Recognising the Patterns Behind Strategic Failures
One of the most powerful breakthroughs in systems thinking is the identification of “systems archetypes”—recurring patterns of behavior that crop up in organisations, economies, and societies. These archetypes act like diagnostic templates, helping leaders quickly make sense of complex situations, avoid strategic missteps, and intervene more effectively.
Let’s unpack this vital mental model and explore how it can transform your leadership decisions.
🔁 What Are Systems Archetypes?
Systems archetypes are recurring patterns of interaction that produce predictable outcomes—usually unintended and undesirable. They offer shorthand for understanding how structure drives behavior. If you can spot the archetype at play, you can anticipate outcomes before they unfold.
These archetypes often include reinforcing (positive) or balancing (negative) feedback loops—and the delays, unintended consequences, and blind spots that come with them.
Many readers of The Systems Thinker are familiar with the systems archetypes developed in the mid- 1980s based on the work of Jay Forrester, a prominent researcher and one of the greatest minds in systems thinking in the 20th century. Jennifer Kemeny, Michael Goodman, and Peter Senge identified generic patterns of behavior that occurred over and over in different kinds of systems.
There were eight original systems archetypes; two more have been added over the years. The archetypes include causal loop diagrams that depict the dynamic behavior that drives the problems and a set of strategies to address the issue using leverage points. Leverage points are actions that use the least amount of effort to produce the greatest change in the system. These two aspects of archetypes—universality and strategies—make them useful for solving complex problems.
🎭 Common Systems Archetypes and How They Trap Strategy
1. Fixes That Fail
- Pattern: A quick solution is implemented to resolve a problem, but it only addresses symptoms. Over time, the underlying problem worsens.
- Example: Cutting staff to meet quarterly earnings may boost short-term profits, but leads to burnout, poor service, and long-term decline.
- Solution: Diagnose the root cause, and resist the urge to patch problems with symptomatic fixes.
2. Shifting the Burden
- Pattern: A symptomatic solution becomes the default approach, displacing deeper, structural interventions.
- Example: Using consultants repeatedly to solve core capability issues rather than investing in training internal staff.
- Solution: Develop the organisation’s capacity and tackle foundational issues directly.
3. Limits to Growth
- Pattern: A reinforcing growth loop runs into a balancing loop that constrains it.
- Example: A product grows quickly due to market fit, but customer service or production capacity hits a limit, stalling momentum.
- Solution: Identify growth-limiting factors early and invest in infrastructure or systems that can scale.
4. Success to the Successful
- Pattern: Two entities compete for limited resources; the one that performs slightly better initially receives more resources, accelerating its lead.
- Example: A division with early wins receives more funding and attention, while others stagnate—even if long-term potential is greater elsewhere.
- Solution: Ensure feedback and resource allocation systems allow for long-term potential to surface, not just short-term wins.
5. Tragedy of the Commons
- Pattern: Individuals acting in their own self-interest deplete a shared resource, ultimately harming the collective.
- Example: Sales teams over-discounting to hit targets, eroding the brand and long-term pricing power.
- Solution: Create shared accountability, metrics, and visibility across stakeholders for the health of the system.
6. Escalation
- Pattern: Two parties take mutually reinforcing actions to outdo the other, often spiraling into harmful behavior.
- Example: Competing vendors constantly undercut each other, leading to a race to the bottom in margins and quality.
- Solution: Introduce mechanisms for collaboration, clear rules of engagement, or pause escalation cycles before they spiral.
Positive System Archetypes
Negative System Archetypes
🧠 Why Archetypes Matter to Executives
Executives and strategic leaders who can recognise archetypes in real time can:
- Predict downstream consequences before they materialise.
- Avoid wasting time and capital on “fixes” that deepen the problem.
- Design more resilient interventions that work with systemic forces rather than against them.
- Build long-term thinking into the culture of the organisation.
🛠️ Strategy Tip: Name It to Tame It
When facing a complex business issue, ask:
- What pattern does this resemble?
- Are we applying a fix that fails?
- Is a success loop disadvantaging a future growth opportunity?
- Are we managing a system or just reacting to symptoms?
Mapping the situation with causal loop diagrams or even a simple sketch can illuminate what’s really going on beneath the surface.
🌍 Final Thought
Systems archetypes give language to the invisible architecture of business dysfunction—and unlock leverage points for real transformation. Great leaders aren’t just reactive fire-fighters. They are architects of systems that anticipate, adapt, and thrive.
By internalising these archetypes, you gain a superpower: the ability to see around corners in strategy, and to build organisations that grow sustainably, not just quickly.
Missed out on the over all series?
Murray Slatter
Strategy, Growth, and Transformation Consultant: Book time to meet with me here!
