Simultaneously deep and shallow.

via The Water of Systems Change | FSG

TOPICS: FOUNDATION STRATEGY, SYSTEMS THINKING

Foundations involved in systems change can increase their odds for success by focusing on the least explicit but most powerful conditions for change, while also turning the lens on themselves.

The Water of Systems Change aims to clarify what it means to shift these conditions. We offer the “inverted triangle” framework as an actionable model for funders and others interested in creating systems change, particularly those who are working to advance equity.

Top Takeaways

1. Systems change is about advancing equity by shifting the conditions that hold a problem in place.
2. To fully embrace systems change, funders should be prepared to see how their own ways of thinking and acting must change as well.
3. Shifts in system conditions are more likely to be sustained when working at three different levels of change: explicit, semi-explicit, and implicit.

Real and equitable progress requires exceptional attention to the detailed and often mundane work of noticing what is invisible to many.

Watch the Webinar

Download

• The Water of Systems Change

   DOWNLOAD  PDF (5.5 MB)

I’d be intrigued if anyone can get through the jargon of this one. I think it is about how people learn ‘movement skills’ (to develop sports) that will help them be healthy and active in life. And it’s about how people observe high performers and try to do the same thing themselves, and I think it concludes that it is all quite complicated but that what is clear is that what are understood as ‘fundamental movement skills’ are not fundamental nor good ways to decide who is a good performer or an injury risk, partly because of the subjectivity of PE teachers, coaches and health carers. And… something about people needing to explore and understand for themselves? Something about how people study top performers, and something about how there are earlier pre-requisites than ‘fundamental movement skills’ which are more complex and part of a relationship between observer and observed, but might be more useful in predicting performance and injury and training appropriately? If you’re interested in education, or have ever been to a first Yoga or Salsa class, please take a look and report back!

via Scientific Epistemology for Physical Education Fundamental Movement Skills Prerequisites – The Sport Journal

Scientific Epistemology for Physical Education Fundamental Movement Skills Prerequisites

Interesting series on systems thinking in psychology by Ken Silvestri

via A Wider Lens | Psychology Today

A Wider Lens

How to see your life differently.

Kenneth Silvestri Ed.D.

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The Map Is Surely Not the Territory

A crisis makes us aware of what has gone unnoticed for much too long.

Double Binds: Damned If You Dare and Damned If You Don’t

Are you tired of those painful moments when you are caught in the middle of a situation? Here’s how this occurs and a way to avoid and resolve them.

Be Inspired to Stretch Your Perceptual Edges

A waterfall in New Jersey gives insights for us all to make changes based on our inspirations. Read these tips to be inspired.

Surely, We Need Not Only to Be in Harmony But to Sustain it

A message for the holiday season and all year long

Ditch Linear Thinking

Labels are just not capable of describing the multiple intricacies of being human.

Overcoming Doubt, Understanding How It Comes About

In trying times, we are all vulnerable to self-doubt and criticism.

Walking the Path of Beginner’s Mind

Now is the time to rethink and add some rigorous attention to acting mindfully, especially when we need to nurture our interdependency.

Who Do You Think You Are?

There is a mystical energy in our family systems!

The Tao of Self-Fulfillment

It takes two to know one. Can anyone doubt the urgency today to take care of each other?

The Ecology of Improvisation

Everyday truths that we often overlook can lead to creation

Change Is Always Changing

Each of us has a role to be courageous and embrace change!

The Ecology of Breathing: Enhancing Your Cuddle Hormone

Is the stress of everyday life getting you down? A little oxytocin may be just what you need.

Love: The Word Is Not the Thing

Understanding the elegance of the heart and the meaning of love.

Yes! Our World Is Complex, But What Does That Mean?

How can a loaf of bread help with understanding the complexity of relationships?

‘Tis the Season for Forgiveness

The true meaning of this time of year is to have peace, joy, and forgiveness.

Stress and the Organic Health Food Store

Stress is like the weather. We know it exists, but we can’t always figure out how to deal with it.

How to Have a Wider Lens

What is it that you’re not getting in life?

A Wider Lens

Kenneth Silvestri, Ed.D. is a systemic psychotherapist and author of A Wider Lens: How to See Your Life Differently, who practices in Montclair, NJ; Nyack, NY and virtually.

via A Wider Lens | Psychology Today

(This one I don’t understand and I think it is mostly talking about its own document, so I can’t criticise – but some will be interested. I do think that in quoting

“Everything seems to be everything else, and I get lost in it”, Gregory Bateson

…they are doing a disservice, as while written by Bateson, this is a script clearly giving the line to ‘Daughter’. (And the reply is, on the face of it, rather patronising).

