Day 4.2: Scaling in Principle

Anna Fjeldsted begins tackling challenges in a brilliant way, “well I don’t know how we could do that, but I’d really like to take the risk.” This was the premise with which Jennie Winhall opened our fascinating discussion, as she introduced her colleague Anna and began diving into the complexities of how to scale solutions, while ensuring those solutions stay true to their core purpose. Read More

12/11/2020

Day 4.1: Investing in Systems Innovation

Chrisann Jarrett, Alex Sutton and Guilio Quaggiotto provided us with a thought-provoking snapshot of the funding side of the equation to Systems Innovation. As far-sighted funders themselves, both Guilio and Alex showed us why it’s essential we invest in continuous learning, experimentation and collaboration, rather than single-point solutions.Read More

11/11/2020

Day 3: Culture and systems change

As Immy Kadeep wonderfully put it, there is a “beautiful dance” that must be learned as we interact both with the current system and operate outside of it, while also acknowledging wisdoms, histories, truths, marginalised communities and future generations. Immy, and I think all of us, can see this dance being performed with finesse by both Al Etmanski and Diane Roussin, who successfully navigate through systems while also working to radically change the values, principles and mindsets that those systems were built on. Read More

10/11/2020

Day 2: An Insider’s Guide to Shifting a System

Caring is self-realisation brought about through the growth of others. That is how Milton Mayeroff defines care in his classic account On Caring. Mayeroff’s definition of care came back to me after spending more than an hour in conversation yesterday with Sophie Humphreys and Alex Fox. Our discussion highlighted a distinction central to our work at the Rockwool Foundation on systems innovation: scaling an innovation is not the same as shifting a system.Read More

09/11/2020

Day 1: Why now, why you?

Donnella Meadows, the doyenne of systems thinking, famously said that shifting purpose is the most powerful lever to transform a system. Yesterday, in the opening session of our Systems Innovation Festival, Jennie Winhall guided us through an explanation of the four keys to unlock system change: power, purpose, relationships and resources. We then asked the hundreds of participants for their view, and the majority said that the most important way into systems innovation was through relationships. These were the full results…Read More