1.3 Activity: applying systems thinking to your situation by Gia Instructor

Identify three (3) concepts that have particularly interested you in this module’s content. Explain these concepts using examples from your organisation. Post your answers to the course discussion board.

GiaInstructor — 2024-08-26 05:47:21 UTC

Three concepts

2025-09-17 11:21:39 UTC

Systemic
Interests me as there issues within my organisation that affect the whole organisation. One of these issues is the number of committees that require papers or updates. Branches across the organisation are constantly asked to provide the same or similar updates/papers across a range of committees each month his causes delays in other work as papers have to be drafted to meet the requirements of that committee.
Leverage
This interests me as I work within a newly established capability & assurance team within my branch. We are working on making small strategic changes to key elements within the branch to improve ways of working
Dynamic Complexity
I am interested in this again from an assurance angle. Assurance activities being undertaken in the branch will take time to analyse, make proposals for change and then implement so the impacts of the assurance activity may not be seen for up to 12 months.

I enjoyed learning about all different parts of the systems. From this module and the examples of systems given I looked at things differently some of the examples given are things I would never have considered to be systems This relates to my current role as i work in a government agency and there are many other parts of the "system" that i work in that i need to interact with daily such as Ministerial offices to keep up with policy announcement .

2026-01-05 00:15:07 UTC

2026-03-02 07:32:13 UTC

Leverage – I have just started with a new organisation and am working with the key people across the organisation to improve governance. If I can get each one to make a few small changes in a couple of very focused areas, I am hoping this will have a big impact

Systematic – I am working to put in place processes and procedures where they have been lacking

Strange attractors – I am noticing one person I work with takes a lot of leave and I cannot figure out a pattern but it appears to be related to timing of certain project work which I don’t think they understand

2026-05-14 05:25:38 UTC

Systemic thinking will help identify whether a problem is organisation-wide.
Strange attractors will help spot recurring patterns in apparently messy behaviour.
Detail complexity will highlight the burden of coordinating many governance requirements.

Complexity

2026-06-10 08:49:27 UTC

Three concepts of interest and application to my organisation, an education system.

Complex (adaptive) systems: This organisation operates as a complex adaptive system comprising multiple interconnected elements, including a number of functional areas e.g. Corporate Services, Policy and Performance, People and Culture, Education – Student Learning and Wellbeing, Digital Excellence, and almost 150 schools. Outcomes such as student learning and system performance emerge from interactions across these areas and cannot be fully understood or predicted by examining a single function in isolation.

Non-linearity: Small changes in one part of the system can lead to disproportionate and often unpredictable impacts elsewhere. For example, a change in system-wide policy or digital tools may significantly affect teacher workload, student engagement, and school-level implementation in ways that are not directly proportional or immediately visible. Emergence (and equifinality): System-wide outcomes emerge from the interactions between functions, schools, and stakeholders. Different combinations of actions (e.g. professional learning, leadership capability, or resource allocation) can lead to similar outcomes in student learning, demonstrating equifinality. These results are not centrally controlled but arise from how the system operates collectively.

Reality connection

2026-07-12 05:48:40 UTC

The following three concepts covered directly relate to my work and reinforce I'm doing the right course to strengthen my understanding.

Systemic -Complaints Handling helps identify recurring delays in member communications. Investigation finds the issue occurs across multiple teams and products and is driven by underlying operating model constraints. The issue is systemic because it is embedded within the broader system and cannot be resolved through changes in a single team or process.

Balancing Feedback Loop - An increase in complaints triggers investigation and activity designed to address the root cause and reduce future complaints (Effectively Systemic mitigation)

Reinforcing Feedback loop - Complaint analysis identifies insights and improvement opportunities. As changes are implemented, customer outcomes and performance metrics improve. Sharing these learnings encourages further analysis, improvement and adoption, creating a cycle of continuous organisational learning.