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My hope is that by the end of 500, I'll understand how to apply systems thinking to the antiquated processes at my institution. Too many times I’ve heard “but we’ve always done it this way” or, “That’s great but BCIT is different, that won’t work here”.  Changes are hard to introduce across departments because what works for one is a challenge for another. I want to better understand the elements of systems thinking that can get the conversation started within and between departments so that honest, earnest and effective decisions can be made.

I expect to learn more about how systems evolve and develop in an organization, how systems thinking can benefit the organization and how I can convey that benefit to people and departments.

The specific skills I hope to enhance as a result of 550 are how to interpret and understand existing systems, and how to approach and propose meaningful change.

Alistair Calder

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Enya’s goals in building Systems Thinking and Strategic Planning Mind-set

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Enya’s goals in building Systems Thinking and Strategic Planning Mind-set

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When I think of Systems Thinking I think of Macro-thinkers who can bring new ideas, be creative and always have a big picture/vision in their mind and are willing to share with the rest of the team.

I hope through taking HEAL 550 course I can gain a better and deeper understanding of what Systems Thinking & Strategic Planning is, and learn how to best apply this mind-set in real world not only in Higher Education field, but in daily life.

I hope to develop my skills in thinking systematically and strategically via all the tools, theories that will be covered in this course, and via experiences that are going to be shared from our cohort.

One day I was reading The Fifth Discipline book during my lunch break, a colleague from a different department who is around 60 and who I sometimes have tea with in the kitchen said to me that a lot of times theories are just theories, they don’t work in real work environment. I replied to him that I don’t want to believe that yet before I even have a chance to try it myself, and I’d like to stay as innocent and naive as a child to learn all these theories, but very much looking forward to applying those theories in different positions through my career.

I'd like to keep playing the "Why Game", and find out if those theories don't work, why they didn't work?
Enya :)
(Eternal Optimist)

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By the end of 550 as a leader I hope to learn best practices from my colleagues experiences in how systems thinking approaches are implemented and utilized within their home institutions. I expect to learn more about specific organizational change interventions and models and how they can be used effectively. The specific skills I hope to enhance are acquiring abilities to bring back to my organization in the area of evidence based management.

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I am looking forward to learning about strategic planning and how I can develop or participate in implementing my institutions overall strategic plan or future plans.  More importantly, how to create better connections with key players within the college for internationalization across campus through communication and partnerships between departments.

This will be my first course in systems thinking and I am not so familiar with it.  I am hoping that it will allow me to have a better ability at seeing the bigger picture and the end goals and be able to use approaches that I learn through this course to create long term sustainable solutions. I have seen a couple of posts about silos and sometimes I feel my department has to continuously work hard and struggle to make changes despite the major role it plays and impact it has (financial, capacity, employment opportunities, overall structural growth etc) within the college.   We always want to say that we are open to change – but how open, at what pace are we looking to move and how do we effectively use the human resources and tools available.

Rasha

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Great example of how automatic and expected strategic plans are. And to some degree it makes sense - when a new leader takes the captain's chair we are keen to know what route he or she intends to follow and exactly where we are headed for. What makes less sense though is our assumption that the plan is strategic -- it may be and it may not be. Your arrow analogy is a good one... I might add to it though that the target may also change, so the arrow and technique we were using may also need to change. So much to think about -- I love this stuff!!
Tamara

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Isn't it interesting that we talk about silos yet communication and transparency has never been easier - so its not due to a lack of means but rather our mind set and organizational culture!
Tamara

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Welcome to the course! Perhaps one of the greatest ah-ha moments for students learning about systems thinking is realizing the importance of working relationships between the multiple players in any given institution.  Patterns - good and not so good emerge when we take the time to look and seek to understand.
Tamara

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Indeed a systems thinking lens offers a clear sight line on what the issues are and who is involved. Getting at the root is critical!
Tamara

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I look forward to learning more about how systems thinking can be applied in a private organization.
Tamara

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Communication skills are an inherent part of effective systems thinking!
Tamara

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Our discussions about strategic planning will no doubt be quite engaging given the level of experience shared within the cohort! Tamara

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I suspect the systems thinking approach will help you identify opportunities and ways that you can approach the conversations for need change.
Tamara

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By the end of 550 as a leader in higher education I hope to …..

