success in organizations

 

AIMS & OBJECTIVES

The aim of the course is to promote a systemic approach to managing organisations in a context of rapid change and complexity. Systems thinking emerged as a reaction to the linear, reductionist approaches commonly used in managing organizations. The course will introduce participants to systems thinking concepts like interdependence, emergence, feedback loops, homeostasis, and boundary critique.

 

Specific attributes include:

  • Complexity in the world of work and its impact on leadership and management of organizations
  • Systems thinking concepts
  • Systems thinking methodologies including the viable systems model, soft systems methodology and critical systems heuristics.

Some concepts from the field of family systems theory including anxiety and emotional fields, self-differentiated leadership, stuckness, triangulation and polarities.

 

FORMAT

The course runs over 3 consecutive days. The course will be case-based and interactive. The case studies will be developed from actual situations that the students are facing thus making the course practical and relevant. A number of video documentaries relevant to the course are used to enrich the learning experience.

 

METHOD OF ASSESSMENT

Individual assignment

The individual assignment is around applying the learning on systems thinking to an organizational situation that the student is facing.

 

Small group project:

The small group project is on an identified business issue. The small group researches on the challenge and develops a proposal (and or a presentation depending on the business needs.)

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Samuel Njenga

Assosiate S NjengaI am an experienced and highly rated process facilitator having worked with many organisations in the areas of leadership development, change management, strategic alignment as well as in organisational transformation and renewal. My interests include how organisations create and share knowledge; how to promote organisational learning as well as how to lead and manage change processes in a way that enhances individual and organisational performance. I enjoy working with organisations to enhance their viability and effectiveness.

 

Public Sector Performance Improvement

I have developed and facilitated many sessions towards diagnosing and improving capacity and performance of work units within the public sector. This has included the review of the national department of social development’s Service Delivery Model as well as capacity building workshops using systems thinking approaches for managers in various government departments and agencies. I have facilitated workshops for The performance and monitoring unit of the Office of the President to enable and understanding and application of systems based processes for their mandate. I have also worked with various local government agencies.

 

Executive Coach

I am also an experienced executive coach where I use approaches based on family systems theory to assist individuals manage in times of change and transition. I have worked with many managers at executive and senior level in a wide variety of companies including Vodacom, SARS, the Fulham group, Sun International casinos and in the food and beverage sector. I specialize in working with executives who need help to manage specific developmental areas and also high potential individuals who are either being groomed for or have recently been promoted to senior positions.

For the last three years, I have facilitated an annual retreat for senior government leaders in Botswana using systems based processes.

 

Leadership Development Consultant

I am passionate about the development of leaders within organisations. I research and read on trends and models in this area. Using concepts like Drotter’s leadership pipeline and Friedman’s self-differentiated leadership, I have worked with assessing leadership needs and developing programs and processes to address the emerging gaps. I have been involved in leadership development processes in a wide range of organisations including Didata, FNB, Smart Solution, Sun International, Fulham group, Vodacom as well as a number of government departments.

 

Organisational Development (OD) consultant

I am an excellent, passionate and skilled facilitator of group processes. I use systems tools to enable my clients gain a better understanding and diagnosis of complex problem situations and to develop appropriate responses. I have facilitated processes in organisations such as UNICEF, MOFFU, Kalahari sands hotel and casinos and the UNFPA.

 

Facilitating corporate storytelling

Using processes and tools like the story wall as well as organisational case studies, I have facilitated sessions that enable an organisation to tell its story and to work towards a shared purpose. Storytelling is especially meaningful in times of transition and change and also where new people have joined a team.

 

Effective speaking and presentation skills training

I am an experienced facilitator in public speaking and presentation skills having been accredited as a master trainer during my time at Maurice Kerrigan Africa (Pty) Ltd. I have facilitated many sessions for staff who are on the interface of the business and customers. The approach in this training has included some theory as well as one on one sessions with each of the participants addressing their individual challenges in public speaking. The process does not only lead to improved performance in public speaking but also in a more assertive and confident person.

 

Performance Improvement

I have consulted with many organisations assessing their core purpose, facilitating processes to enable them develop a shared purpose and align their strategy to their core purpose. A recent example is Kalahari sands hotel which has seen marked improvement in staff morale and productivity.

 

Research

I have conducted social research using mainly qualitative tools and methods under a GTZ survey, as well as a research on ‘African conceptualizations of leadership’ under the University of KwaZulu Natal. I have also been part of a team of three assessing the tools that the Small Enterprise Development Agency (Seda) a unit of the Department of Trade and Industry uses for small business development. I also conducted research for the Southern African Trust (SATs) on inclusive business practices.

 

Lecturing and student supervision

I lecture and supervise exams and papers at the Leadership Centre UKZN in the area of systems application in knowledge management to postgraduate diploma as well as Masters Students. I am also a visiting faculty at University of Stellenbosch- Business Executive Development in systems application to organisational issues like leadership development, change management, project management, management roles and team performance.

I am a student of Systems theory and Practice and I have a Bachelors of Education (Hons) from Kenyatta University, an MA in Organisational Leadership (Eastern University, USA) and a Master of Commerce in Organisational Management and Systems (UKZN). I am currently studying towards a Phd looking at systems application in capacity development in the public sector.

I am a co-author of a KnowRes publication: Leading the Way through CSI: A Guidebook for Corporate Social Investment Practitioners.

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