While challenging for most, systems thinking is one of my most natural and favorite strengths. This is because four of my top five signature strengths work together and are oriented towards systems thinking. With my combination of my strategic, maximizer, futuristic and individualization strengths, my thought process is very systems oriented. I am very focused on the future how every aspect of a system connects to achieve the desired goal. One of my greatest leadership mentors gave me a unique perspective on leadership that heavily influences my systems thinking approach. He told me that a leader is like the quarterback of a football team. A leader is responsible for calling the play (casting the vision), reading the defense (identifying obstacles), calling audibles (making changes as needed), and hiking the ball to get it to the right player. The leader is not responsible for doing everything, but for setting their team up for success and knowing the personal strengths of each team. The leader leverages the strengths of the individuals for the good of the group.
Using this approach to leadership has benefited my work many times as a leader. Using systems thinking as a leader, I consider myself to be good at planning and building teams that maximize the use of individual team member’s strengths. For example, it was my use of systems thinking that drove my desire to help the LEAD Office discover its purpose beyond the Office’s vision and mission statement. With this purpose known, the Leadership Consultant team was able to plan program’s that were designed in such a way that they were oriented to our central purpose. I led the team through planning our L-TEAM meetings with an overarching end goal in mind. This resulted in creating monthly themes and Leadership Consultants signing up for meetings where they had a special talent or interest. Using this approach, I believe that the Leadership Consultant team had a much more effective second semester and the L-TEAM meetings were more meaningful, all because we were oriented towards the big picture and used team member strengths effectively.