Today, the world is changing more than ever, and the manager needs to respond quickly and effectively to these changes. A systems vision can help with this. How exactly? This was discussed by the participants of the discussion held on May 10 in the walls of kmbs. As the moderator Eduard Maltsev noted, such a topic was not chosen by chance because systemic logic and systemic approach are essential for the school, and many areas of its activity are based on them.

The invited speakers of the discussion were Oleksandr Savruk, dean of kmbs, and graduates - adepts of systems thinking - Serhiy Karpenko, public administrator, and Pavlo Gaidai, founder of the Cultural Institution "Mizhvukhamy." The event took place in preparation for the spring start of MBA programs.

At the beginning of the event, the speakers outlined their understanding of the concept of "system." Thus, Oleksandr Savruk is convinced that unifying specific values, principles, and managerial roles within the system allows it to reach a level higher than pragmatic and practical activity.

Pavlo Gaidai connects the concepts of development and system. According to him, the development criteria are purposefulness, regularity, and irreversibility. And the only concept that meets these criteria is the concept of a system: the system always has a goal, cause-and-effect relationships describe the system, and the system preserves itself; that is, it is irreversible. Instead, Serhiy Karpenko is convinced that this approach works everywhere - both in business and state institutions, although introducing a systematic, strategic approach may encounter obstacles. "But as soon as the team adopts this philosophy, everything will go like clockwork," the speaker sums up optimistically.

The panelists' questions revolved around systems thinking, how to identify it, develop it, etc., and how it works at kmbs.

For example, to understand whether systems thinking has been implemented in an organization or company, Serhiy Karpenko advised asking questions. And if you get different answers to the same question from other people, it shows that there is a lot of room to work so that the whole team has the same understanding of where it is going.

Many representatives of startups were among those present. That's why the questions were appropriate - how to build a business from the beginning based on the system. Pavlo and Serhii agreed that it is necessary to start with yourself. Self-realize a strategy and why it is needed, and only then start working on it. A powerful tool that will come in handy is visualization – what we have now and want to achieve.

Instead, Oleksandr Savruk warned that at the beginning of the startup, you need to let go of optimization and "try" a lot to understand how everything works - partners, offers, selected roles, etc., and only then fix it in the model.

Eduard Maltsev continued this thought with considerations about sensations. They are the ones who should tell the startup that it has found its business model: "When not only you but the whole team has this feeling, then you have found your model, and you can expand it."

In addition, the issues of art and creativity were touched upon. They are indispensable if you want to create, not copy, a business model. "This is an art based on a great experience, expertise, and mistakes," says Eduard Maltsev.

The discussion participant's question about how to raise systemic thinking in children seemed quite natural because the more people with systemic thinking, the better the future awaits us. Responding, Oleksandr Savruk noted that we don't need many people with systemic thinking. The manager's task is to create the rules of the game. The mission of all other people is to follow these rules. If everyone makes systems, there will be complete chaos. And as for children, then, according to his advice, first of all, you need to take care of the maximum disclosure of their creative potential.

"Systems thinking is the answer to the complexity of our world. People use systematicity as one of the tools for dealing with this complexity. A system has a purpose, and purposes come from values. And precisely working with the values, meanings, and self-awareness of tomorrow, who we want to be, is a huge component of training within the walls of kmbs", - moderator Eduard Maltsev concluded the discussion.

Systems thinking is the answer to the complexity of our world: summary of the discussion