paul donaldson

learns

to rethink

his world
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         My passion for the last year (which is a more aged passion rekindled) in some areas of academia is known as Systems Dynamics or Systems Thinking. This school of thought that came out of MIT with the father being an accomplished gentleman named Jay Forrester.

         My definition of System Dynamics or Systems Thinking, is understanding the concept that we as individuals are a part of multiple systems as we move through our existence on this plane and more importantly that we play a part in most if not all of the occurrences that we experience in life (some would say all occurrences but I am not that evolved in my study). In addition, it challenges one to look at the world as whole systems, cycles or circles instead of fragmented and unconnected parts. In thinking about this in a worldview it echoes both Native American and Eastern approaches.

         I was recently in a weeklong session at MIT to study this concept in further depth and was immersed in the living body of knowledge ever evolving around this concept. One practitioner who has generated this concept forward in a most appealing way over the years is a fellow named Peter Senge. His approach fleshed out the concept and gave it more meaning to me as an individual and bridged it with organizational learning, coining the idea of The Learning Organization. The seminal book on this approach is The Fifth Discipline by Peter Senge, (1990) and it is still highly relevant to this date. It appealed to me when I read it in Graduate School in the late 90’s and it came back in to my world and work view over the last year. The concepts of System Dynamics and The Learning Organization blend together so well in my outlook on life that I get passionate when I talk about it, practice it or teach it in my organization.

The five disciplines in summary are:

Systems Thinking – learning to see events happening as parts of a whole system

Personal mastery – constant learning and challenging of our intellect brings both personal growth and benefit for the learning of the business that we are in.

Mental models – our personal biases and viewpoints that limit our ability to see things in a different light. Challenging these models with intention, reflecting on and into our actions allows openness to new ideas and change.

Building shared vision – communicating ones ideas, developing common understandings of future approaches and where this occurs, there is more energy put toward the work at hand because people are part of the vision and enroll their energies and intellect toward success.

Team learning – through dialog, the power of joining individuals and creating a knowledge that transcends the individual and becomes a supercharged dynamic group that iterates it’s understanding of the present and future state.

         In my current work place, the environment is fertile for this approach and developmental model and I have been looking at my business in a whole different light due to this mindset.

         In doing so, I had been looking for ways to bring this not only into my work but my family in a way that is understandable and approachable to the non-initiated. A pearl that was referred to me by Mr. Senge is a small book titled, When a Butterfly Sneezes by Linda Booth Sweeney. Through stories such as the ‘Cat in the Hat’ and ‘If you give a Mouse a Cookie’, Sweeney brings Systems Thinking to a level understandable to children and adults.

         On a recent family road trip I discussed one of these stories with this approach and found that my children have a great understanding of systems. Sweeney, Forrester and Senge all argue that the current educational system promotes more linear thinking and as a result can condition natural and innate systems thinking out of children’s behaviors over time. These individuals are all attempting to integrate Systems Thinking in the American school system and with some success to date.

         This is an exciting endeavor.

         When discussing these concepts at the work level, communicating this approach is much more of a challenge with individuals (myself counted among them) who have developed and deepened their biases and mental models. I have yet to get up the courage to talk about the ‘Cat in the Hat’ in a business meeting and the impact of this story on how we approach our business. But I am getting closer.

         More importantly I see the challenge as worthwhile and beneficial to my organization so I will continue because, through it all, I am invigorated by the journey…and so deepens the passion.

Paul R. Donaldson

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         Paul lives in Northern California with his wife and three children. He was born and raised in Seattle, Washington. Early in his career he lived and worked in Paris, France before moving back to California, where he now is an executive for a homebuilder. His interests include being a Pinot Noir winegrower in the Russian River Appellation, learning to play the piano and (most importantly) loving his family and appreciating life every day.