·      To be able to have a better impact on others shifting my intentions and way of thinking, moving from what Stroh (2015) calls  “conventional thinking” (p. 15) or Mella (2012) mentions Barry Richmond’s “laundry list thinking”  (p. 21). I want to have learned how to begin to apply systems thinking in my department. Understanding this thinking as an art or discipline.

·      Seeing the bigger picture and moving toward better solutions by being able to see variables in order to avoid negative consequences for example “to see the trees in the forest” Mella, 2012, p. 23).

·      I expect that I will begin to see roots of complex problems and move away from quick fixes (which is sometimes my natural inclination). This will in turn help with deepening my understanding of problems that I want to solve and hopefully assist with strategic goals for my organization.

·      I expect that I will begin to learn how to work more effectively in my department and organization to engage the communities/ the people that I work with.

I hope to learn how to play what Mella (2012) calls the "Why game" (p. 12)

-Danielle

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1.    By the end of 550
as a leader in higher education I hope to have learned more about .....  

Strategic planning - when
is it necessary?  As in when is it
necessary to pause and reflect and formulate a new direction at the highest
levels versus smaller more focused actions at a departmental or functional
level.  And having started the systems
thinking readings, I don’t mean that different interests of various
stakeholders shouldn’t be considered at all level of planning.  I recall from HEAL 501, I think it was in the
Buller book, where he stated that every incoming university president starts by
launching a new strategic plan.  And sure
enough, there’s an article
in the Vancouver Sun this week about the new incoming president at UBC making a
new strategic plan his top priority.  I believe
these exercises have value, people need to know the direction of their
organization, I just wonder when or often they’re necessary.  2.    I expect to learn
more about....in 550

The steps involved in making
a strategic plan.

3.    The specific skills
I hope to enhance as a result of 550 are....

How to move from the
distant, possibly vague future goals towards concrete action steps that can be
taken now (is my blue energy showing?). 
Someone once described strategic planning to me as an exercise in
shooting at an arrow at a very distant target. 
It’s unlikely you will hit the target perfectly, but you should come
close, and as you move forward, you’ll have the chance to stop, re-assess and
shoot again.  So the specific skill I’m
hoping for is when to say that’s as close or precise as we can expect to get
for now, let’s move forward.

 

# data[].attributes.subject
1.    By the end of 550
as a leader in higher education I hope to have learned more about .....  

Strategic planning - when
is it necessary?  As in when is it
necessary to pause and reflect and formulate a new direction at the highest
levels versus smaller more focused actions at a departmental or functional
level.  And having started the systems
thinking readings, I don’t mean that different interests of various
stakeholders shouldn’t be considered at all level of planning.  I recall from HEAL 501, I think it was in the
Buller book, where he stated that every incoming university president starts by
launching a new strategic plan.  And sure
enough, there’s an article
in the Vancouver Sun this week about the new incoming president at UBC making a
new strategic plan his top priority.  I believe
these exercises have value, people need to know the direction of their
organization, I just wonder when or often they’re necessary.  2.    I expect to learn
more about....in 550

The steps involved in making
a strategic plan.

3.    The specific skills
I hope to enhance as a result of 550 are....

How to move from the
distant, possibly vague future goals towards concrete action steps that can be
taken now (is my blue energy showing?). 
Someone once described strategic planning to me as an exercise in
shooting at an arrow at a very distant target. 
It’s unlikely you will hit the target perfectly, but you should come
close, and as you move forward, you’ll have the chance to stop, re-assess and
shoot again.  So the specific skill I’m
hoping for is when to say that’s as close or precise as we can expect to get
for now, let’s move forward.

