Systems Aware Leadership · 1 or 2 days
Fix one problem.
Create two more.
Leaders are rewarded for fixing things fast, but in a connected organisation today’s quick fix often becomes tomorrow’s crisis somewhere else. Systems Aware Leadership teaches leaders to see the whole picture, understand why problems keep coming back, and find the few changes that make a lasting difference.
4 lenses
A simple way to see any complex situation
A live simulation
Feel how smart people get trapped by the system they’re in
Your real challenge
Leave with a map of it and a plan to shift it
Sound familiar?
“We solved this last year. Why is it back?”
“Every department hits its target, and the customer is still unhappy.”
“We pushed harder, and things got worse.”
As the saying goes, every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets. To change the results, leaders have to see the system.
What changes
Stop fighting fires. Start redesigning the building.
01
See patterns, not just events
Look past the latest incident to the patterns, structures and beliefs that keep producing it.
02
Anticipate the ripple effects
Trace cause and effect across teams and over time, so decisions don’t backfire somewhere else.
03
Find the real leverage
Spot the small, well-placed changes that shift the whole system, and test them safely before scaling.
The programme
Inside the workshop
Part 1
See the system
A live simulation, and what it reveals about how systems shape behaviour
The iceberg model: from events down to mental models
Mapping your system: people, flows, boundaries and loops
Common traps: fixes that fail, shifting the burden, silo thinking
Part 2
Lead the system
Finding leverage points in your own organisation
Mental models, including your own, and how to shift them
Conversations that connect silos and stakeholders
Safe-to-try experiments, and a systems action plan for your real challenge
The 2-day option goes deeper: peer coaching on each leader’s systems map, and a fuller look at stakeholder dynamics and leading change across boundaries.
The framework
The four lenses of a systems aware leader
Drawn from the systems thinking work of Peter Senge and Donella Meadows, and made practical for everyday leadership.
Lens 1
Zoom out
See the whole: who and what is connected to this?
Lens 2
Look below
The iceberg: events, patterns, structures and mental models
Lens 3
Follow the loops
Feedback loops and delays: why quick fixes fail
Lens 4
Find the leverage
Where a small change creates a big shift
For decision-makers
The essentials at a glance
Who it’s for
Managers and senior leaders working across functions, leading change, or managing complex projects and partnerships
Format
1 or 2 days, built around each participant’s real challenge
Delivery
In person or online, to be decided with you
Evidence
A systems map of a real organisational challenge, with chosen leverage points and a first experiment
Investment
Tailored to group size and format, on request
Why organisations invest
Fewer recurring problems and costly unintended consequences
Better decisions across silos and functions
Change efforts that hold, rather than slipping back
Leaders who think strategically, not just operationally
Runs stand-alone or as part of a 3- to 6-month LIFT™ learning journey. Pairs naturally with Growth Mindset.