(It’s like the line in, I think, Yes, Minister – or Yes, Prime Minister – where the hapless politician Jim Hacker says ‘Neither a borrower nor a lender be. Shakespeare.’ – to be corrected by one of his superior civil servants. ‘Polonius’).

via Why does understanding the systemic nature of risk matter in the midst of COVID-19? | PreventionWeb.net

Just being a Negative Nellie one more time. This is an intriguing article about Mobility as a Service, but again the definition of systems thinking at its heart is rather lacking. But, it goes to interesting places.

via Mobility as a Service Isn’t an App, It’s a System | Loup Ventures

Systems Thinking is an analytical approach that considers how a system’s individual components interrelate both through time and within the context of a larger system. In part, Systems Thinking is driven by the philosophy and tactics of fields such as Human-Centered Design, Design Thinking, Service Design, Customer Experience, and related fields. We can narrow Systems Thinking down to two primary parts: 1) Component Dynamics: Understanding how an individual component delivers its value proposition to customers through the combination of front-end customer-facing and back-end non-customer facing operations and 2) System Dynamics: Understanding how individual components interrelate both to other components and the greater system of which they are a part. It is easy to see how Systems Thinking is necessary to deliver MaaS with various public and private components requiring a number of services on the front- and back-end.

On a venerable website, and/but, I believe, a very limited and partial form and presentation of ‘systems thinking’:

via The Systems Thinker – Systems Thinking: What, Why, When, Where, and How? – The Systems Thinker

via Systemic change: changing the conditions that hold a situation in place (with a link to Covid-19) | Marcus Jenal

via Neutron bombs and suddenly being able to see the key economy (9 Apr., 2020, at Interconnected)

continues in source: Neutron bombs and suddenly being able to see the key economy (9 Apr., 2020, at Interconnected)

via Understanding Society: Thomas Hughes on electric power as a sociotechnical system

via Virtual Book Launch: “The Hidden Power of Systems Thinking” Tickets, Thu 16 Apr 2020 at 16:00 | Eventbrite

APR 16

Virtual Book Launch: “The Hidden Power of Systems Thinking”

by The Open University, Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathem…

Event Information

Join us for a virtual book launch of “The Hidden Power of Systems Thinking – Governing in a Climate Emergency”

About this Event

Please join us virtually on YouTube and Facebook live for the launch of the publication of “The Hidden Power of Systems Thinking – Governing in a Climate Emergency”. We have invited panel members from several governance contexts whose experiences are relevant to the book.

‘The authors’ thesis is that it is only through new systems of governance and new ways of thinking and acting that the human world can manage the climate and associated emergencies. It may be that the Covid-19 has knocked some sense into the those maintaining the current world order sufficient to grasp that the systems we have are but the systems we have, all are human inventions, and all can be reinvented. We explore how and why contemporary governance is failing. New elements in a governance system are needed: the biosphere, social purpose and the Technosphere. Failures of governance go beyond damaging our habitat to damaging inequalities in power, wealth and well-being. Preferential lobbying thrives. Ramshackle political processes are no match for these challenges.

Systems Thinking in Practice is now well into its stride in many settings. We have concluded that applied effectively it would provide the answer. This is a big claim. The book is much more than a critique of the status quo. It details 26 principles for systemic governing. These would form the core of amended constitutions. But just as Shakespeare needs a great cast to do justice to his scripts, so these new systems have to be operated by people who understand the theories of systems thinking and how to apply them in practice. The book describes the what and how of recovering systemic sensibility, acquiring systems literacy and investing in systems thinking in practice capability.

The book has been described as a persuasive, lively book that shows how systems thinking can be harnessed to effect profound, complex change. We would welcome, very much, your feedback on these proposals – and those of many others working to create a sustainable and fair world – and how they can be brought to fruition.

After a welcome from our two authors, Dr Kevin Collins will MC

We have lined up a very exciting panel for you, including:

Professor Eileen Munro from the London School of Economics

Professor John Naughton Director, Press Fellowship, Wolfson College, Cambridge

Dr Julian Corner, CEO of Lankelly Chase

And Dr Piret Tõnurist of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

After each panel member shares their points of view, we will open up to questions both via comment or by emailing STEM-News@open.ac.uk and will share an exclusive discount code to give you 20% off your purchase of the book.

If you cannot join us on the day, recordings will be available to watch on YouTube (search for The Open University: STEM) or on Facebook (@theopenuniversitySTEM) and questions sent to STEM-News@open.ac.uk and response sent within a few days.

Book at: Virtual Book Launch: “The Hidden Power of Systems Thinking” Tickets, Thu 16 Apr 2020 at 16:00 | Eventbrite

via Values and systems again – GentlySerious – Medium

A series of pieces on coevolving.com from January-March of this year, which I’ll be linking out one per week (but all are on David Ing’s blog already). Here is 3/5

via Why (Intervene in) Systems Changes? – Coevolving Innovations

“all the learnings to support you through this transition”

goodies in this newsletter

• learning: methods for the systems change framework
• learning: power in the system
• external learning: grounded hosting and engagement online w/ beehive production

+ starts easter monday – act fast!

