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Tag: Enterprise Strategy

  • The New Skill No One Is Hiring For: System Thinking

    The New Skill No One Is Hiring For: System Thinking

    Reading Time: 3 minutes

    Companies are now hiring at a pace not seen in 20 years. New roles, new titles, new skills pour into job descriptions every quarter. We recruit for cloud skills, AI literacy, DevOps competency, data fluency and domain knowledge.

    But one of the most important assets for companies today is also one of the least likely to be found on a new hire plan.

    That skill is systems thinking.

    And its lack of existence is why even many very well-resourced, well-staffed organizations still watch execution, scale and sustainability recede into the distance.

    Shrewd Teams Still Can Have Dumb Outcomes

    The talent is there; lack of it is no longer the barrier to company growth. They arise from the interplay of humans, processes, tools, incentives and decisions.

    Projects become delayed not because some people suck, but:

    • Work bounces across teams
    • Dependencies are unclear
    • Decisions arrive late
    • Metrics optimize the wrong behavior
    • Work is seamless, but tools are not.

    Increasing the number of specialists does little to change that. It often adds complexity, in fact.

    The missing piece is being able to understand how the whole system is behaving, not just the performance of each individual part.

    What Systems Thinking Really Means

    Systems thinking, after all, isn’t about diagrams or theory. It’s a useful approach to thinking about how outcomes derive from structure.”

    A systems thinker asks:

    • Where does work get stuck?
    • What incentives shape behavior here?
    • Which decisions repeat unnecessarily?
    • What occurs downstream when this goes awry?
    • Are we fixing the causes or the symptoms?

    They don’t seek a single root cause. They seek out patterns, feedback loops and unintended consequences.

    “The larger the organization, it’s less important you’re very deep in any particular area,” he said.

    Why Companies Don’t Hire for It

    Think in systems is easier said than measured.

    It’s not something that pops out on the old résumé. It doesn’t map neatly to certifications.” And it doesn’t have ownership by any single function.”

    Recruitment systems are optimized for:

    • Technical depth
    • Functional specialization
    • Past role experience
    • Tool familiarity

    Yet systems thinking knows no silos. It challenges the status quo instead of upholding it. And that can feel uncomfortable.

    So organizations hire for what’s visible — and then cross their fingers that integration somehow comes later.

    It rarely does.

    The Price of No Systems Thinkers

    Whereas it lacks systems thinking, organizations try to make up for this in effort.

    People work longer hours.

    Meetings multiply.

    Documentation increases.

    Controls tighten.

    More tools are added.

    From the outside, it appears to be productivity. Inside, it feels exhausting.

    Invisible work grows. High performers burn out. Teams are locally optimising while the organisation is globally slowing down.

    Most “execution problems” are in fact system design problems — and without systems thinkers, they go unseen.

    Why Scaling Means Systems Thinking Matters More

    Small teams can get by without system thinking. Communication is informal. Context is shared. Decisions happen quickly.

    Scale changes everything.

    As organizations grow:

    • Dependencies increase
    • Decisions fragment
    • Feedback loops slow down
    • Errors propagate faster

    At this point, injecting talent without reimagining the system only intensifies dysfunction.

    It is imperative that systems thinking becomes the norm with leaders, as it enables:

    • Design for flow, not control
    • Reduce coordination overhead
    • Align incentives with outcomes
    • Enable autonomy without chaos

    It changes growth from a weakness to an advantage.”

    Systems Thinking vs. Hero Leadership

    Heroics are the way many organizations keep systems running.

    Some experienced individuals “just know how things work.” They connect chasms, mediate conflicts and cover over broken systems.

    This does the trick — until it doesn’t.

    Instead of relying on heroes, it shifts towards a way of thinking that assumes everyone can be heroic by design. It doesn’t ask people to compensate for failings, it repairs the structure that produces them.

    That’s how organizations become robust and  not fragile.

    What Systems Thinking Looks Like in Practice

    You can tell who the systems thinkers are.

