Systems Thinking and the Juggling Girls of Berlin
- Russ Powell
- Feb 23, 2022
- 5 min read
Updated: 38 minutes ago
An essential skill for leaders is the ability to see systems—to think systemically, to look beyond an individual or an event and understand the larger forces that shape what’s happening.
A few years back, I learned a simple but powerful framework for doing exactly that from one of my mentors, leadership-development expert, Chris Holmberg.
What I like most about this framework is its elegant simplicity.
“But don’t let the simplicity fool you—this tool is deceptively powerful for understanding, diagnosing, and solving problems in human systems: teams, organizations, even families. Parvus sed potens—small but mighty.
Holmberg calls it the It-We-I framework. (1)
The It, the We, and the I
You can think of the It–We–I as three lenses. Each one highlights a different aspect of what’s happening in a human system. When you look through all three, the picture becomes clearer. When you rely on just one, you’re more likely to miss the deeper causes of whatever problem you’re trying to solve.
In a business context, the It refers to the tools, technology, processes, roles, and goals of the organization—the structural elements. Think of the visible “things” of a business: a business plan, a product design, the processes that created it, the tools and facilities that support it.
The We is the realm of relationships. It asks: How much do the players trust each other? How aligned are they? The stronger the We, the more fluidly the team can “move” together.
The I represents the individual—each “node” in the system. The I includes a person’s knowledge, skills, abilities, beliefs, mental models, and the way they show up.
A Fun Application of the Framework
Here’s something not many people know: for most of my young adulthood—well into my thirties and forties—one of my favorite hobbies was juggling.
I learned in college in New Orleans from jugglers who worked Jackson Square in the French Quarter. For a short stretch, I even earned my living as a professional juggler. (Turns out busking paid better than waiting tables!)
Team juggling struck me as a surprisingly useful backdrop for exploring the It–We–I framework.
And with that I give you the Berlin Passing Girls –
If you didn’t already watch the video, do it. They’re brilliant—highly skilled, focused, motivated, and clearly having a lot of fun. Exactly the kind of players you’d want on your team.
The It
Notice that the It in this particular human system refers to the tools these young women are working with, the desired technical outcomes, and the processes at play. For example:
The juggling clubs (uniform in size, color and weight)
The juggling patterns on which they've agreed to throw
The choreography including where they will stand, how they will start and stop, and (even though there are virtually no mistakes in the video) what they will do in the event of a drop
The technical outcome (e.g., Are they entertaining a crowd or filming a video (high technical demands) or just having fun (low technical demands)?)
You can imagine that when the girls are practicing, if there's a problem—say a regularly occurring collision of clubs—they might begin diagnosing the problem by asking, "What are the It factors, the structural issues, that might be causing the collision?"
Is a club broken (which would make it wobbly or out-of-balance)?
Is there a problem with the pattern (e.g., physically, logistically, it just doesn't work as originally imagined)?
Are there any physical barriers obstructing the movement of a juggler or the flight of a club?
The We
Recall that the We in this system refers to the relationships between and among the girls. The stronger these bonds, the easier it will be for them to "play" or "move" together, especially at higher levels of complexity and difficulty.
More specifically, the We refers to:
How well they know each other
The degree of trust between them
How long they've known each other
Their degree of alignment around their purpose and goals
On their website, one of the first things I noticed was that they met as kids and have been passing clubs together for over eight years. That's a significant amount of We time.
When diagnosing a collision problem, We questions might include:
Do they have enough shared experience?
Has trust been strained or broken between any of them?
Do they share the same beliefs about what they're doing and why? (E.g., two of them may think they're preparing for a performance and the other two are just out to have fun. This lack of alignment could easily result in conflict.)
Is communication clear and consistent?
The I
We said the I refers to each individual in the system. In this scenario (similar to any any business scenario), the I refers to each juggler's:
Knowledge (passing patterns, terminology)
Skills (technical, communication)
Abilities (spacial awareness, relating, attending, focus)
Degree of engagement (how they're showing up)
Work/practice habits
Experience (passing clubs in complex patterns)
Mental models (beliefs, values, assumptions)
When diagnosing the collision problem, the girls might also look to I causes:
Does everyone know the passing pattern we're using?
Can each juggler perform at the level this particular pattern requires?
How is each person showing up today? Are they rested, ready, willing, and able to perform?
Leaders Who Think Systemically Get Better Results
When problems arise, it's easy to look at only one dimension: "Oh, it's his fault! He doesn't know what he's doing." (In this case pointing to an I cause.)
But leaders who think systemically consider all three. They search for non-obvious root causes:
"Perhaps there's more to it...
"Were we clear on the ideal outcome?" (It)
"Is there enough trust and alignment between us?" (We)
"Are our tools or processes introducing friction?" (It)
I suggest that leaders who use a systemic mindset get better results. They and their teams are more likely to be accurate in their diagnoses and generate solutions that actually work.
I hope you've enjoyed this explanation of the It-We-I framework. And the next time you find yourself diagnosing a problem in a human system, pause and ask:
What’s the It? What’s the We? What’s the I?
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 w/ 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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