Managers, HR professionals, or consultants involved in organisational change initiatives, organisational development specialists wishing to expand their repertoire of techniques, and any manager, change agent or coach who wishes to develop his or her thinking skills.

How we think underpins all that we do. In organisations, thinking is often focused on isolated, local issues. At best this approach fails to produce integrated and sustainable change. At worst, solving a problem in one area can lead to even bigger problems in other areas. Systems thinking represents a radical shift in perspective, where we can see beyond isolated events to the deeper patterns and connections. This course is an invitation to expand your thinking; to learn practical methods for applying systems thinking, to yourself, to your relationships, to your team or work groups, and ultimately to your organisation. By understanding new frameworks and practising new techniques, you will learn how to approach seemingly intractable problems with a more expansive perspective. Systemic thinking can enable organisations to bring about real change in individual, team and organisational performance.

By the end of the course you will be able to:

• approach problems and challenges from a systemic perspective, shifting focus from events to patterns and structure
• analyse problems in terms of the connections between different part of the organisation, and understand the assumptions underpinning the framing of the problem
• move from blame to accountability at multiple levels of an organisation
• recognise the role of different stakeholders in sustaining the status quo of the system, and the systemic influence strategy needed to achieve change
• identify how small, critical changes can produce big results
• shift between multiple perspectives in examining the challenges facing an organisation, as part of developing an organisational development strategy.