1. SENGE: Chapter 5 THE FIFTH DISCIPLINE
A Shift of Mind
SENGE: Chapter 5
THE FIFTH DISCIPLINE

2. Prepared by James R. Burns
Seeing the World Anew
As wholes
Seeing ourselves as part of the whole, part of the system
Coping with Complexity mandates systems thinking
Today, we are creating complexity at a frenetic pace
1 June 2002
Prepared by James R. Burns

3. Prepared by James R. Burns
The Arms Race
We saw the Soviet Arms buildup as a threat
The Soviets saw our Arms buildup as a threat
In both cases, linear thinking prevailed
1 June 2002
Prepared by James R. Burns

4. Prepared by James R. Burns
What we didn’t see was….
A perceptual cycle of aggression and escalation—a race to see who could get fastest to where no one wanted to go
1 June 2002
Prepared by James R. Burns

5. Why didn’t anyone not see this??
detail complexity
Because of a focus on
versus
dynamic complexity
1 June 2002
Prepared by James R. Burns

6. Prepared by James R. Burns
Dynamic complexity…
When there are dramatically different effects in the short vs. The long run
When an action has one set of consequences locally and a very different set of consequences in another part of the system
When obvious interventions produce non- obvious consequences
1 June 2002
Prepared by James R. Burns

7. Seeing Circles of Causality
Reality is made up of circles, but we see straight lines
Languages shapes perception
Western languages, with their subject-verb-object structure, are biased toward a linear view
1 June 2002
Prepared by James R. Burns

8. Filling a glass of water
1 June 2002
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9. “I am filling a glass of water”
My hand on the faucet is controlling the rate of flow of water into the glass
1 June 2002
Prepared by James R. Burns

10. “The level of water in the glass is controlling my hand”
1 June 2002
Prepared by James R. Burns

11. Prepared by James R. Burns
Both statements are equally incomplete and do not describe the total feedback situation
From the systems perspective, the human actor is part of the feedback process, not standing apart from it
This is a shift of mind—it allows us to see how we are continually both influenced by and influencing our reality
1 June 2002
Prepared by James R. Burns

12. Reinforcing and Balancing Feedback and Delays: The Building Blocks
Reinforcing loop
Balancing loop
Delays
1 June 2002
Prepared by James R. Burns

13. Reinforcing feedback: Discovering How small Changes can Grow
1 June 2002
Prepared by James R. Burns

14. Reinforcing feedback: Discovering How small Changes can Grow
1 June 2002
Prepared by James R. Burns

15. Balancing Processes: Discovering the Sources of Stability
1 June 2002
Prepared by James R. Burns

16. Balancing Processes: Discovering the Sources of Stability
1 June 2002
Prepared by James R. Burns

17. Delays: When Things Happen… Eventually
Overly aggressive actions tend to produce overshoot and oscillation
Just ask ALLEN GREENSPAN
1 June 2002
Prepared by James R. Burns

18. Prepared by James R. Burns
Let’s take a break
Everyone stand up
Now, stand in a line
Now each person rest his left hand on the person to you left’s right hand.
1 June 2002
Prepared by James R. Burns

19. Copyright C 2002 by James R. Burns
All rights reserved world-wide. CLEAR Project Steering Committee members have a right to use these slides in their presentations. However, they do not have the right to remove this copyright or to remove the “prepared by….” footnote that appears at the bottom of each slide.
1 June 2002
Prepared by James R. Burns
Prepared by James R. Burns