Systems thinking is the art of understanding the world not as separate phenomena, but as a web of interconnected parts where each element influences and is influenced by others. Instead of focusing only on individual events or parts, systems thinking seeks to capture the processes, connections, patterns, and the invisible glue that holds everything together. It is a form of thinking that is not only suitable for engineers or scientists – it is equally valuable in everyday life, in organizations, in community planning, and in leadership.
For most of us, it is natural to notice the “things” that surround us. We see the table, the person, the computer, the lunch box. The concrete and visible get our attention. But systems thinking requires us to train our ability to see what lies beyond the obvious – processes, relationships, movements, and structures. It is like adjusting the focus in a photograph and suddenly discovering what was in the background all along.
Shifting focus from things to processes
Imagine you are standing in a regular grocery store. What you see are products on shelves, customers moving around with shopping carts and staff picking up fresh fruit. But it is only when you actively start observing the shopping process itself that you step into a systemic perspective. How do people move? How long do they stay at different sections? How does the flow of products, people and information interact?
It is the same in a meeting or a brainstorming session. If you only see the room and the participants, you may miss the most important thing: how ideas arise, who gets space, how the conversation flows – or does not flow. By focusing on the process itself, rather than just the content, you open up insights into why some ideas get stuck and others gain momentum.
Seeing the relationships, not just the individuals
Another important perspective in systems observation is relationships. In the grocery store, it’s not just about customers and staff as isolated actors, but about how they relate to each other. Are customers greeted? Can one get help? Is there a positive feeling, or is the environment cold and anonymous?
The same applies in organizations. It’s not just interesting which individuals are in a meeting – what determines the dynamics is often the relationships between them. How well do they know each other? How is power and influence distributed? Who listens to whom? The system’s possibilities – or limitations – are shaped in these relationships.
Speed, understanding the role of movement in systems
The rhythm of the system is often crucial, and sometimes we need to put on our “speed goggles” to understand friction or opportunities. If things go too slowly at the checkout in the grocery store, it can lead to irritation, queues and stress. If things go too fast, service may suffer. The staff’s ability to react to unexpected events – such as a customer dropping a can or not finding an item – also says a lot about the system’s flexibility.
In a brainstorming session, the pace can determine the quality. If ideas rush forward without anyone having time to reflect, we miss the depth. If the pace is too slow, the energy may evaporate. When a new person joins the meeting, the dynamics change – the speed of the system, its elasticity, is tested.
Zooming out, and in, with systems glasses
The real power of systems thinking arises when we can both zoom in on details and zoom out to understand the whole. It is about being able to see from a “moon perspective”, where we look at the earth and at the same time discern patterns, connections and dependencies. In the grocery store, this means that we suddenly see not just the shelves, but the entire distribution chain: the parking lot outside, the suppliers’ trucks, the cold chain that has kept the food fresh, and the waste and return management from the store.
In an ideation process, the systems perspective means that we understand why the brainstorming is done, what problem it is supposed to solve, why we don’t do certain things, which perspectives are not represented, and how decisions are made afterwards. It is only when we see the context of the system that we can design better solutions.
Training your observation skills
Systems thinking is not just a theoretical framework – it is a practical skill that can be trained. By practicing seeing processes, relationships, speed and wholes in everyday situations, we improve our ability to understand and change systems. This allows us to apply methods such as stakeholder analysis, the iceberg model, loop diagrams and other tools for system innovation with greater precision and accuracy.
The faster we learn to discover the logic and patterns of a system, the better we will be at developing sustainable and long-term solutions – whether it is about the climate, organizations or everyday life.
The Method, Four Focus Perspectives for Training Your Systems Thinking
A simple way to improve your systems thinking skills is to start consciously practicing shifting your observational focus in everyday situations. Choose an environment – a workplace, a meeting, a café or a grocery store – and observe it through four different lenses:
- Things: What is in the system I observe? This makes you reflect on what you would normally consider.
- Processes: What processes are going on? What flows are there? This makes you see what is being done, not what is there.
- Relationships: What relationships are visible? How do people, things and structures interact with each other? This makes you discover the underlying structures and behaviors.
- Speed: At what speed do things happen in the system? What goes fast? What goes slow? Where are there differences in speed and why? This makes you see the dynamics of the system.
- Wholeness: What is the system as a whole? Which boundaries are visible and which are invisible? Which parts are included, which are outside? What do you see when you zoom out that you didn’t think about? This makes you see external influences that have shaped the system.
This simple method – consciously changing focus – is a powerful way to practice systems perspective. And once you start to see the system, you can question years of patchwork and unnecessary dependencies and also find lasting solutions that create something better using the technologies and working methods we have available today.
