“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” – Albert Einstein

Due to human’s limited mental model, people tend to look at a problem from a local and partial perspective and enact solutions that create unintended consequences in the long run. As a result, today’s problem comes from yesterday’s solution. The harder we push, the harder the system pushes back. How to break out silo-thinking in organization? How to expand our mental models to “bring the system in the room”? Systems thinking is a critical leadership capability that enables one to look at a problem holistically, identify root causes and design high-leverage solutions. It is called by MIT Sloan School professor Peter Senge “the core discipline of a learning organization” in his seminal book: “The Fifth Discipline: the Art and Practice of the Learning Organization.”

In this intensive two-day course, we will learn the core concepts and tools of systems thinning and learning organization. We will learn a set of tools that let you (1) graphically depict your understanding of a particular social system's behavior and its underlying structure, (2) communicate with others about your understandings explicitly, and (3) design high-leverage interventions to address root causes of a problem. These tools include causal loop diagrams, behavior over time graphs, stock and flow diagrams, and system archetypes—all of which let you depict your understanding of a system—to computer simulation models and “management flight simulators," which help you to test the potential impact of your interventions.

In addition to systems thinking, we will learn four other core disciplines of a learning organization. They are:

1. Personal Mastery: this discipline of aspiration involves formulating a coherent picture of the results people most desire to gain as individuals (their personal vision), alongside a realistic assessment of the current state of their lives today (their current reality). Learning to cultivate the tension between vision and reality can expand people's capacity to make better choices, and to achieve more of the results that they have chosen.

2. Mental Model: this discipline of reflection and inquiry skills is focused around developing awareness of the attitudes and perceptions that influence thought and interaction. By continually reflecting upon, talking about, and reconsidering these internal pictures of the world, people can gain more capability in governing their actions and decisions.

3. Shared Vision: this collective discipline establishes a focus on mutual purpose. People learn to nourish a sense of commitment in a group or organization by developing shared images of the future they seek to create, and the principles and guiding practices by which they hope to get there.

4. Team Learning: this is a discipline of group interaction. Through techniques like dialogue and skillful discussion, teams transform their collective thinking, learning to mobilize their energies and ability greater than the sum of individual members' talents.