 

# data[].attributes.body
Mike

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The University of B.C.'s new president is warm and charming, wears bow ties, plays the cello and refuses to accept bonuses.

At his past post as president at the University of Cincinnati, the popular school administrator was once picked up by football fans and crowd-surfed through the stands. Another time, he was the top person of a cheerleaders' pyramid at a basketball game.

But underneath Santa Ono's quirks and informality lies a no-nonsense leader.

Ono, 53, was born at St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver while his father worked as a UBC professor. He left the city when he was about a year old and grew up in Baltimore.

At the University of Cincinnati, many were dismayed to hear he planned to leave. After a career as a biomedical researcher, he became provost there in 2010 and then president in 2012.

Now he is entering the fray at UBC, where the previous president resigned abruptly last summerafter less than a year in office, setting off a storm of accusations about the board of governors - including allegations of secret meetings, a power struggle and interference in academic freedom. The chairman resigned, the faculty held a vote of no-confidence in the board and many of the senior leaders are new or in acting positions.

But that firestorm didn't scare off Ono in the least, he says.

"This is not my first rodeo," Ono said. "This is not my first presidency of a large, public research university, so I've lived what it means to be the president of a large university with a board of trustees."

He asked around some friends and family in Vancouver and says he was assured that the members of the board of governors are "fine people who are really passionate about the institution."

"I won't say that what happened wasn't significant. Obviously there was tension that went on for some time, but looking into it and realizing that people were genuinely interested in the well-being of the university, that really alleviated any concerns that I had," said Ono, who will be paid $470,000 a year for a five-year term at UBC.

Ono's top priority this year is to establish a new strategic plan for UBC, which he will start by getting to know the people on campus.

Since his arrival in early August, Ono says he has met hundreds of faculty members, academic leaders and students. He threw the first pitch at a Canadians game, flipped hamburgers at a university function and met many students on move-in day.

His wife, Wendy Yip, a lawyer, volunteers around UBC, his older daughter, Juliana, 18, is on a gap year, and his younger daughter, Sarah, 11, attends nearby Norma Rose Point elementary school.

UBC's faculty association president Mark MacLean said he thinks Ono is genuine and sincere in his desire to build a strong relationship with the faculty.

"I have found him to be a careful listener and straightforward in our conversations about some of the difficult issues he will face in his first months as president," MacLean said. "He is quickly establishing strong connections to UBC's students, and I am hopeful that he will do the same thing with the faculty."

MacLean said the board of governors still has a lot of work to do to re-establish the confidence of the faculty after its vote of non-confidence earlier this year, but that he's pleased that Ono and the board chair, Stuart Belkin, are both committed to improving governance at UBC.

Ono has already received thousands of emails and social media messages, something he says he invited in his first outreach to the community. One of those messages was from Gregor Young, who graduated from UBC in 1990 and is now the technical director for Vancouver United Football Club.

Young told Ono that his daughter, now in fourth year at UBC, wasn't having the same high-quality student experience that he remembers, especially when it comes to extracurricular activities.

"The culture of UBC in the last 10 to 15 years has been to raise money to leverage the assets they have, which are primarily real estate, and to create a campus that is shiny and new and bigger," Young said. "They really treat international students like a revenue stream and they've really lost, in my mind, a sense of having a student-centred culture on campus."

Ono replied the next day and said the student experience is very important to him and that he hopes to work on it at UBC. While Young was impressed that Ono took the time to reply, he is not convinced Ono will have the power to address his concerns.

"I think a lot of these decisions are driven by the board of governors and I think the board of governors has a lot of wealthy, very successful business people on it," Young said. "I think they view student experience differently than perhaps I do and even perhaps how the new president does.

"I don't know how those decisions get brokered at those levels, but obviously it frustrated the previous president because he resigned."

Ono said he will listen to all of the messages, including several about the mix of international students versus domestic students and about a focus on the "physical plant" over the student experience.

"Whenever you hear different things, often there is a grain of truth. What it requires is not only to hear, but also to listen," Ono said. "We should never rest on our laurels or be complacent because it's an honour and privilege for this to be the destination for a university student. We shouldn't take for granted that world class students and faculty chose to come here."

