If we are to develop a strategy for dealing with a situation we must first understand what has caused the situation to be the way it is. If we don't know why it is the way it is then any action we take is little more than meddling and unlikely to produce the desired result.
When endeavoring to develop an understanding of the nature of something it is generally useful to create a model of some type to aid in surfacing that understanding.
There are a number of habits that one should practice to improve their Systems Thinking skills. This graphic is from the Waters Foundation Systems Thinking in Schools site.
Developing a strategy for dealing with a situation begins with a description of the situation and the preferred state for today, not in some distant future, and the perceived implications of not doing anything.
When the relevant interactions are identified it's appropriate to identify which elements are the responsibility of which stakeholders, which elements are part of the addressable interactions and which elements are part of the environment.
If we pay close attention to our actions and the typical outcomes of those actions it would be evident that there are frequently occurring patterns that develop. And there is a relation between the patterns.
Our actions are based on our beliefs and the results of those actions are the basis for our beliefs. The difficulty we create for ourselves is that we make assumptions as to how to interpret the results we select based on our beliefs. As a result we are often operating on a flawed perspective of reality.
When we're trying to understand a situation it is often very helpful to have a sense of the historical trends of several dimensions relevant to the situation.
The model construction process is actually a balancing loop which endeavors to employ an abstract version of real events to form a model which produces conclusions and behavior which mimic the real events.
There exists a well defined set of possible ways to alter an existing set of interactions. Each of these alterations will produce a particular effect depending on the relations the change is relative to. Identifying which are possible and which will migrate the interactions to produce the desired situation is the essence of the strategy.
While all things are related for a particular situation all things are not relevant. We need to develop a simplified model of reality which depicts those interactions which are responsible for the patterns of behavior and current situation. We want the simplest model which enables the requisite understanding. This is no easy task though.
Strategy is simply an idea as to how to move the current situation to the desired situation though it is seldom simple by any means. If the strategy is to be successful how numerous elements will be able support each other through the transition must be defined.
When the typical approach doesn't work we tend to rely on our tried and true problem solving approaches, which as you will see really aren't that good.
