I am trying to build the core competency called "Systems Thinking and Understanding" for my Performance Consultant team. I'm looking for suggestion for development opportunities in the form of articles, quick reads, books, or on-line learning that will build this core competency. Your input would be greatly appreciated.

Two excellent start points are:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_theory

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_theory#Organizational_theory
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The shorthand version being...

” it was recognized that organizations are complex social systems; reducing the parts from the whole reduces the overall effectiveness of organizations." E.H. Schein

Just as a general overview, Geary Rummler is probably the single person in the performance consulting space who has had the biggest impact on the importance of systems on our work. Any of Rummler's writing (Managing the White Space, Serious Performance Consulting) would be useful, especially since it would be specific to HPI work and plenty examples of application.

I personally think that a lot of the work on archetype (see Daniel Kim's writings) does a good job of educating about systems thinking, especially in terms of application. The particular value of the archetypes material (especially in this context) is that people learn how the system adjusts to changes or initiatives, how a short-term or limited intervention fails to take into account other critical factors. Finally, it shows how two apparently different circumstances (say...a sales force at a timeshare operation and maintenance of a coffee machine in your dorm room) have similarities.

I also think the Beer Game is a great resource to help provide systems awareness, how limited perspectives fail to see the bigger picture and how forces adapt within the system. You can find copies or instructions for the Beer Game at a bunch of sites online.

Last thing is this: I've known some good systems thinkers who weren't good performance consultants. I've known a couple of good performance consultants who couldn't explain a lot of the concepts of systems thinking or the models and theory but were able to do their work. I guess what I'm saying is this: I think the concept of competencies if highly over-rated and actually a bit at odds with HPI work. Don't get me wrong, I want people to be competent. But part of the issue with training as a "one size" solution is that we tend to assume that if we train people in the competencies then they can do the job. I'm sure you're not saying this. But my advice would be to instead make sure that your team is familiar and comfortable with a number of FEA tools that encourage a systems perspective. I may not be a good systems thinker but if I'm required to ask questions that get at process, organizational and performer issues than it will bring out data that highlights systems issues. If I'm forced to do a cultural due diligence, then whether I'm a good systems thinker or not, the data will emerge that shows the ways that the system shapes this problem I'm looking at. So yeah, provide the resources and it's great if people show the interest to delve deeper into them. But I'd focus more on the tools, templates and questions you ask your team to use. Those can reveal system insights whether the user is a systems thinker or not.