Alex Kappus, 28, who met Ono when Kappus was a student at Emory University and Ono was a professor and administrator, vouches for Ono's listening skills.

"What struck me most about Dr. Ono, both then and now, is how invested he is in every conversation," Kappus said. "You know he is listening and that the wheels are turning in his mind, always thinking about ways to contribute."

While it is incredibly hard for local students to get into UBC, it is equally hard for international students, Ono said. This year, first year students needed a higher than 90-per-cent average to get accepted into UBC.

"I don't want there to be a misperception that non-qualified international students are being accepted because they pay a higher tuition rate. That is simply not the case. There is a uniform admission standard," Ono said.

"The international students I've met are extraordinary and they contribute to the human capital on this campus and their presence enriches the experience of the domestic students and helps them be global citizens."

Like many post-secondary schools in the province, UBC's $2.3-billion budget is under pressure. Government's share of the budget has shrunk, and domestic tuition fee increases are capped at two per cent per year. The university raised international student tuition by 10 per cent last year and 15 per cent this year. More than 20 per cent of UBC's students are international students.

At the same time, the provincial government has mandated that one-quarter of provincial operating grants provided to post-secondary institutions must be used for training in high-demand occupations.

Ono said the tension between classic scholarship and innovation is healthy, but that both are important to the success of any university.

"Imagine if there was no investment in composition during the time of Mozart and Chopin," Ono said. "If you think about the Beatles or modern day music, you can see that it's built on what was created a century or more ago. You might say, how important could general music theory be? But think about the economic impact of the music industry."

Other examples he gave included the innovative work done at the Michael Smith Laboratories - a UBC research initiative that has resulted in many awards, including the Nobel Prize for Michael Smith - and the panorama photo function on the Apple iPhone. Both were made possible by fundamental research done at UBC.

"My job is to explain both missions of the university and to advocate for both - fundamental scholarship research and that (work) that is more applied," Ono said. "Sometimes that basic research is the seed for innovation. If you were to eliminate fundamental scholarship and basic research, you are essentially eliminating future innovation."

Ono says his work with the board is "fantastic" so far.

"I've worked at a number of fine universities ... and I would say that the governors here are just as good or better than any that I've worked with anywhere," Ono said.

Tom Humes was chairman of the board at the University of Cincinnati when Ono was president and says Ono is a "uniquely positive person with great creativity and a wonderful care and belief in people."

But he's not only good with people, he's also adept at making the tough boardroom decisions required of a university president, Humes said.

"Santa has an amazing intellect to go with that personality," said Humes, now president of a real estate development company.

"You knew what he stood for and he stood for good things. He stood for making the university greater and he stood for quality academics, quality relationships, innovation and working with the community and expanding the university's role in the community."

Ultimately, Ono says the new strategic plan for UBC will include a vision and concrete steps to improve the core missions of the university, which are the creation of new knowledge, teaching, research, student experience, and health care.

"We want to stretch the vision so that UBC is at the penetrating, cutting edge in each of those core missions," Ono said.
tsherlock@postmedia.com

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UBC's new president Santa Ono: engaging, charming, dapper, tough

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The University of B.C.'s new president is warm and charming, wears bow ties, plays the cello and refuses to accept bonuses. At his past post as president at the University of Cincinnati, the popular school administrator was once picked up by football fans and crowd-surfed through the stands.

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Jefferson's main expect take away from System Thinking

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Jefferson's main expect take away from System Thinking

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Our private university went through some tough situations which it was caused by the previous ownership. The current ownership brought in new administration leaders (including myself) from public sectors to make positive changes since they purchased in 2015.
Even though we have made some significant improvements and changes of the university in the past 1.9 years, we believe the changes can be more effectively.
It is a similar situation as MJ's organization that a proposed strategic plan has to go through numerous discussions and layers which it slows down the progress.

