At the Pointy End…
Roughly a year ago we started working on a project which involved implementing systems change in practice as part of a national programme focused on disrupting exploitation.
It’s now our (roughly) one year ‘dark matter-versary’ and recently I’ve been trying to work out what I’ve learned from trying to put some of this stuff into practise… (practice..?). Never mind.
(I should also point out that, despite mentioning ‘doing systems change’ a lot I would still say that ‘what systems change’ is is a question I’m still very much trying to get my head around).
‘You are on a journey’ becomes less annoying the more you realise it is an excellent description of how it feels doing systems change.
I feel like I went through the five stages of grief with this phrase as I started to appreciate what it meant.
Starting to ‘change systems’ made me initially feel like there would be an eventual end destination- like a set piece of work with a young person that would have a structure.
Ultimately, I think I’ve learned that becoming comfortable with hearing ‘you are on a journey’ is perhaps becoming more comfortable with realising that there might not be an ultimate destination.
Rather, being on a journey is realising that systems change is about continual development and change, and not just about being systematic to a point.
Lesson learnt? Even if you’ve convinced itself that you’re not doing this… don’t try to change it all at once.
If it looks like systems change, it’s probably systems change?
I’m still unsure about this as being a ‘lesson learnt’- but for the first few months I feel like I tried to make everything look like systems change rather than be ‘systemic’.
Maybe because I was trying so hard to define what systems change was for myself, I didn’t stop to think whether what I was doing was systematic.
There is also the dread of being able to talk to people about how we can do things differently when we don’t yet know what different looks like.
Lesson learnt? Taking more time to figure out what systems change might be for me as an individual, rather than how it would appear to others would have helped to have quicken the pace of feeling comfortable ‘doing’ systems change.
‘What are you going to do with that then?’
As can happen, especially when it’s all new and unfamiliar, you can tend to play it safe and try to play to the home crowd.
Despite being told to venture forth into the system, I think early on I tended to want to stay somewhere safe and talk about systems change with the people whom I already knew were likely on the same page as me.
The first time I ventured into enemy territory it was a massacre…
Surrounded and completely alone I was mercilessly put down by a group of staff whom I tried to do a journey map with to help them understand a young person’s perspective of how it might feel for them when they go missing from home.
The final blow came at the end of the session when a worker looked at my journey map with contempt and asked, “So what are you going to do with that then?”
I meekly answered, “I’m not sure”, and immediately fled back to systems change tower to safety.
What I wish I had said was, “I’m not sure… yet”.
Getting out there and engaging with the people who perhaps don’t see the value in systems change yet should have been my first appointment- it really helped me to think about what ‘doing’ meant for me.
Lesson learnt? Get out of the bubble as quick as possible- and don’t worry about looking silly.
Being told you’re in ‘the fog’ is actually quite helpful?
Much like being told ‘you are on a journey’ was enough at the start of this whole thing to give me whiplash from the strain of eye-rolling so hard… being told ‘you are in the fog’ was something I initially heard and thought, “well… I don’t feel any better about it now that I know this”.
Being told you’re perhaps not sure where are you are, but that you should keep going is massively helpful for two reasons:
- It can help you realise that even though it feels like you’re not getting anywhere, you actually just might be.
- It’s helpful to be reminded you are not the first and not won’t be the last to feel like this.
Lesson learnt? Pass on the fog like a baton! And try not to worry too much about things not going according to plan?
Anything else?
I should probably stop here, as ultimately, what I’ve learned in a year is how much I have to learn.
If I went back in time, or had to give advice to someone at the start of their journey (without resorting to puns and memes)?
- Stay curious (to borrow a phrase from our brilliant national lead).
- Share, share, share- even if you think it might be rubbish (easy to say but hard to do- still).
- Have someone to complain to and share all your frustrations with.
- Define what Systems Change means for you- but also leave room for someone else to inform you what it could actually mean.
- Trust in the process- when things get hard, or people frustrate you, or you fall into the foggiest of fogs- remember that there is small but consistent and methodical journey that you have started which you can rely on to take you somewhere.
Here’s looking forward to many more dark matter-versaries to come!
If you wanted to know more about the Systems Change programme I took part in you can view the learning summary here: http://childrenssociety.link/pdf/SystemsChangersLearningSummary2020.pdf
There is also the main report, “Igniting Change From Within” here: http://www.childrenssociety.link/pdf/SystemsChangersReport.pdf
Thank you!
