Systems Thinking Research & Leadership Development Institute (STRLDi)

About The Organization

COMPANY PROFILE

Business Information

  • Registered Business Name: Systems Thinking Leadership Development Institute (STLDi)
  • Trade Name:  Systems Thinking Research & Leadership Development Institute (STRLDi). It has three arms:
    • Research Development
    • Training, Publications, Community & Media Development
    • Business and Consultancy Development
    • The Operations Management & Administrative Coordination Office that manages the entire outfit.
  • Organization Focus: Developing Systemic Thinking Leadership
  • Company Registration: UIN BW000001162330

Business Contacts

Who We Are

5Feb06 (8)
Ms Sheila Damodaran, Managing Director and Lead Consultant

The Systems Thinking Research & Leadership Development Institute (STRLDi) is dedicated to equipping senior leaders and organizations with the frameworks. It provides practices and mindsets of The Fifth Discipline to foster deep-rooted, systemic transformation—starting from within. When we fail to grasp how deep-rooted systemic change works, we unknowingly steer the system toward its own undoing.

Systems Thinking Leadership Development Institution (STRLDi) established since 2012 in Botswana is a research-cum-consultancy-cum-training academy organization for learning organisations.  The foundations of STRLDi come from the principles and practices of Dr Peter Senge. He described these in his landmark publication, The Fifth Discipline, the Art and Practice of Learning Organizations.  The institution is led by Ms Sheila Damodaran.  While from Singapore, her practice has been based in Botswana since 2008.

Since then, it has grown a modest team of researchers. The team also includes trainers. They possess the tenacity and clarity needed to carry the work beyond itself.

REVENUE & RESULTS ALIGNMENT

Revenue is generated through the results we create with our clients.

The outcome we seek is not limited to delivery.
It is the emergence of a self-sustaining shift in practice within the regions we work in.

This is reflected when:

▪️ The disciplines become integrated into everyday living — not as tools, but as inherent ways of thinking and acting

▪️ Individual and collective actions begin to translate into real GDP growth (at constant prices) at national and regional levels

COMPANY STATEMENTS

Purpose

Our focus is to provide consultancy on systemic strategy identification and development, working with countries to see, understand, and act on the structural forces shaping persistent national issues.

Vision

To enable the ordinary citizen learn to work with his nation to influences its trajectory — not through opinion, but through informed action grounded in an understanding of how systems behave and change over time.

Mission Statement

We work with leaders and institutions to develop the capacity to see and act on systemic structure, through the disciplined application of the Five Disciplines of a Learning Organization.

This is not taught as theory.
It is practiced within the real conditions of government, communities, and everyday life, where decisions shape outcomes across sectors and generations.

Core Value

We build the tenacity and clarity required to hold creative tension — the ability to see reality as it is, while remaining committed to shaping what it can become.

Goal

To be recognised as a trusted and disciplined partner in national development, supporting countries in building strategies that are structurally sound, internally owned, and capable of sustaining long-term growth.

STRLDi — WORKING STATEMENT

1. OUR WORK — SEEING WHAT PERSISTS

At STRLDi, we work with you to identify the underlying systemic structures that drive the persistence of national and regional issues.

These are not surface problems.
They are patterns that continue to return — often despite sustained effort, investment, and policy attention.

Our work begins by making these structures visible, so that what appears complex and recurring can be understood at its source.

2. WHY PERSISTENCE MATTERS

When persistence is not understood, it draws us back into designing solutions that inadvertently reinforce the very outcomes we seek to change.

This is the nature of systemic behaviour.

Until the structure is seen, action tends to:
▪️ repeat
▪️ intensify effort
▪️ yield limited or temporary shifts

As understanding deepens, what once appeared complex often becomes structurally simple and actionable.

3. HOW WE WORK — FROM STRUCTURE TO REALITY

We work with leaders and institutions to:

▪️ Surface systemic causal structures
▪️ Reverse the effects of persistent dynamics
▪️ Co-create what is intended to grow in their place

This is not framed as eliminating problems alone.
It is framed as building what should exist instead.

For example:
▪️ Shifting from eradicating poverty → to creating conditions for abundance
▪️ Shifting from chasing success → to nurturing a disciplined culture of learning

4. WHERE THIS WORK SITS

Our work supports national policy formulation and strategic alignment processes, particularly in areas where:

▪️ Issues persist despite intervention
▪️ Efforts remain fragmented across sectors
▪️ Outcomes do not reflect the scale of investment

We operate at the intersection of:

▪️ Government leadership
▪️ Institutional coordination
▪️ Community-level realities

5. OUR APPROACH — TRAINING, RESEARCH, STRATEGY

We integrate three core components:

Training

Developing the capacity to see and work with systemic structure, grounded in the Five Disciplines.

Research

Identifying patterns over time, clarifying system archetypes, and understanding cross-sector dynamics.

Strategy Development

Co-creating structurally sound strategies that are owned, actionable, and sustainable.

6. FOUNDATION — THE FIFTH DISCIPLINE

Our work is grounded in the seminal contributions of Peter Senge, particularly his landmark work The Fifth Discipline.

This body of work provides:

▪️ The disciplines required to build learning capacity
▪️ The methods to engage in reflective and generative dialogue
▪️ The ability to understand dynamic complexity

These competencies form the foundation of our training, research, and advisory work.

7. FROM LEARNING TO NATIONAL APPLICATION

The outcomes of this work are not theoretical.

They feed directly into:

▪️ National planning processes
▪️ Sector-level strategy development
▪️ Regional coordination efforts

As leaders begin to see and work with structure, alignment improves across institutions and decisions begin to reinforce — rather than counteract — one another.

8. STARTING FROM THE GROUND

The work is best realised when understanding is built from the ground up.

As this happens:

▪️ Resources are used more effectively
▪️ Structural inefficiencies reduce
▪️ Countries begin to save rather than continuously spend to correct recurring issues

This creates space for genuine national development, grounded in what is internally generated and sustained.

9. FURTHER REFERENCE

For documented use of the tools and ongoing work:

▪️ Blog: https://sheilasingapore.blog
▪️ STRLDi: https://strldi.weebly.com/strldi.html

▪️ List of Persistent Issues

▪️Dr Peter Senge

▪️The Fifth Discipline

Contact: +267-75-9875-34

Email: sheilasingapore@gmail.com