My expected take away from HEAL 550 is to gain skills and knowledge to be an effective communicator to engaging people internally in order to move the organization forward.

Jefferson Li

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Welcome back to all us returners – I hope you all had a good
couple of weeks off! Welcome to the new folks joining us! By the end of 550, I’m hoping to have a deeper understanding
of systems thinking and how I can apply it to my everyday work. I currently
have absolutely no background knowledge in this area, so anything I take away
from the course will be new! I’m also really looking forward to the strategic
planning section of this course. My department is very open to change and
development, which is great as we are able to strive to be better and to bring
in new ideas. However, sometimes the changes are not always implemented in the
best way or at the right time, which can create challenges. I am hopeful that by
learning more about strategic planning, I can be a larger part of my unit’s
discussions on future planning and implementation of changes and developments.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Laura H.

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Welcome back to all us returners – I hope you all had a good
couple of weeks off! Welcome to the new folks joining us! By the end of 550, I’m hoping to have a deeper understanding
of systems thinking and how I can apply it to my everyday work. I currently
have absolutely no background knowledge in this area, so anything I take away
from the course will be new! I’m also really looking forward to the strategic
planning section of this course. My department is very open to change and
development, which is great as we are able to strive to be better and to bring
in new ideas. However, sometimes the changes are not always implemented in the
best way or at the right time, which can create challenges. I am hopeful that by
learning more about strategic planning, I can be a larger part of my unit’s
discussions on future planning and implementation of changes and developments.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Laura H.

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Hi everyone and welcome Ted, Kate and Pervin!  My goals for this course are similar to most of you.  I want to be able to make more effective connections within my organization, and like Shannon, be "able to critically examine what is going on under the surface."
I have heard over and over again that departments within educational organizations tend to work in silo's.  We all know this leaves us isolated and alone so why do we continue to do it?  Why are we not reaching out to one another?  I look forward to exploring these questions throughout the coming weeks and learning how to better facilitate a systems thinking approach with my institution.
Cheers,
Wanda

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I don’t know much about systems thinking however I'm already inspired after reading the assigned material and look forward to a new way of thinking.

Similar to Izach, I don’t feel that my organization currently does a good job at systems thinking or strategic planning. It seems that any time a change is proposed it has to go through many layers of hierarchy and most of the time gets shut down completely or loses it's purpose in the process. I am hoping to better understand the system and learn how and why some of the issues have developed in the higher education sector.

I would also like to gain skills in communicating effectively with a diverse range of stakeholders in order to create the necessary change to benefit everyone in the long term.

MJ

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HEAL 550 wasn’t part of the Graduate Certificate in Systems Leadership in HE program I had registered in but on reading the course outline and now Senge’s and Stroh’s materials, I see the need of having a systems thinking mentality in the post-secondary sector. We face a multitude of challenges and as a leader I am hoping this course will provide me the skills to see through complex details and arrive at the “patterns” Senge speaks about to identify fundamental solutions rather than short term fixes.
Pervin.

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Hi everyone - welcome to those that are new!

Similar to Kate, I feel very new to the ideas presented in systems thinking. I'm really excited to dive in and learn about it. I'm really drawn to the strategic planning component as I feel this is a piece I'm missing in my role. I've done a little exploration on my own but I lack the background and understanding of how to effectively develop and implement a strategic plan.

Alexis

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Hi everyone - and welcome to Kate, Ted and Laura L. Looking forward to learning from your experiences throughout the course.

This course is one of the main reasons I picked the MAHEAL program; I'm excited to explore my own understanding of the systems at play in higher education institutions and be better able to critically examine what is going on under the surface and the ripple effects of decisions made.  As I've been diving into the readings, I can tell that my brain is going to need to un-learn and re-learn some of my thinking patterns and I'm looking forward to being challenged in this way.

