As a business grows, so do its problems.
At first, it’s simple, you make a decision, solve a problem, move forward.
But over time, you start noticing something frustrating: the same types of problems keep showing up again and again. Team miscommunication. Customer complaints. Slow decision-making. Friction between growth and culture.
It’s not that you’re not working hard. It’s that you’re solving the wrong part of the problem.
This is where systems thinking comes in.
Systems thinking is about learning to see beneath the surface; to find patterns, relationships, and leverage points you might otherwise miss so that you solve the right problems.
If you’ve ever said to yourself, “I thought we already fixed this…” systems thinking is your next step.
what is systems thinking?
Most of us are trained to solve problems by addressing the symptoms we can see. But in reality, the events you notice are usually just the surface of the system.
One of the most helpful ways to picture this is through the Iceberg Model. Imagine an iceberg floating in the ocean:
- Above the surface (events): The stuff you notice happening. The customer who’s unhappy. The process that breaks down. The employee who leaves unexpectedly.
- Just below the surface (patterns): Recurring themes over time. For example, you notice that customers are often confused about how to navigate your website—not just this week, but repeatedly.
- Deeper still (structures): The systems, processes, or policies that contribute to those patterns. Maybe your website structure is outdated, or your customer onboarding process hasn’t been reviewed in years.
- Deepest (mental models): The assumptions or beliefs that shape why those structures exist. Maybe you’ve been holding onto the belief that “our customers already know how we work”—even though your audience has changed.
Systems thinking trains you to see the whole iceberg, not just what’s floating on top.
3 essential shifts for using systems thinking in your business to Solve the Right Problems
Here’s how you can start applying systems thinking in practical ways:
1. see beneath the surface
Stop treating events like isolated incidents. Start asking:
- “Where have I seen this before?”
- “Is this part of a bigger pattern?”
- “What’s beneath this frustration?”
This habit alone will change the way you problem-solve.
2. find the real leverage points
Not all problems are equal. Some issues are symptoms, but others are leverage points.
A leverage point is a small change that creates a big shift in results.
Example: Instead of solving each individual customer complaint, you might find that changing the first step of your sales process prevents most of those complaints from happening at all.
Start asking: “What’s one small adjustment that could prevent this entire category of issues from showing up?”
3. change the story, not just the process
Many stuck patterns in business are connected to mental models; the beliefs we hold that quietly guide how we operate.
For example: If you believe “it’s faster if I just do it myself,” you’ll keep bottlenecking your team, even if you add more people.
But if you shift the mental model to “my job is to build capacity, not be the capacity,” you’ll start to redesign the whole way you lead.
Changing mental models is how you change behavior for good.
real-life example: the stuck team meeting
A small but growing business I worked with kept having team meetings that went in circles. Decisions weren’t being made, or worse, decisions were made but then ignored.
On the surface? “We need better meetings.” But when we looked deeper, we realized:
- Pattern: No one really owned follow-through.
- Structure: There wasn’t a clear system for documenting decisions or assigning ownership.
- Mental model: The founder still operated with the mindset: “I’ll remember it and handle it later.” That might have worked with 3 people—but not with 12.
We didn’t just fix the meeting; we changed the structure, clarified accountability, and shifted how the founder thought about leadership to solve the right problems.
The result? Meetings became shorter. Follow-through increased. Frustration dropped.
how to start thinking in systems today to Solve the Right Problems
Start small. Pick one recurring frustration in your business. Then ask:
- What patterns do I notice here?
- What’s contributing to that pattern? (Process? Communication? Assumptions?)
- What’s one leverage point I could change right now?
If you get curious, not just about what’s happening, but why it keeps happening, you’re already practicing systems thinking.
And once you start seeing those connections, you won’t want to go back.
Want help applying this to your business? Let’s talk.