CASES · LEADERSHIP
Systemic thinking for leaders
Systems theory, organisational design, leadership and change — tied to one fundamental question: how do organisations actually work? With the talent group at Stadtwerke Halle we worked on seeing an organisation not only as structure and processes but as a fabric of communication, decisions, structures and expectations.
The engagement
- Client Stadtwerke Halle
- Sector Companies · Energy and utilities
- Audience Talent group
- Period 2022 – 2023
- Service Capability development
- Format Six two-day workshops and four learning journeys
THE PROCESS
Stages of a hike.
1 The stages
Many stages, one thread.
The hike led through systemic theory, organisational design, leadership systems, hierarchies of values, architectures of change and learning journeys. These perspectives were tied again and again to the concrete questions and experience of the participants.
Each stage produced a card in A5 format: a condensed theoretical input, an anchor for memory and a basis for further debate.
2 Shift of perspective
Swapping the observer position.
Systemic thinking begins with a shift of perspective: away from the question of who is doing something wrong, towards the question of what makes a particular pattern arise again and again and stay stable.
That also changes the view of leadership. It is not only people who come into focus but structures, expectations, relationships and recurring communication — the conditions, in other words, under which behaviour in organisations arises.
3 The close
The summit.
To close, the group condensed the central ideas of the work into a map of its own: a hike up “Mount Probable”. Not a finished summary handed down from outside, but a jointly developed picture of what had become relevant for the participants.
FROM THE WORK
Insights.
Participant feedback
“Thank you, that was great. Now we just need to get the rest of the company through your programme!”
A participant in the programme, Stadtwerke Halle (translated)
A systemic reading
Systemic thinking is above all something to be experienced — by taking up different stances, or by giving room, on visits to other organisations, to a childlike astonishment: so that is how they do it? Interesting! That is precisely where its practical value lies. Anyone who can observe more differences has more possibilities for deciding and acting.
Dr. Jonas Asendorpf
LET’S TALK