• let’s experiment!
• facilitation and hosting guides for online events

dear systems community,

i’ve been grateful that in the last few days, my state of being is slowly shifting, from one of despair and overwhelm to inspiration and expansion.  this is coming from unexpected conversation, connections and dreaming up the future with others and i’m so grateful for it.  in this shift, i’m reminded of this quote from picasso…

inspiration exists, but it must find you working

so we’re transforming here at the systems school. i’m thinking of this less as ‘pivot’ or even adaptation, and more that we’re finding a state of flow within the complexity, bearing witness to the transformation and seeking out the energy and momentum that will carry us forward. it’s presenting us with some pretty incredible opportunities, and we hope you’ll come join us.

yours in learning.

seanna
director, the systems school
upcoming online learning events

systems methods for the systems change framework
an exciting collaboration, with all-star systems thinker dr.fiona mckenzie, director of orange compass https://www.orangecompass.com.au.  in this series we’re getting right down to practice.  each week, we will teach how to apply a systems method for one aspect of the systems change framework http://bit.ly/systemschangeframework.  you will receive facilitation guides to apply the methods, and additional resources to support your learning.

dates: wednesdays 11:00-12:30pm (melbourne time), starting may 6th for 9 weeks
zoom platform, recordings available
sliding scale fees, starting at $350+

• week 1 – introduction to the systems change framework and systemic change
• week 2 – systems practices
• week 3 – purposeful engagement
• week 4 – reflect, learn, adapt
• week 5 – define situation
• week 6 – gain clarity
• week 7 – find leverage
• week 8 – act strategically
• week 9 – ‘ask me anything’ session

register (https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/systems-methods-for-the-systems-change-framework-tickets-102232185218)

power in the system
we’re working with superstar facilitator lina patel (https://au.linkedin.com/in/linaxpatel) to bring you this very special offering.  originally planning for an in-person learning event we’re pivoting online to bring this content to you now as we all wrestle with how to engage in these new ways of working.

in this weekly virtual learning series, we will explore and unpack issues of power within the practice of systems thinking each thursday from 11:00am – 12:30pm melbourne time beginning may 28th

• week 1 – how and why is power so critically important to our work in systems?
• week 2 –  how can we examine power in systems thinking?
• week 3 – how is power showing up in OUR system? How can we adapt and become more power literate?

register (https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/power-in-the-system-tickets-100456594378)

grounded online hosting and engagement – by beehive productions (https://beehive-productions.net/)

**starts easter monday**
discount available – email seanna(mailto:seanna@thesystemsschool.org?subject=i%20want%20to%20register%20for%20the%20beehive%20course) – we have a group of 3 already registering for a 30% discount

our friends at beehive productions are putting on a great learning series on grounded online hosting and engagement:

“As we find ourselves adapting to a new reality, finding alternative ways to socialize, do our work, and stay in contact with loved ones near and far, many of us are going beyond the initial panic and starting to realize the incredible potential of working online.

How we meet and host each other online is more important now than ever, whether the groups we are hosting are large or small. It can be a deeply meaningful experience or it can be very frustrating. This intensive is designed to minimize the frustration and maximize the value of our online engagements.”

see more details here (https://beehive-productions.mykajabi.com/GroundedResponse)

folks here’s what we know:

• the way we are connecting and working together is rapidly changing and we need to develop skills to do this well
• our meta systems are transforming and breaking open to new possibilities but we need to be active participants in rebuilding these
• we have so much to learn from traditional ways of knowing, now is the time to honour, respect and engage with these practices
• our future possibilities are ALL of ours, to dream into being

incredibly talented folks are coming into conversation to create an experiment and we’d like to invite you to participate.  we’re creating a space to engage with everything i’ve noted above, all while recognizing this as an experiment.

we are in it for the learning, not the precision
we are in it for the connection, not the perfected outcomes
we are in it for the momentum building, not the answer
sign me up for the experiment (mailto:seanna@thesystemsschool.org?subject=sign%20me%20up%20for%20the%20experiment)
good practices for hosting online

i recently held a session and share some insight on hosting online, and in preparing for that came across a number of excellent resources others had already put together.  check them out:

• the definitive guide to hosting remote workshops (https://issuu.com/muralapp/docs/the_definitive_guide_to_facilitatin)
• ten tools for digital engagement  (https://static1.squarespace.com/static/531e5bf9e4b030d9a20a6177/t/5e72a8cddbc5156b756ab5da/1584572631941/10+Digital+Engagement+Tools_MODUS+Engagement+Toolkit.pdf)
• keeping social innovation social  (https://www.tacsi.org.au/journal/keeping-social-innovation-social/?)
• collaborating remotely visual cheatsheet (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iLaUVXYkXEHM2FzWyDjddzZnC0emKeNX/view) by nicole howard

here (https://drive.google.com/file/d/16KIKMiLftq54sRGG75BJ1ISFRAJcjMoo/view) are the slides i shared in the session.