FutureThink SYSTEMS THINKING: ARCHETYPES AND INTERVENTIONS Daniel J. Pesut, PhD, RN, CS, FAAN R ecently I had the opportunity to attend a Leadership Development workshop conducted by Peter Senge. Senge's works 1-3 support the notion that survival in the future depends not so much on what a person knows but how a person learns. Crucial learning relates to aspira- tion, reflective discourse, and systems thinking. Aspiration involves personal mastery and shared vison--a tension between a desired future and a current reality. Reflective discourse involves uncov- e:ing people's mental modds and appreci- a:ing the value of learning teams. Understanding complexity underscores tile importance of systems thinking. Systems thinking is essential to futures thinking. Systems thinking provides a means to uncover the complexity behind the reinforcing and balancing links and loops in a system dynamic. There are 4 ingredients in systems thinking: events, patterns of behavior, systemic structure, and mental models. 3 In addition to these levels of system development, there are arche- types and meta-models of systems that can be discerned from stories and expe- riences. Many of these archetypes have been mapped out and "named" by Senge and his colleagues. Each of these system dynamics are related in a series of juxta- posed reinforcing and balancing loops that maintain the system for better or worse. Often maintenance is not for the better. Pictorial representations of these system archetypes aid explanation and analysis of problems, issues, and vari- ables that might be influenced given a Danid J. Pesut is a professorand chairperson of Environments for Health Department at Indiana UniversitySchool of Nursing, Indianapolis. Nurs Outlook 1999;47:155. Copyright © 1999 by Mosby, Inc. 0029-6554/99/$8.00 + 0 35/1/242 specific story or set of facts. These arche- types are useful tools that contribute to the development of systems-thinking skills. Making archetype dynamics explicit helps foster reflective discourse to achieve breakthrough thinking, new insights, and organizational learning. Can you relate to some of the following? Consider "Fixes that Backfire." Have you ever experienced a situation in which a problem was initially solved but after a time delay tended to get worse than when the problem was originally identified? Can you relate to the "Limits to Growth" archetype? For example, have you or your organization ever experienced a time of dramatic growth, and then things began to level off or fell into decline? To what degree have you experienced the ups and downs of performance related to reliance on a short-term fix to the point that the short- term fix then became more problematic than the original fundamental problem? Such a scenario is aptly named "Shifting the Burden." "Tragedy of the Commons" is an archetype with the following story line. Gains in total activity become evident, yet gains from individual activi- ties decline. Finally, have you ever become aware of the "Accidental Adversaries" archetype? It sometimes emerges in organizations in which competition for scarce resources results in the development of unintended adver- sarial relationships over time. Perhaps you find yourself in an organization in which a combination of these dynamics are interacting with each other? I can think of nursing-specific examples for many of these archetypes, can't you? Thinking about system dynamics provides insights and opportunities to do something different. One can leverage, balance, or reinforce selected variables to achieve more desirable outcomes. This leverage presupposes a future-oriented goal. The Archetype Family Tree 3 can aid a person in thinking about the conse- quences of growth and balance. For example, in attempts to fix problems, we try to balance the loops, which leads to fixes that backfire or fixes that fail because we are not getting at the real underlying cause. We shift the burden. Perhaps one fix is someone else's nightmare, or while waiting for a fix to take hold to relieve tension, we become satisfied with less, which leads to drifting goals, which leads to undermining long-term growth) Since these implicit dynamics have been made explicit, there are ways to intervene and manage them based on the 5 disci- plines involved in learning. For example, in regard to fixes that fail, the manage- ment principle is to focus on the long- term and disregard short-term fixes. Such a focus requires the management of the tension between the present circum- stances and a desired future. Thus under- standing complexity through the use of archetypes supports future thinking in terms of desired outcomes or end results. How well persons or organizations learn about these leverage mechanisms is a function of their commitment to aspira- tions, reflective discourse, and team learning, all of which are supported and reinforced through the art and science of systems thinking. • REFERENCES 1. Senge P. Distinguished Speaker Series. Lessons in leadership. 380 South Mill St, Lexington, Kentucky 40508. www.lessons- inleadership.com; 1999. 2. Senge E The fifth discipline: the art and practice of the learning organization. New York: Doubleday;1990. 3. Senge P, Ross R, Smith B, Roberts C, Kleiner A. The fifth discipline field book. Strategies and tools for building a learning organization. New York: Doubleday; 1994, NURSING OUTLOOK JULY/AUGUST 1999 Pesut 155