    They:

    • Ask fewer “who failed?” questions and more “why did this happen?
    • Semi-automation instead of further control requirements
    • Reduce handoffs before adding automation
    • Design decision rights explicitly
    • Focus on flow, not utilization

    They make institutions more tranquil, not more crowded.

    And counterintuitively, they enable teams to go faster by doing less.

    Why This Skill Will Define the Next Decade

    At a time when more companies are thinking about how AI, automation and digital platforms are transforming work, technical skills will be increasingly within arm’s reach.

    What will distinguish companies is not what they make or sell — but how adept their systems are at change.

    Systems thinking enables:

    • Scalable AI adoption
    • Sustainable digital operations
    • Faster decision-making
    • Lower operational friction
    • Trust in automation

    It is the platform upon which all successful change is established.

    And yet, it’s largely invisible in hiring policies.

    Final Thought

    The next advantage won’t be achieved by hiring more specialized staff.

    It will be for those who understand how each piece fits together and can imagine a new way to design so that work flows naturally.

    Organizations don’t need more effort.

    They need better systems.

    And systems don’t just get better by themselves.

    They get better when someone knows how to look at them.

  • The Silent Bottleneck: How Decision Latency Hurts Enterprise Performance

    The Silent Bottleneck: How Decision Latency Hurts Enterprise Performance

    Reading Time: 5 minutes

    Most companies blame performance problems on things that are easy to see, such as not enough resources, slow teams, old technology, or pressure from the market. To boost productivity, leaders spend a lot of money on people, tools, and infrastructure.

    Still, a lot of businesses feel that they’re moving too slowly.

    It takes longer to start projects. Chances pass you by. Teams are always busy, but it seems like development is slow instead of fast. A lot of the time, the problem isn’t effort or aptitude; it’s something much less evident and far more harmful.

    It’s the time it takes to make a decision.

    Decision latency is the period that goes by between when information is available and when a choice is really made. At first, it doesn’t look like a system breakdown or a missed deadline. Instead, it builds up gradually across teams, approvals, and levels of leadership, which slows down execution and makes the organisation less flexible.

    Decision delay becomes one of the most expensive problems for businesses over time.

    How Decision Latency Looks in Real Businesses

    Decision latency doesn’t normally show up as a single breakdown. It becomes increasingly clear as businesses become more complicated.

    You might see it when:

    • Even when they have all the information they need, teams have to wait days or weeks for approvals.
    • Different people look at the same decision without being able to hold anyone accountable.
    • We hold meetings to “align” on things we’ve already talked about.
    • Leadership requires more proof before making decisions, so they are put off.
    • Action is put off until the “perfect” information comes in.

    None of these cases seem really serious. They seem sensible, even responsible, when looked at alone. But when they work together, they always slow down execution.

    The group isn’t sitting around. People are putting in a lot of effort. But moving forward seems weighty, slow, and broken.

    Why it takes longer to make decisions when companies grow

    As businesses get bigger, it gets harder to make decisions, but the speed at which they make decisions typically goes down even more. There are a few structural reasons why this happens.

    Broken-up Information

    Businesses today have a lot of data, but it’s not really clear. Dashboards, CRMs, ERPs, spreadsheets, emails, and internal tools all save information. People who make decisions spend more time checking data than using it.

    Decisions stop when leaders aren’t sure that what they see is complete, up-to-date, or correct.

    The problem isn’t that there isn’t enough data; it’s that people don’t trust the system that gives it to them.

    Unclear Decision Ownership

    In many organizations, it’s unclear who genuinely owns a decision. There is a lack of clarity about who has authority, but responsibility is shared.

    This results in:

    • Decisions pushing upward unnecessarily
    • Teams waiting for approval instead of acting
    • Leaders are getting in the way of operational decisions.

    When ownership isn’t apparent, decisions don’t move forward—they circulate.

    Risk-Averse Processes

    Enterprises often add layers of inspection to decrease risk. Over time, these layers accumulate: legal checks, compliance assessments, executive sign-offs, cross-functional alignment sessions.

