170 Leading with NLP
A system works when all the parts are working together
and if any part does not work well, the whole system can be
affected. In a business, when marketing or customer ser-
vice do not work well, there are repercussions for the whole
company. One wrong person in the wrong job can have far-
reaching effects on morale. A system generally works as
well as the weakest part allows it to. A computer gives a
good analogy. A machine with a really fast processor but
too little memory will not work up to the speed of the
processor. The whole computer system will work as fast as
its slowest part. So, when you want to improve a system, fix
the weak link in the chain. Ever y part that is connected
with that part, however tenuously, will work a little better
and the effect will be magnified.
The reverse is also true – a part that works significantly
better than the rest can also be a problem. A computer with
a really fast processor but an inadequate cooling system will
break down. The manufacturing division of a business with a
highly successful marketing department may not be able to
keep up with the demand it creates. An excellent sales
department is being ‘too excellent’ if it generates orders
that manufacturing cannot handle. This results in plenty of
dissatisfied customers and ultimately fewer orders – the
whole system (and that includes the customers) corrects
the problem eventually. So individual success does not mean
success for the whole system, as it may put too much strain
on another part. Too good is not good enough.
Obvious solutions do not work for systems. I like the
example from traffic control. In the late 1960s the city plan-
ners in the German town of Stuttgart tried to ease traffic
congestion in the town centre by adding a street, but the
traffic got worse. Adding roads to an already congested
network slows it down further because of the increase in the
number of junctions.
For any system to work smoothly the parts have to
communicate, so systems thinking concentrates on the rela-
tionship and communication between the parts. However well
a single part works, it must connect to, and communicate with,