 |
|
 |
 |
Asking
the Deeper Questions: An Interview with Linda Booth Sweeney
Copyright
© 2001 Pegasus Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.
No part of this newsletter may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying and recording, without written
permission from Pegasus Communications, Inc. If you wish
to distribute copies of this article, please contact our
Permissions Department at 781-398-9700 or permissions@pegasuscom.com.
|
Systems thinking can help us develop our awareness of—and
then transform—the often unnoticed patterns of behavior
that make up our lives. Linda Booth Sweeney, author of
When a Butterfly Sneezes: A Guide for Helping Kids
Explore Interconnections in Our World Through Favorite
Stories (Pegasus Communications, 2001), believes
that, by learning to ask deeper, more systemic questions
about the challenges we encounter, we can develop more
effective solutions. For example, by asking "What would
happen next?" when considering the consequences of a particular
action, we may begin to see the underlying causal loops
operating in everyday situations. Booth Sweeney illustrates
this process with the recurring, universal example of
the need to clean up a messy room.
Conversations with toddlers about cleaning up often play
out along these lines: "What does mommy do if your room
is messy?" "Mommy gets mad." "What makes her happy?" "Cleaning
up the room." At this point, we typically stop exploring
the behavior pattern. But once pressure is off the child
to clean, what happens? The room gets messy again, and
mommy feels the steam building again. To consider the
messy-room dynamic from a systemic perspective, a mom
might take the conversation a step further by asking,
"What happens after you clean your room?" "You're
happy, Mom." "And then what eventually happens?" "The
room gets messy again because you're not mad anymore."
Together, the parent and the child can explore ways to
break the cycle. By doing so, parents can anticipate situations
they want to avoid (getting mad) and find fundamental
solutions (developing the child's internal motivation
to clean).
Another example is that of a 10-year-old who loves to
make pancakes for the entire family every Saturday morning
but creates a mess in the process. For his pristine parents,
this is a source of great frustration. Perhaps a self-
fulfilling prophecy loop kicks in: The parents perceive
their son to be a messy cook. The son sees himself as
a good cook, but has been told he is messy. As he starts
to cook, his parents look for signs of messiness and their
own frustration starts to build. As they become frustrated,
the son becomes less able to cook and clean at the same
time. If his parents can get past their increasing annoyance,
they might help their future chef learn how to multi-task.
For example, he might take a "half-time check": Before
the pancakes go on the griddle, he stops and cleans up
as much as possible, then proceeds to cook.
With adults, conversations around cleanliness can be fraught
with emotion. Let's say a husband leaves his dirty clothes
on the floor every day as he rushes off to work. As his
wife continues to pick them up without saying a word,
her frustration grows. By thinking systemically, she knows
she has a choice: She can shout at her husband for being
a slob (which doesn't necessarily solve the problem),
or she can identify the structure that perpetuates this
pattern of behavior (he throws laundry on the floor, she
quietly picks it up, he continues to throw his laundry,
and so on) and work with him to design an effective solution,
perhaps by moving the laundry basket to a more convenient
spot.
Besides "What happens next?" we can also ask, "What influences
what?" "Where does 'that' go when we no longer see it?"
"How are these elements interrelated?" "What
changes do we see over time?" and "What's accumulating
here and what pressures does it generate?" By asking different,
deeper questions—not just of others but of ourselves—we
can break potentially harmful feedback loops and create
more rewarding structures. |
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
