The Innovative Response:
Systems Thinking
As Critical to the Success of
21st Century Utilities
Linda Booth Sweeney
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Webinar Goals
“Thinking in systems”
 Well-formed vs. Complex Issues
 Systems Smart Response

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 Operator
 Utility Management
 Laboratory
 Mechanic
 Student
 Other?
WHO’S HERE?
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Hands-on
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Systems Smart
Hands-On, Immediate
Big Picture
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History Note
Systems thinking is a broad
field that has emerged over the
past 50 years.
It developed out of the disciplines of
biology, engineering, earth science,
management, and family system
theory.
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Understanding systems…
at all levels
1. What makes something a system is the
ways its parts are connected.
2. Interconnections create patterns of
behavior that are the same in diverse
systems (e.g., escalation, self-regulating,
boom & bust, vicious cycles, and more.
3. We don’t see these patterns but we can
make them visible and talk about them.
4. When we have a shared view of a
system, we can find leverage for change.
Two or more parts that interact to form a whole… usually within some boundary.
L. Booth Sweeney, 2017
Heap vs. System
a CD collection
a soccer team
A watershed
laundry
a family
Understanding Living Systems
1. Tightly connected
2. Actions and results are separated
3. Change happens through feedback
4. Whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
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1. Tightly Connected
The Way the Parts Are Arranged Matters
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2. Actions and results are often
separated
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I’m sure glad the
whole isn’t in our
end…
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Problem  Solution
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chicken
manure
pollutant
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Integrated Farming System
healthy chickens
“
The Egg Mobile
Scratch! Scratch!
Yum! These bugs
are tasty!
Pasture Poultry System
parasites & flies &
undigested grains
cow manure
chicken manure
decaying
plants &
animals
control flies
growth of
grass &
plants
healthy cows
milk and beef
L. Booth Sweeney 2017
healthy soil
Reinforcing Feedback Loop:
When change is amplified
Growing
Boss’s
Action
expectations
R
Condition or
Subordinate’s
Performance
Performance
Circular processes that create growth or
decay by amplifying or reinforcing change.
Engines of growth or decline.
time
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Balancing Feedback Loop:
Seeks to a bring a system into equilibrium
Performance
Stress
Level
or Condition
B
Corrective
Exercise
Action
Balancing feedback can help keep a system
healthy, or close to its optimum
functioning.
time
Circular processes that create stability by
counteracting or lessening change.
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Fixes That Backfire
When fixes are applied
Problem
Symptom
Unintended consequence
Time
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Linda’s Dilemma
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Linda’s Dilemma
s
Acceptable
workload
Productivity
R
s
B
o
s
Workload
Faster is
better?
Saving time
Use of timesaving technologies
s
Anxiety
about efficiency
s
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Garry Parker (CWEA President)
“The more we can lift our heads up to talk with others
in all parts of the water system, the more we can
understand the necessities and challenges of our
water colleagues, the more we can find the
innovative response we need to move forward.”
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Technical, common
Systems, complex
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Systems Smart Conversations
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Perspective & Language Shifts…
E
C
Parts (silos)
B
Straight lines A-->B
A
Head down
Outsider looking in
Reactive
B
Relationships
Closed loops
D
A
Change Perspectives
Insider looking in
Innovative
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“Chance favors the prepared mind.”
Louis Pasteur, French chemist
“Innovation favors the
connected mind.”
California Environment Water Association
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Thank you to our sponsor
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