Systems Thinking and the Juggling Girls of Berlin
- Russ Powell
- Feb 23, 2022
- 5 min read
Updated: Feb 6
An essential skill for leaders is the ability to see systems—to look beyond one person or one event and understand the larger forces shaping what’s happening.
In fast-moving organizations, especially startups, it’s easy to miss this. When something breaks, we look for the nearest lever to pull: a person to correct, a meeting to schedule, a new rule to add.
Sometimes that works.
Often, it doesn’t.
A few years back, I learned a deceptively simple framework for thinking more clearly about these situations from Chris Holmberg, a leadership development expert and longtime mentor and teacher of mine. He calls it the It–We–I framework. (1)
I like it because it’s simple, practical, and it holds up in real life.
The It, the We, and the I
The idea is straightforward: every human system can be looked at through three lenses.
Each one shows you something important. None of them tells the whole story.
It is the structure: tools, processes, roles, incentives, goals, timelines.
We is the relationships: trust, alignment, communication, shared agreements.
I is the individual: skills, habits, mindsets, beliefs, biases, energy, attention.
Most leadership problems show up when one of these gets out of balance—and most leaders get stuck because they keep looking through only one lens.
A Simple Business Example
Take a team that keeps missing deadlines on an important project.
Through the It lens, you might ask:
Are the tools, timelines, or priorities realistic?
Are requirements changing too often?
Through the We lens, you might ask:
Are people aligned on what “done” means?
Are handoffs and communication working?
Through the I lens, you might ask:
Is anyone overloaded, unclear, or missing key skills?
What am I doing—or not doing—that might be contibuting to the problem?
If you focus on only one of these—“We just need better people,” or “We need a new tool”—you're likely to miss what’s really happening.
When you look at all three, better, more impactful options emerge.
A Fun Application of the Framework
Here’s something most people don’t know about me: I’ve been a juggler since my teens, when I was in college in New Orleans.
I used to linger in the French Quarter watching jugglers, got curious, and made a point of learning from several of them.
It turned out they practiced in a park on weekends, right across from my campus.
I got hooked and kept at it for decades—practicing, performing, and eventually doing a fair amount of team juggling.
Team juggling, in particular, turns out to be a surprisingly good way to understand systems.
That’s why I was so struck by the Berlin Passing Girls—a group of jugglers who pass clubs with astonishing precision.
If you haven’t seen the video, it’s worth watching before reading on.
What you’ll see is extraordinary coordination, timing, and trust—all happening at speed.
The It in Action
For these jugglers, the It includes:
The clubs they use
The patterns they follow
The agreed-upon choreography and spacing
The structure of the performance
If something goes wrong, “It” questions might include:
Is the pattern too complex?
Is the equipment off (e.g., a broken club)?
Is the space too tight?
Are the rules of engagement clear (e.g., height and distance of throws, number of flips)?
In leadership work, this is where we look first for structural friction—unclear goals, overloaded systems, shifting priorities, or misaligned incentives—before assuming the problem is personal.
The We in Action
For these jugglers, the We includes:
Their shared history of practice
Their trust in one another
Their collective ability to read subtle cues
Their alignment around their purpose
When something goes wrong, a “We” diagnosis might ask:
Has trust been strained or broken? If so, where?
Are expectations clear?
Are we avoiding any important conversations?
Are we out of sync? If so, where?
In leadership work, this lens helps us notice relational patterns—misalignment, unspoken tension, quiet second-guessing, and coordination breakdowns—patterns that quietly undermine performance long before results suffer.
The I in Action
For these jugglers, the I includes:
Individual skill and experience
Focus and attention
Physical and mental stamina
Each person’s understanding of their goals or purpose for the activity
When something goes wrong, an “I” diagnosis might ask:
Is someone overloaded or distracted?
Is someone unsure of their role or unclear on our goals or purpose?
Can each juggler perform at the level this particular pattern requires?
How am I showing up in this? Am I rested, ready, willing, able to perform?
Sometimes the issue isn’t effort or ability, but mindset. It's easy to see the opportunity for conflict if one person thinks we're practicing for fun, while another thinks we're preparing for a high-stakes performance.
In leadership work, this lens helps us attend to capacity, clarity, and self-awareness—including our own—rather than reducing performance issues to effort alone.
Why This Matters for Leaders
When problems show up at work, most of us default to the most visible explanation.
“That person isn’t performing.”
“This team doesn’t communicate.”
“Our systems are broken.”
Sometimes those are true.
More often, they’re incomplete.
Leaders who think systemically slow down just enough to ask better questions:
Are our structures helping or hurting? (It)
Are people aligned and trusting? (We)
Do individuals have what they need? (I)
Those questions don’t just explain problems more accurately.
They point toward better, more durable solutions.
Your Turn
The next time something feels stuck, frustrating, or harder than you think it ought to be, pause and ask:
What am I seeing in the It?
What’s happening in the We?
What am I noticing in the I?
That small shift—from reacting to seeing—often makes the difference between spinning your wheels and making real progress.
Want to Go Deeper?
If this way of thinking resonates, I support leaders in a few different ways:
Coaching
I work one-on-one with founders and senior leaders who feel like they’re carrying too much in their heads—juggling people issues, strategy, and constant decisions—and aren’t sure they’re always getting it right. If you’re tired of replaying conversations, second-guessing calls, or feeling stuck between pushing harder and burning people out, coaching gives you a steady place to think things through, see patterns more clearly, and lead with more confidence and less wear-and-tear. Learn More | Schedule a Call
Workshops
I also teach leadership workshops that help leaders build core skills that pay off immediately: thinking systemically, solving problems collaboratively, forming strong agreements, handling conflict productively, and having more “data-rich” conversations across your organization. Participants leave with repeatable frameworks they can use with their teams right away, not just concepts to think about later. These experiences also create a shared language among your leaders—which means smoother alignment, faster decisions, and stronger trust across your organization. Learn More | Schedule a Call
Join us for our next Leadership and the Middle Path public workshop.
(1) The original source for the It-We-I model is philosopher, writer, and integral theorist, Ken Wilber.
For more insights on team and leadership development, follow Russ on LinkedIn, Twitter, and/or Facebook.
For more on Russ' juggling, see this video with Mark Bunnell on basic passing skills, this TED-style talk on the intersection of juggling and instructional systems design (ISD), or this Ignite presentation on how to juggle knives.
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