OTX-AST: APPLIED SYSTEMS THINKING

This program is a part of the OTX – Extended Expertise educational offerings, powered by Org Topologies.

OTX-AST Accreditation

Participants who successfully complete this course earn the OTX-AST (Associate Systems Thinker) badge — part of the Org Topologies Expert (OTX) certification program
The OTX-AST badge recognizes that the holder can apply systems thinking in organizational contexts: build and read system models, distinguish local fixes from systemic improvements, facilitate cross-role modeling sessions, and use these skills to drive sustainable change in teams and organizations.
The badge is awarded upon completion of the training and is valid as a standalone credential. It also counts toward the broader OTX certification pathway for those pursuing deeper expertise in organizational design and transformation.

Learning Objectives

By the end of the training, participants will be able to:

Understand and apply Systems Thinking in real organizational contexts — using a systemic lens on everyday challenges such as dependencies between teams and quality-vs-speed trade-offs.
Build and interpret system models by identifying key variables, feedback loops, delays, and interactions, and using them to tell a coherent story about a complex situation.
Distinguish between local and global optimization and recognize how locally rational decisions can degrade the overall system.
Differentiate correlation from causality and avoid common misinterpretations and reasoning traps in problem-solving.
Facilitate collaborative systems-modeling sessions across roles (e.g., developers, managers, stakeholders) and turn shared insight into agreed action.
Apply Systems Thinking in retrospectives and problem-solving workshops to generate actionable and sustainable improvements rather than surface-level fixes.
Leverage AI as a support tool in systems modeling to accelerate insight generation and challenge assumptions.