Rings of fire: Training for systems thinking and broadened impact

Abstract

What is the impact of training and development activities at work? In this chapter we argue that such a question should not only be an academic concern but also one that gets is built into all decisions about training. The purpose of our chapter is to investigate how training can contribute to development of systems thinking of trainees as seen through three lenses of building impact; the realm of business impact, the realm beneficiary impact and the realm of societal impact. We thus contribute to a system thinking training by developing and illustrating a framework where we deepen, reorient and expand systemic approaches along these three sets of systemic realms. We reason from three main sets of contrasting empirical examples.