Imagine this: a busy CEO has a secretary he is not really satisfied with. He sees that she does her best to schedule all his appointments, but he doesn't find her to be fast or decisive enough. Meanwhile, he always gets nice requests on the weekends, which he schedules on his own and puts back to her every Monday.

According to Marijke Spanjersberg, when it comes to cooperation problems we often focus on competencies and personalities, but we look too little at the context and the relationship itself. It's not personal, it's the system,' system thinkers often say.

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Good intentions

If you want to see the larger context of a problem, says Spanjersberg, then you have to be prepared to 'take a picture of yourself on it'. So: not only be critical of the other person, but also of yourself.

'Most people act from the best intentions,' says the psychologist. For example, the CEO above may think that he is taking work off his secretary's hands by scheduling appointments himself, but in the meantime he is messing up her schedule. Spanjersberg wants to say: good intentions can still have a negative effect.

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Improductive repetition

According to Spanjersberg, when an entrepreneur thinks, "This is how it's always done," or "Do I really need to explain this again?" you do well to look not only at the problem itself, but also at the context and all those involved. Then you find yourself in an unproductive repetition and it is time to put on the system glasses.

Finally, a tip that you can immediately put into practice: if you notice in yourself that you always react in the same way in certain situations - for example, you get blamed and immediately shoot in the defense - try to react in a different way the next time.

Spanjersberg: 'It doesn't matter how. Any change is already a breaking of a pattern that no longer serves you.'

The tips from this podcast:

1. It's not personal, it's the system; when faced with problems, look not only at someone's competencies but always at the context;

2. There are no separate problems, problems are always attached to people;

3. Try to listen to the desire behind the reproach.

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Left:

• http://www.systeemdenkenindepraktijk.nl/ - the book by Marijke with tips on how to apply systems thinking your business