Note: The aim of this nine-part series is to define and describe the basic structure and components of a system. This is the introductory post in the series.

Understanding systems may be our best hope for making meaningful change across the many dimensions of our lives at home, at school, and at work. The system lens helps us see events as a part of trends and those trends as a part of an underlying structure. This understanding provides us with improved ways of managing in this world of complex education systems.

In June 2013, my colleague Kathryn Anstaett and I were sitting in my office at Columbus Collegiate Academy (CCA) evaluating teaching candidates. At the time, I was entering my fifth year leading CCA, which by this time, was a fully built out middle school serving grades 6-8 on Columbus’ eastside. Kathryn and I had previously worked together for several years at CCA before she was tapped to found and lead our new middle school on the other side of town, Columbus Collegiate Academy-West (CCAW). She had just wrapped up her first year as the school director of CCAW, and it was growing from serving just 6th grade to 6th and 7th grade for the 2013-2014 year.

Given a limited pool of prospective teaching candidates, Kathryn and I would come together when both of us wanted to hire the same person. Over the course of the hiring season, we decided that the fairest approach was to alternate turns in these situations. On this particular day, we both wanted to hire the same reading teacher, but it was my turn in the rotation. However, it was readily apparent as we reviewed rosters that the better decision in terms of optimizing the whole system was for Kathryn to hire this teacher at her school. This was because I had a very capable group of reading and writing teachers at CCA despite the one opening. Thinking through this whole systems lens, I turned over my turn to Kathryn. At the time, I hadn’t yet heard of W. Edwards Deming’s philosophy, nor had I been exposed to the idea of Appreciation for a System. My decision-making was simple. We were working to build a strong network of schools and working together with my colleague across town was the most obvious way to bring this to fruition. 

It certainly helped that by the time I made the decision described above, I was well-established as a leader at United Schools Network. I had a close working relationship with the staff, as well as with the network’s founder and superintendent. Truth be told though, even within this context, whole system thinking was not easy. As a relatively young organization there was still the question of survival, and as such, there was tremendous pressure on me as the school leader to achieve high test scores and to establish the reputation of CCA as a strong educational option on the eastside of the city. Thankfully, I had the backing of both my superintendent and the school’s board to make these types of decisions; whole system thinking was at least the implied modus operandi as we were growing the network. This thinking has been strengthened by naming the System of Profound Knowledge as our management philosophy as well as by making the 14 Principles for Educational Systems Transformationn explicit. 

My point in opening the series with this anecdote is to illustrate a straightforward example of whole system thinking. However, it is easy to imagine contexts where fear would prevent such decision-making. If I had been held accountable for my school’s results in the absence of considering the impact of my hiring decision on the entire network, I would have been hard-pressed to hand over my pick to Kathryn. Under these circumstances, I would have been more likely to guard my corner of the system at the expense of the whole system. This is why the adoption of the new philosophy, and the 14 Principles has to start at the top with the system leader and the board. Without this commitment, there is no way to utilize the power of the System of Profound Knowledge and an understanding of systems.

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John A. Dues is the Chief Learning Officer for United Schools Network, a nonprofit charter management organization that supports four public charter schools in Columbus, Ohio. He is also the author of the newly released book Win-Win: W. Edwards Deming, the System of Profound Knowledge, and the Science of Improving Schools. Send feedback to jdues@unitedschoolsnetwork.org.