    These safety measures can make things riskier by making it harder to respond quickly to changes in the market, customer needs, and problems within the company.

    Speed and control aren’t the same thing, but bad processes can make them feel that way. 

    The Unseen Cost of Making Decisions Slowly

    Decision latency doesn’t show up on financial accounts very often, but it has a big effect that can be measured.

    It leads to:

    • Missed chances in the market
    • Launching products and features more slowly
    • Higher costs of doing business
    • Teams that are angry and not involved
    • Leadership that reacts instead of planning ahead

    Employees spend more time making updates, presentations, and justifications than doing work that matters. The momentum slows down, and it gets tougher to keep growing.

    In marketplaces where there is a lot of competition, the cost of waiting to make a decision is generally more than the cost of making a bad one.

    Why More Tools Don’t Speed Up Decision-Making

    Many companies add technology, like new analytics platforms, reporting tools, workflow software, or AI-powered dashboards, when decision-making slows down.

    But just having tools doesn’t speed up decision-making.

    When decision rights aren’t clear, approvals aren’t in line, or workflows aren’t well thought out, technology just makes the delay worse. Dashboards make the problem easier to see, but they don’t fix it.

    In some circumstances, extra tools slow things down by adding:

    • More information to look over
    • More reports to match up
    • More systems to look at before doing something

    Speed of decision-making only gets better when systems are built around how decisions are actually made, not how data is stored or tools are sold.

    Decision latency is an issue with the workflow.

    Decision latency is really a workflow problem, not a deficiency in leadership.

    There is a path for every choice:

    • Making information
    • It goes from one team or system to another.
    • Someone looks at it
    • An action is either approved or denied.

    When this path is unclear, broken up, or too full, it takes longer to make decisions.

    High-performing businesses plan out these decision flows on purpose. They want to know:

    • Who needs this data?
    • When do you need it?
    • Who has the power to make the decision?
    • What happens right after the choice?

    When you plan workflows with decisions in mind, speed naturally follows.

    How High-Performing Businesses Cut Down on Decision Latency

    Companies that want to move swiftly without losing control focus on making things clear and designing systems.

    They:

    • Make it clear who is responsible for making decisions at every level.
    • Cut down on superfluous levels of approval
    • Make sure that strategic decisions are different from operational ones.
    • Give people information that is rich in context right when they need it.
    • Get rid of reports and steps that don’t lead to action.
    • They don’t tell teams to “move faster.” Instead, they get rid of things that slow them down.

    The consequence isn’t quick choices; it’s timely, confident action.

    What UX and System Design Do

    It’s not only about reasoning when it comes to making decisions; it’s also about how easy they are to use.

    Decision-makers are hesitant when internal processes are messy, hard to understand, or don’t make sense. Bad UX makes people think more, which means leaders have to figure out what the data means instead of acting on it.

    Systems that are well-designed:

    • Only show relevant information
    • Give context, not noise
    • Make the following stages clear
    • Make it easier to make a decision in your head

    When processes are easy to use, making judgments is easier, and things go faster without stress.

    How fast you make decisions can give you an edge over your competitors.

    In today’s businesses, how quickly something gets done depends more on flow than on effort. When choices are made quickly, teams work together, things get done faster, and leaders can focus on strategy instead of dealing with problems.

    Companies don’t go out of business suddenly because of decision delay.

    It subtly stops them from reaching their full potential.

    Companies that grow successfully aren’t only well-funded or well-staffed; they are also built to make decisions.

    Conclusion

    Doing more work doesn’t always mean doing better.

    It’s about making decisions faster, without becoming confused, having to do things over, or being unsure.

    When decision systems are clear, integrated, and purposeful, getting things done is easy, not hard. Teams move forward with confidence, and growth becomes easier instead of tiring.

    Organizations don’t slow down when people stop working hard.

    They slow down because systems don’t help people make judgments the way they really do.

    If your company feels busy but slow, it might be time to look at how choices move through your processes, not just how work gets done.

    Connect with Sifars today to schedule a consultation 

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