Why organisations resist thinking of themselves as connected 'systems'

“In a world of separation and domination, systems thinking is subversive.”

Dr Elizabeth Sarwin

The key to improving the work of organisations - and the contributions of the people in them - is to look at them as connected 'systems'.

(Put another way, because improving the performance of individual silos won’t make the overall performance of the organisation any better).

However nobody seems to want to do this.

So, who’s resisting systems thinking?

Executives don’t want it because means questioning the current mindset and behaviours that have brought them status and ‘results’

Individual managers don’t want it because they assume it threatens their control over their local silos

L&D / HR don’t want it because their remit does not extent to the organisation, as its still rooted in the ‘performance’ of individuals (and occasionally, specific teams).

And employees don't want it because they often don’t care / need to care about the overall organisation.