In terms of skills I'm hoping to gain, I'd like to be able facilitate productive conversations with diverse stakeholders on campus to examine the implications of the systems we have in place. I have historically been more of a "hey, this isn't working" person, hoping that someone else in a more senior leadership position might find a way to bring competing interests together to form common ground. If I'd like to grow as a leader, I need to possess the skills to engage people in these examinations of systems in hopes of finding a shared vision for change we can all work towards.

Shannon

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Nice to be working with you again! I look forward to learning more about how incorporating a systems thinking perspective in your organization can benefit you as a leader and the organization as a whole.
Tamara

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Your reference to the complexity of post secondary institutions is an important one to remember as we consider how processes work or don't! There are multiple moving parts and while unintentional we can get wrapped up in our own specific operations and needs without considering what if any impact or influence our unit may have on other units. Looking forward to working with you.
Tamara

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Greetings everyone :)
By the end of 550 as a leader in higher education I hope to have learned more about systems thinking and strategic planning. As I work through this course and reflect on the principles of systems thinking and strategic planning I hope to apply the principles I have learned where I situationally can within my organization. Currently I do not feel my institution does a good job at using a systems thinking approach in solving systemic problems.  However, I look forward to the possibility being able to apply my learning to my field in order for departments to work together instead of against each other. As a department head within my particular field of law enforcement - I am being very optimistic at challenging “old boys club” mentalities.
Izach

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I like my colleague Kate, am new to the formal study of systems thinking although I find myself immersed in an educational system currently attempting to subscribe to the ideals of the discipline.

As a college instructor who seeks to further the betterment of the workings of my community college, I hope to by the end of this course further my understanding of systems thinking and the applications that may assist in achieving these goals.

Within my organization, I find myself regularly asking the question “how can we do this better”. The complexity of so many situations occurring daily within a post-secondary institution, from communication lags to departmental siloing ultimately would be assisted by having all ships sailing in the same direction. My ideal end goal is to not only further my understanding of the systems thinking but to have a clearer idea as to how it may be used as an analytical framework or “compass” to better my institution and all of its stakeholders.

Edward (Ted) Strauch

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Thank you for the words of welcome Hannah. I am looking forward to working with you and the rest of our team and others in the course.
Ted :)

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Lovely to be working with you again too! Great example of how what one area may seem as insignificant information to another can actually be a vital know!
Tamara

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Hi again team MAHEAL, and a big welcome to Ted, Kate Pervin and Laura L. I look forward to connecting with you (Ted, it looks like we are in a team together for this course!).

In response to the question, the specific skill that I hope to enhance as a result of 550 is the ability to develop and contribute to making better connections between my department and other departments, that is born out of a true understanding of the ripple effect of my or my teams actions.

There are countless situations where a change is made in one department and isn’t communicated to another, which is turn can have large repercussions. I can remember when the admissions office at my (previous) institution changed an admission requirement without notifying our recruitment office. The assumption was that it wouldn’t affect us, but in turn we were on the road recruiting and sharing the now outdated information with students, which is a situation that no one wants to be in. I notice that a lot of the time there is a simple passage of blame; usually regarding a lack of communication, and the issue is swept aside until it happens again. I hope that through this course I develop a better understanding of ways to mitigate these issues rather than to simply complain and accept them as something that ‘just happens’.
-HG

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I suspect the readings, discussions and assignments will indeed enhance your knowledge of what it means to be a systems thinker. if you have not yet gotten a copy of Stroh's book please do so asap - try amazon! He has a great way of explaining concepts aligned with ST.
Tamara

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I do not currently know much about systems thinking, though Peter Senge’s example of a family structure that sometimes unintentionally works against its best interests, helped my understanding.

Over the next two months, I would like to challenge my conventional thinking habits and gain skills in imagining systems strategically and complexly. Moreover, I would like to learn how to lead systems thinking in my educational institution (which tends to be proudly compartmental). By the end of HEAL550, I would like to have a strong understanding of the range of models and frameworks used in strategic thinking and be able to apply them to the workplace confidently. I can imagine myself ‘dropping the mic’ (as they say) with a perfectly articulated visual systems map at a strategic planning presentation.
-Kate Nickelchok