First Steps into Systems Thinking for Social Change

Have you ever wondered why people seem unable to solve chronic, complex problems or achieve meaningful goals — often despite their best efforts?

“Because social systems are not only surprising but also perverse. They are seductive in that they tend to lead people to do exactly the wrong thing for all the right reasons.” Donella Meadows

Systems thinking helps reveal the big picture and emphasizes that in order to optimize the performance of the entire system, people need to move from trying to optimize a single part of the system to improving the relationships between its constituent parts.

Viliana Dzhartova from ReImagined Futures recently hosted 3 Systems Thinking Primer workshops in which she covered some of the foundations, including what systems thinking is, why and when it is needed, and how to create simple systems maps. This was an introductory workshop the aim of which was to provide a good understanding of the basic concepts and tools and to propose further resources for those interested in diving deeper.

Systems thinking is not a new skill. It has been applied for many years in a multitude of disciplines such as engineering, management, ecology and evaluation to name a few. What is new is its use for social change. Our workshops focused on systems thinking for social change and they could be particularly useful for impact investors, philanthropists, project designers and impact evaluators. Our participants included people with these profiles plus a lot of practitioners and researchers, which made for great conversations and engaging activities. The goal by the end of the workshop was for participants to have a better understanding of the interconnections of the elements within a system which should support them to invest in, design and deliver more impactful social interventions.

The workshop content draws on the work of some of the greatest systems thinkers of our times — Donella Meadows, Peter Senge, David Peter Stroh and Otto Scharmer. The Omidyar Foundation, the Systems Innovation network and Ashoka are also important reference points throughout the workshop.

We would like to run these primer workshops on a quarterly basis and the next set of workshops will take place in April 2021. If you would like to attend, just drop us an email at reimaginedfutures@gmail.com or follow us on Linkedin and we will let you know as soon as the registration opens. We are also in the process of developing deeper dive workshops on the main tools and concepts covered in the primer. Watch this space!