responses to Linda_Booth_Sweeney@post.harvard.edu please

Dear Friends and Colleagues

I’m writing to ask your thoughts on ways to bridge teens and adults from systems thinking experience to systems dynamics.

Here’s the scenario:

A few weeks back, I ran a one-day youth summit on systems change for a local group called SparkShare – https://www.sparkshare.org/
. We had 13 working groups from the Boston area focus on solving complex challenges in their communities — from vaping, substance abuse and racial bias to youth employment and safer streets. I worked with each group in advance to identify a strong systems statement and key factors. During the summit, I introduced one building block for systems change — helping the system see itself. We walked through a five-step tool (inspired by Michael Goodman and Daniel Kim) and built in plenty of opportunities to envision a different future, cross-pollinate between and among the groups, make real commitments for action and have fun.

You can see a short video clip of the young people’s reaction to the day. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnwRBepvqoc&feature=youtu.be Kind of electric!

As you can see, a number of these teens (and many of the adults) soaked in the systems approach and were ready for more. These young people participate in these Sparkshare summits over the course of three years or more. I think the opportunity to help some of the teens bridge to the practical application of other systems change tools, including more rigorous system dynamics modeling is possible. The question is: how to make that happen? They are in schools around Boston with no explicit system dynamics curriculum.

I’m looking into two possibilities:
• High-impact, long-term ways for these students to develop real systems change and systems dynamics skills, beyond the introductory level,
• Access to a pod (or posse?) of practitioners, including system dynamics modelers who will help to frame (and possibly model) their issues to support their conversations with key stakeholders, community leaders and policy makers.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Wishing you all happy, healthy and peace-filled holidays. 🙂

Linda