A number of years ago, a contact at a school asked why I call my approach to systems thinking “Tetrahedronics.”\u00a0 I thought it would be helpful to explain where this idea came from, as it also can provide an explanation as to why we need to think differently from the ways we currently think – since doing so has created the problems we’re trying to solve.<\/p>\n
As Einstein is credited with saying, “We cannot solve the problems of today by using the same kind of thinking that created them.”<\/p>\n
A tetrahedron was the logo for the site I’ve had for the past 20 years at SchoolAdvancement.com.\u00a0 Now that it’s been rebranded as ArchangelAdvancement.com and is a central component of STAFFAdvancement.com, the tetrahedron will continue to be a logo associated with systems thinking training which will be part of this site.<\/p>\n
A tetrahedron is commonly known as a three-sided pyramid.\u00a0 That’s because all one sees are the exposed three sides.\u00a0 However, every math major knows that “tetra” is a prefix which means “four” – the side that is usually not considered a side is the base of the object.<\/p>\n
Interestingly, there are really two sides of this shape that are not seen.\u00a0 The fourth side is the base, while the fifth side is the “in”-side of the object.<\/p>\n
About 60 years ago when I was a little boy, my mom collected objects made of lucite which had coins embedded inside them.\u00a0 One in particular was a tetrahedron that had three pennies inside it.\u00a0 They seemed to float inside the solid structure, and made me wonder way back then what kept them suspended in the center of this crystal-like figure.\u00a0 As I grew older, I realized that this was a solid object, and the glass-like substance wasn’t hollow like a drinking glass was.\u00a0 It was as if someone had taken a glass container, filled it with liquid glass, then inserted the pennies, and allowed it to harden as it cooled.<\/p>\n
This object has had such a profound influence on me that I came to use it as a visual representation for a systems thinking theory I developed, which was validated in the 1990’s by a text by Peter Senge titled “The Fifth Discipline.”\u00a0 The crystal tetrahedron demonstrated that “Three leads to four leads to five.”\u00a0 Three pennies, four surfaces, five “sides.”<\/p>\n
It’s been said by presentational experts that the mind can only hold three ideas in its physical “short-term memory” simultaneously.\u00a0 Apple guru Steve Jobs believed this, and held his presentations to only three main points.\u00a0 When he introduced the iPhone, Jobs said it was a phone, a music player, and a device to access the Internet.<\/p>\n
But now we know that it can do a whole lot more.<\/p>\n
In an article which discussed his presentational style, he admitted that sometimes, people can hold four main points, but no more.<\/p>\n
And that’s the problem.<\/p>\n
In Senge’s book, “The Fifth Discipline,” he states we are trained to think linearly, and we need to think systemically.\u00a0 He calls for systems thinking (ST) as one of five disciplines that companies need to follow for success.\u00a0 It’s interesting, too, that he points to the fact that systems aren’t complete until the fifth “discipline” is discovered.<\/p>\n
I like to look at it as the “Fifth Element,” taking the cue from the Bruce Willis movie.\u00a0 If you saw it, you’ll recall that the female lead was the fifth element that tied the four common elements together in order to save the world.<\/p>\n
Therefore, if we ever hope to getting faith-based schools to be sustainable, we need to expand our minds in two ways.<\/p>\n
First, to shift from only thinking linearly to thinking systemically, and second, to expand our minds to be able to hold five main ideas in our minds simultaneously.<\/p>\n
It’s my hope this category of articles will help enable you to do both!<\/p>\n
\u00a9 Michael V. Ziemski, SchoolAdvancement\/STAFFAdvancement, 2012-2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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