what are the parts or elements of the system?
This question throws an other elementary but essential challenge to a systems thinker. We find that people with a singular or limited worldview only see the world through that lens. Examples we have seen include production people not seeing the customer, sales people not seeing production, new technology people only seeing technology itself as the system limited rather than the larger system of people, processes and outputs, and legal people seeing the system as conflictive by nature rather than harmonious. Wit these limited views, individuals will be drawn to varying perceptions of the parts or elements of the system that may not match reality.