Systems Thinking | Advanced Practitioner Course

Discover how to apply the principles of Systems Thinking to your own area of expertise, enabling you to better understand the context, implications, and opportunities of whatever you’re working on, and ultimately drive more impactful innovation and change. With personal coaching and feedback throughout, you’ll build your Systems Thinking knowledge and skills.  

You’ll learn how to:

• How to explore complexity at different zoom levels to understand the bigger picture along with its underlying dynamics.
• How to work collaboratively on methods that identify places to intervene and make improvements.
• What behaviours are common to complex systems and what patterns to look for.
• What mindsets and techniques work best in approaching systems work.
• How to use online platforms, such as Mural and Kumu, to support collaborative working across distributed teams.

• Day 1: Visualising systems to uncover the big picture

  Learn how to visualise systems by bringing together diverse perspectives and making sense of complexity. Frame new projects holistically and make sure that you can see the bigger picture before embarking on new innovations or implementing changes. 

• Day 2: Exploring and selecting options for systemic change

  Explore relationships and dynamics to better understand how complex systems work. Assess the consequences of different approaches to systemic change and learn to make more informed decisions. 

• Day 3: Taking targeted action for impact

  Identify where and how to act in systems to make improvements, reduce risks and anticipate consequences. Learn how to develop new projects, products, services, and initiatives with a clearer idea of their potential impact. 

Q. Why Systems Thinking now?

A.

You may hear about increasing complexity in business, further complicated by expectations around the social and environmental impact of our work. You may also have come across terms like VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity), which seek to describe this increasing complexity and pace of change. But in reality, we have always lived and worked as part of complex systems. And the tools for understanding and dealing with them are nothing new. But right now there is a real sense of urgency around how we might make impactful, meaningful change. The past few years have seen a dramatic growth in the adoption and application of Systems Thinking and—along with other approaches in the designers’ toolbox—there is potential to be more deliberate, effective and successful in how we tackle complex challenges. The fast-developing intersection of Systems Thinking and Design Thinking offers a particular focus for innovators and change-makers; bringing these approaches together provides us with new ways of working and, hopefully, much better outcomes. 

Q. How will the online course be taught?

A.

Different to many other online courses, this is a live course, meaning you will be directly taught in real time by our coaches. It is not a self-paced, online tutorial course, but is a high intensity live course from leading coaches in the field and will be individual to each delegate taking part. 

Q. How will I do the course online? What equipment do I need?

A.

Equipment: The only equipment you’ll need is a computer with a good connection to the internet, microphone, webcam and speakers or headphones.  

Tools: Access is easy and universal, using industry standard web-based tools. Zoom is our primary tool for voice call, with exercises taking place within Mural and Google Docs. 

Q. How long will the course take?

A.

Dates: 27, 29 Sept 1 Oct 

Time Commitment: 7.5 hours of live sessions with our coaches, spread over 3 bite-sized sessions of 2.5 hours.

There will be self-directed project work after the first session that can be completed within an hour.  

Q. English isn’t my first language. Does that matter?

A.

People from all over the world will be taking part and this cultural mix is one of the real strengths of our offer. However, it is important to have good basic spoken English to get the most out of the courses. 

Q. Do you offer concession prices for your sessions?

A.

We do offer concessions and a sliding scale of discounts on this course. Pay full price for the first space you book, 10% off the second and third, and 15% off every space you book after that. If you’re booking a lot of spaces, you may want to talk to us about tailoring a course especially for your business. Call us on +44 (0)7552 730 231 or email shanna@designthinkersacademy.co.uk to find out how we can help you.