My approach to systemic thinking is derived from the Augsburg School of Innovation Coaching. This holistic approach addresses several levels:

• People — are the focus of attention because all change must originate within people. Systemic thinking recognises that attitudes and actions are predominantly influenced by beliefs, experiences and interpretations rather than perceptions. Further, innovation as well as any change can hardly be instructed or imposed on people, but must result from learning and intrinsic motivation. The objective is to engage peoples minds and hearts, sparking enthusiasm and enhancing competences.
• Communication — comprises relationships between people (teams, organisations), their interactions (collaboration, conflicts) and all resulting social phenomena (affection, envy). Again, while people co-create these social phenomena, they perceive them individually. Systemic thinking applied to communication and relationships recognises that conflicts result from mismatched expectations and exchanges, rather than attributing any inherent faults to people. The objective is to identify and resolve dysfunctional interactions, improving collaboration towards high-performance teamwork.
• Flow systems — include physical flows, both economic (products) and elementary (substances and energy), monetary flows, and information flows. System boundaries may vary between a single operation (plant, site), an entire product system (suppliers, customers) and the business environment (societal, natural). While people co-create these flow systems, they perceive them individually. Systemic thinking applied to technical systems recognises the interaction of elements being governed by recursive control loops as opposed to linear cause-and-effect relationships. Systemic thinking considers context, complexity, dynamics, and interdependence. Instead of bringing about infinite possibilities for (inter-) action, however, systems follow certain rules, not least in order to reduce complexity. The objective is to identify and resolve optimisation potentials, improving efficiency in terms of utility, materials, energy, cost, and environment.