High Performance through Systems Thinking

Area of Interest: Government and Leadership, Business and Project Management

Course Summary

Explore the role of people in delivering high performance and organisational effectiveness through systems thinking. In this course, you will be introduced to the fundamental concepts of systems thinking from the perspective of the people who create and work in the systems. You will discover how theses people behave within the system and shape outcomes.

Through a series of diverse case studies, we will explore the challenges faced by people managers, their role in enabling and supporting others to achieve their goals, and the consequences of not doing this well.

Duration: 1 Day

Delivery Mode: In-person

Course Content

This course is broken into the following core learning topics:

• Systems fundamentals - what is a systems and why is systems thinking useful?
• High Performance - what is high performance? why does it matter? why does high performance need a systems lens?
• Systems traps and feedback loops - why is an organisation stuck?
• Complex systems and systems thinking.

Learning Outcomes

By completing this course, you will be able to:

• Explain to others how people ft into systems theory and recognise the elements of the people system, which create instability or support adaptability.
• Recognise the characteristics of high performance and the role of people in achieving this.
• Determine where and how systems get stuck and why.

Who should attend

This course is for people who:

• Are in, or are aspiring to be in, people management roles in public and private sector organisations.
• Are faced with problems that are constantly ‘stuck’ and no solution has worked so far.
• Have an interest in learning systems thinking from a people perspective.

Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites for this course.

Facilitator

Prof Deborah Blackman

Professor Deborah Blackman is the Head of School, and a member of the Public Service Research Group, in the School of Business at UNSW, Canberra.

Her research interests include Public Sector Policy Implementation, Systems Level Change, Employee Performance Management, Organisational Learning and Organisational Effectiveness.

She researches knowledge transfer in a range of applied, real world contexts. The common theme of her work is developing effective knowledge acquisition and transfer to improve organisational effectiveness.

Dr Vindhya Weeratunga

Dr Weeratunga is a lecturer in the School of Business at UNSW, Canberra. She teachers in the areas of Organisational Behaviour and People and Systems and undertakes research in the field of human resource management.

She is a HR practitioner / CEO turned academic, drawing on her professional experience in people management to inform her research and teaching. Her research is focused on how to enhance employee outcomes, focusing on employee engagement, employee well-being, the future of work and HR practices with diverese demographic groups.