facilitating systems thinking

it was a few years back now when i started to try to put to the page the magic that is happening when we facilitate systems thinking… 

the first evolution was shared in a community of practice for systems thinking i led in my work with the australian prevention partnership centre, where we were wrestling with how to bring this work of systems thinking work into collaborative research partnerships.  that first pass had me focus on the roles we take up when we facilitate the space. 

with the opening of the systems school, and our very first in-person event on innovating systems thinking in practice, i dove a bit deeper exploring how these roles sat within the broader contexts in which we do the work and how the practice needs to meet the context.  the two influencing each other. 

i find that i often use the development of workshops to help bring my thinking to the page, to capture what the intuitive practice is, so that it can become more accessible to share with others. the last few years have been such a growth in my work and there was much to harvest for the next iteration. 

what follows below is what we’re learning and sharing about facilitating systems thinking.  there is no doubt more to unfold, and as always, this work is not created in isolation but is a result of the incredible folks i’m fortunate to work with, teach, learn from and collaborate with.  a special thanks to my friend and thinking partner fiona mckenzie who offered feedback and suggestions on this latest iteration. 

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it’s confusing, but we have a right to be confused. perhaps even a need. the trick is to enjoy it: to savour complexity  and resist the easy answers; to let diversity flower into creativity

~ m.c. bateson ~afterword in, to wander and wonder

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when we facilitate systems thinking,

we are facilitating a micro system, that has its 

own perspectives, relationships, dynamics and boundaries

we are facilitating a process of sensemaking whereby, 

‘people give meaning to their collective experiences’

~ weick, sutcliffe, & obstfeld,. 2005. organizing and the process of 
sensemaking. organizational science 16 (4), p. 409

we’re seeking to bring attention to the systemic lens.  the identification and naming of systems parts, their relationships, and the dynamics and the boundaries we inadvertently draw around them.  the physical, social, structural and processes elements of systems.  the features and behaviours of complex systems, and the way we know they are nested and layered like an iceberg. we’re bringing attention to the system in the ways the academic and first nations practices invite us to look at systems. 

learning is at the core of human existence and assumes that it is fundamentally a social phenomenon

~ etienne wagner-trayner

we’re facilitating the process of social learning, creating new knowledge together that can only be created because each of us are in this room together, in this moment.  new knowledge that has formed as we consider how our different perspectives sit alongside each other to offer a new picture of more of the whole. thus leading us through emergence, in understanding and insight about the first next step. 

there is hardly anything more powerful and profound than a group of human beings making meaning together in a life-giving context.

~ chris corrigan

as all of our systems practice, this is not a one and done exercise, and it’s not training, repeating the same steps every.  our opportunities to facilitate the work is responsive to the contexts and opportunities we both create and are presented with.  part of our ability to answer the call depends on our capacity to read the signals and understand what’s needed, what’s possible, and when.  this calculation of course also must consider our own capabilities in the moment, “what am i well situated to offer to this moment, this activity, this journey for systemic change?”

we can engage the power of a question to stimulate curiosity, activate deep listening and reflection and a process of unfolding. 

we can create structures and processes to enable learning feedback loops.  both to offer course corrections at the highest levels (how do we decide what is right?) and at the activity level (what’s emerging that was unexpected, how might we respond?) providing us opportunity to adapt and align more closely with the system and its dynamics we’re engaged in. 

of course the academic and first nations practices of systems thinking also offer rich tools and methods to surface, learn and engage with systems through a systems lens.  each tool and method offering a unique perspective to the complexity we are trying to see and be in. therefore a practice of layering, analysing and synthesizing follows closely behind.  

all the while requiring us to be mindful of our own biases, mental models and assumptions we might be applying to these learnings.  which asks for gentleness, care and compassion in our facilitation role, to meet folks where they are in their learning journey, and help them move through the sometimes challenging task of seeing ourselves in systems. 

this personal reflexivity reminds us that everything in systems is subjective, but when we are mindful, we interrogate, we iterate on these, we continue to honour the work of systems thinking. 

we can begin to hang these meso practices together and weave them into a longer process of sensemaking.  where systems actors have joined together for collective inquiry, learning, and action, sensemaking a way through together to achieve gains towards the outcomes they hope for in their system. 

finally, to return to the beginning of my own inquiry on this topic, we arrive at navigating the long game of systemic change.  the roles we can take up, exchange, and also step back for others to step in, over time.  to teach these practices in broader spaces, to play coach when the going gets hard (as it inevitably will), to host space for social learning to feel safe enough to unfold, to be a guide through the unknown terrain, to harvest our learnings so we can pass them on for others to build on. 

there is a reason i love this work so dearly.  it’s equal parts head, heart, soul and community.  its creative, experimental and often surprising.  it’s ever changing and dynamic, it demands constant learning and innovation.  it is work we can not go alone on, it’s inherently not just social, but relational.  it requires us to be in good relationships.  to honour, respect, support and uphold.  it offers us a chance to be a part of something bigger than ourselves, to contribute to something better than what is, and in doing so asks us to take up responsibility. 

in his book murriyang: song of time.  Stan Grant recalls the words of the late Wiradjuri Elder and knowledge holder Aunty Flo Grant, “knowledge is not power, it is responsibility.”

so while this offering may not be perfect, it is here on the page to share with you, for you to take up, continue to work with, grow with and offer back to the field so the weaving can continue.