Whole Systems Thinking-Thinking Like a CEO
What you'll learn
- Get a big picture view of your organization using the "Transformation Model"
- Learn to speak more articulately about what it happening inside your organization
- Assess your current business situation-demands, opportunities and threats
- Evaluate your company or organization's current business strategy and core ideology
- Determine the fit between your organizations philosophy (guiding principles) and attitudes and habits of employees
- Understand your core processes and assess the strength of your core and support processes
- Assess the impact of your organizational structure on business results
- Understand how your coordinating and development systems currently contribute to your culture and results
- Diagnose the attitudes and work habits of members of your organization
- Create initiatives to improve the performance of your organization
- Get out of the weeds so you can solve problems more effectively
- Take a big picture view of your organization so you can think like a CEO
Requirements
- There are no prerequisites to taking this course, just an open mind and willingness to understand how organizations work
Description
Welcome to “Thinking Like a CEO.” The course will enable you to use whole system thinking and strategic thinking to make you a smarter and more informed leader or member of your organization.
I organize this program around the Transformation Model (which you'll see in my preview video and then use as you go through the course). The model reduces the complexity of an organization to the seven key variables that need to be understood and aligned in order for your organization (large or small) to achieve peak success.
The model will help you step back from the day-to-day operation and look at your business or organization from a wholistic and systems point of view. Seeing the big pictu
re is learning to think like a CEO. Most people, on learning the model, have a much better grasp and understanding on what goes on in their organization. You'll see your company, business, or organization in a more enlightened way as you also learn what contributes and detracts from your success.
The model is based on two premises:
1. All organizations are perfectly designed to get the results they get.
The results you’re getting in your organization are not haphazard. They’re a function of how you’ve designed your organization and by design I’m talking about a lot more than structure or reporting relationships. Design has to do with understanding and aligning each of the seven elements of the Transformation Model.
2. The most important work of leaders is “on” systems and not “in” systems.
Working in a system is being caught up in the sequential events or most urgent problems of the day. Although the day-to-day flow of work is important, this isn't where you add the most value as a leader. You add the most value when you’re working “on” systems which means that you see the interdependencies suggested by the Transformation Model and are able to diagnose and resolve problems or improve performance by maintaining this high-level view of things. You’ll see what’s going on in your organization in a more enlightened way.
You'll use the skill of systems thinking to understand the model and how the various elements of the model impact your results. You'll make a tremendous contribution by speaking from the framework of the model as well as identifying opportunities for making improvements to your organization.
Take-Aways from the Course:
By going through the course, you’ll:
Apply systems thinking and strategic thinking skills to your organization
Learn to think like a CEO
Step back and gain a wholistic view of your organization
Do an assessment of each of the seven elements of the Transformation Model
Become more more enlightened about how your organization actually works
Deepen your understanding of your leadership role (whether as a formal or informal leader)
Spend more time in value-added activities (and reduce fire-fighting)
Build a stronger and more effective team or organization.
Develop concrete ideas for improving your organization
Organization of the Course
This is not a long course. I avoid theory and fluff and jump right into the content. I’ve organized the course into three sections:
Section One: Introduction in which I frame the course and offer you tips for getting the most value out of it. Notice that I’m giving you a number of tools and resources, up front, to help you understand the content.
Section Two: You'll do a comprehensive and high-level assessment of your organization. This is roll-up your sleeves time. I’m not just teaching you about the model but want you to apply it to your organization. This is how you’ll get the content from theory to practice.
Section Three: You'll take a step back and take a look at the key learnings from the application of the model to your organization. I’ll take you through a process to identify strengths, weaknesses, areas of alignment and misalignment as well as key leverage points or the greatest opportunities to make improvement to your business.
My bio:
Just a little about me. I have a dual background in psychology and organizational behavior. I’ve co-founded two companies—the Human Development Institute and Center for Organizational Design and have spent 25 years doing consulting and training to all types and sizes of organizations to create high performing organizations through leadership and team development. One of these programs is the Transformation Model which I've used with thousands of people in dozens of organizations to not only assess but make incredible improvements to their organizations. And since 2000, a business partner and I have certified over 1500 trainers and consultants from around the world to use our programs, including the Transformation Model.
Who this course is for:
- Anyone who cares about the health and well-being of their organization
- Formal and informal leaders
- Senior leaders
- Managers and supervisors
- Any employee who wants to have a better grasp on how organizations work
Instructor
- 4.6 Instructor Rating
- 24,171 Reviews
- 102,555 Students
- 15 Courses
Welcome to my instructor page!
I’m a husband to Judy, father of 4 married adult children and 15 grandchildren (7 boys and 8 girls). In addition to creating content in leadership, personal development and relationships, I love spending time outdoors hiking, skiing and running, especially mountain trails.
I'm pleased to say that most of my courses are highly rated and best sellers in their respective categories on Udemy. That's because I have many years of professional experience and I care about quality and thoroughly research to understand a topic before I create a course.
Plus, I really care about you, my students. I want you to have the best experience possible as you go through my courses.
My Professional Journey
In 1992, I co-founded the Center for Organizational Design and worked with worked with top Fortune 500 companies, including AT&T Capital, Coach Leatherware, The US Forest Service, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Merck Pharmaceuticals, Honeywell, Proctor & Gamble, and Hewlett Packard, as well as many small and medium-sized businesses.
We helped companies improve their leadership, clarify their business strategy, streamline their design (processes, structure and systems) and change corporate cultures by implementing high performance teams in which employees could “feel and act like partners in the business.”
Through the Center, my partner and I trained and certified over 1,500 trainers and consultants from around the world, providing them with access to our extensive library of over 70 leadership and team development modules. These programs have now been taught thousands of times, touching the lives of countless individuals across the globe.
Prior to consulting, I co-founded (with my father, the late C. Kay Allen) the Human Development Institute, where I spent a decade providing individual and marriage counseling. In addition, I also created and taught in-depth programs for the general public to help people move beyond limitations and lead more fulfilling lives.
Here are just few testimonials of people who have been through my curriculum:
"Literally thousands of professionals are exposed each year to Roger Allen’s material and the ripple effect has changed people's lives, made work easy, faster and better. Almost weekly I get rave reviews on his material. I cannot say enough about this man and his writings. I have purchased cases of his books and material to share with others." Jim Ullery, President, Center for Organizational Energy
"In my career as a specialist providing treatment to adolescents and their families, I have seen many parenting theories, models and books but nothing which rises to the stature of this work by Dr. Allen." Michael E. Berrett, Ph.D., Psychologist, nationally known clinical teacher, and CEO of Center for Change
“As a counselor, I found the insights and strategies to be incredibly valuable. The knowledge and skills have not only deepened my understanding…and enriched my ability to support other families in navigating the challenges they face. I was particularly impressed by your emphasis on fostering open communication and building strong relationships within families. Your strategies for effective communication, active listening, and conflict resolution are not only applicable but also transformative. With utmost enthusiasm, I wholeheartedly recommend this course to fellow counselors, parents, and anyone invested in fostering positive family dynamics.” Najiha Khan, Student Counselor AKES program
“I want so much to express my deepest love and gratitude for teaching me in such a beautiful way those principles of truth that literally changed my life overnight. I have never been happier. The things I learned from you have set me free because I have learned to love myself and to be completely open and honest. It’s amazing that I have lived my whole life for others approval but I’m so excited to have the rest of my life to do it my way.” Sally Hollingshead, student in Roger’s personal development program.