The strategy is actually a set of structural changes that have to be made to the relationships that cause the future to be different than the past.
Network Magic/Strategy
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.
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The Essence of And?
Eroding Goals shares a basic similarity with Shifting the Burden - the dynamic tension between a symptomatic solution and a fundamental one. In the case of Eroding Goals, managers are faced with performance that fails to meet a stated goal.
Eroding Goals System Archetype
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.
theWay/Assumptions
This is a template which one might use as a basis for creating Insight Maker Relationship models. Links have default style of the blue ones in the diagram. The easiest way to get the red dashed links is to CTRL+d to duplicate them and then connect where appropriate.
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Insight Maker Template
Understanding relationships is the foundation of effective problem solving. Though relations exists on multiple levels.
theWay/Understanding
Shifting the Burden Archetype (Cite: Gene Bellinger)
A shifting the burden structure occurs when there are different ways to address a situation. With one approach being easier, faster, and requiring fewer resources, which do you think gets pursued? The problem is that taking the easier path ensures one will have to take the easier path repeatedly, and makes it harder to pursue the long-term better solution.
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Clone of Shifting the Burden Archetype
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.
theWay/Responsibility
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.
theWay/Behaviour Trends
Thoughts on why it's not possible to sell systems thinking, or anything else to a person or an organization.
Postscript
The Accidental Adversaries structure represents a situation where two interacting entities which should produce growth unwittingly limit the growth of each other because of their actions to promote their own growth.
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Clone of Accidental Adversaries Archetype
There are things we can influence and usually a broader array of things we are concerned about though can't influence. It's important to know the differerence otherwise we waste our energies trying to change things we have no influence over.
theWay/Influence & Concern
A Tragedy of the Commons situation exists whenever two or more activities, each, which in order to produce results, rely on a shared limited resource. Results for these activities continue to develop as long as their use of the limited resource doesn't exceed the resource limit. Once this limit is reached the results produced by each activity are limited to the level at which the resource is replenished. See also
Archetypes.
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Clone of Tragedy of the Commons Archetype
The limits to growth structure is based on the basic growth structure. And, as should be obvious, nothing grows forever as growth requires resources. Those required resources become a limits to growth.
Limits to Growth Archetype (Cite: Gene Bellinger)
Now that we have some context for the situation it's appropriate to begin to investigate, though possibly not where you might think. And the investigation is actually a bit hindered because management fired the accounts receivables department. What I'm really interested in is trends as to how things have evolved over time.
Receivables/Behaviour
The limits to results structure endeavors to bring a balance between a current state and a desired state though more often than not the action is limited by some constraint. See also
Archetypes.
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Clone of Limits to Action Archetype - VINCOLO. Limiti all'archetipo di azione
Network Magic's rapid growth creates a growing demand for resources. And the more they satisfy their customers the more difficult the problem becomes.
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Network Magic/Understanding
The situation Big Box Distribution considers to be a problem is an average accounts receivable period which is considered unacceptable as it is costing them money.
Receivables/Situation
Two goal seeking structures attempting to resolve and based on the delay one may tend to settle for less. See also
Archetypes.
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Clone of Drifting Goals Archetype
An escalation structure results from two or more competing entities with the competition taking them to somewhere none of them want to be. See also Archetypes.
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Escalation Archetype
Investigating the behavior of several variables over time has probably raised more questions than answers. As such now it's time to investigate what else might be influencing the trending of these variables.
Receivables/Relationships
Fixes that Fail Archetype (Cite: Gene Bellinger)
While understanding the interacting components responsible for the situation is important it is even more important to understand the stakeholders as they are the ones responsible for the interacting components being the way they are.
theWay/Stakeholders
