Systems Thinking
When applying systems thinking to talent development and sport, the foundation can be described as meeting people where they are.
The approach to defining systems thinking through the lens of systems encompasses a complexity that has yet to be proven hard to describe. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a system is a regularly interacting or interdependent group of items forming a unified whole (Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary, n.d.).
Barry Richmond, the originator of systems thinking, defines it as “the art and science of making reliable inferences about behavior by developing an increasingly deep understanding of underlying structure” (Richmond, 1994; Arnold & Wade, 2015). On the other hand, Peter Senge defines systems thinking as a “discipline for seeing wholes and a framework for seeing interrelationships rather than things, for seeing patterns of change rather than static snapshots” (Senge, 1990; Arnold & Wade, 2015). Although these two gurus in the field and their definitions hint at the broadness of systems thinking, the definition is still vague.
The standard definitions included interconnections, understanding dynamic behavior, systems structure as a cause of behavior, and seeing systems rather than parts.
An objective definition came about because of these common elements: "Systems thinking is a set of synergistic analytic skills used to improve the capability of identifying and understanding systems, predicting their behaviors, and devising modifications to them to produce desired effects. These skills work together as a system” (Arnold & Wade, 2015).
Systems thinking consists of three pieces: elements, interconnections, and a function or purpose (Meadows, 2008).