systems leadership program
an 10 month collective learning journey to discover, nurture and grow your systems leadership wisdom and experience.
"this course is filled with insight, wisdom and a way to develop a practice that enables you to evolve on a personal level in your own practice wherever that might be. dana and seanna are approachable, super smart, funny and quirky and make learning about systems change interesting and fun. the course isn't about rigid tools or a prescriptive methodology instead it calls on you to notice your way of seeing the world, provides a new frame of seeing the world around you and then deeply integrates new practices into your way of being so that you can take that forward to navigate whatever you may face. in that way it's not a learning experience that ends after the course is complete, but rather something i feel is a pivot point, many layers to be deeply integrated over years perhaps even my lifetime. wisdom that will grow with you wherever you are."
~ 2025 participant
a program delivered in partnership
important details:
- starting february 5th 2026
- 10am AEDT - check your local time zone
- sessions are 2hrs
- *please mind the clock changes across the year
"A personal transformation led experience of leadership, utilising systems thinking as the academic framework, but grounding that in indigenous wisdom and meditation."
~ 2025 participant
fees:
EARLY BIRD UNTIL DEC 31ST
$3250 AUD +gst
regular program fees are $3750 AUD +gst starting january 1st 2026.
are you…
curious, a deep listener, enjoy learning with others?
open to diverse ways of knowing and being, and don't expect to have all the answers?
value stretching and growing, appreciating it's not always comfortable?
are you wanting to be in service of the system while caring and sustaining self through the process?
the systems leadership program is a place of care, growth and companionship for the journey in your systems work. it is a place where we will lean
inwards before outwards
towards our experience and contribution in the system over technical innovative solutions
towards wisdom as an expression of leadership
towards peer learning, support and community building
"a brilliantly and generously designed and co-facilitated longer journey to support those working in systems change to do the internal work and self-reflexive practice in a supported community in order to develop the practice of showing up as leaders in their disparate but connected systems."
~ 2025 participant
the program’s approach models the characteristics of a complex system by:
- follow multiple systems thinking lineages and wisdom traditions
- drawing in creativity and playfulness to encourage random new connections and insights
- acknowledging and working with the wisdom of the collective
- engaging emergent learning to reflect and sensemake on the program’s collective journey
- listening deeply to self, community and system through meditation practices
- exploring multiple ways of learning
- building tools and supports as we go to continue to practice with
"an experience in creating space and time to stop, reflect and learn what it means to live with systems leadership and find you practice and path that supports change to be created"
~ 2025 participant
focus and flow of program:
the program flows through 4 key stages for the live sessions.
- Community Building: sessions 1-3
- Systems Leadership Foundations: sessions 4-5
- Practicing Systems Leadership: sessions 6-21 which cycle between key concepts and application, meditation and peer coaching, reflection and integration
- Celebration and closing: session 21
To further support learning, connection and integration the program includes:
- Paired peer meetups
- Private coaching with seanna and dana
- Self - directed learning: individual reflective writing and journey tracking
hear from past participant zenaida beatson,
designer and director @ for purpose
in this program you will be invited to reimagine and work towards the personal goals you want to achieve as a systems leader
outcomes:
- develop your system knowledge and wisdom on key system practice topics across the themes of: being, doing, relating, knowing, thinking and perceiving
- track the expansion of your systems leadership skills across the programs journey
- experience multiple learning modes
- engage and build capacity for collective sensemaking
- tools to integrate your learning, both from within and beyond the program
- develop and sustain mindfulness skills and practice
- build long-term peer connections to travel the system journey with
- identify the kind of leader you want to be in the system
- listen, learn and develop capacity to sit with insights from multiple lineages and traditions to managing uncertainty, ambiguity, and complexity in the system
- gain understanding of the multiple contexts in which this work occurs via other participants and teachers
- practice responding to the system in real time - via the peer coaching and crowdsourcing responses to systems challenges
- integrate embodiment into your practice
- gain a toolkit of activities and practices which you’ll have experienced through the program
"the systems leadership program connects you to like-minded people and gives you time to understand the systems we live within. it gives you the tools for deep self reflection in order to step out into your role in systems. the mix of mindfulness and practice knowledge make the course easy to step into each session and bring what you've learned into the world."
~2025 participant
supporting resources:
- all sessions are recorded and slides provided in an online learning platform
- all activities introduced in the program are available for continued use through access to our shared mural board.
- participants are encouraged to apply what they are learning in their own contexts. the program does not include a standalone project.
pragmatics:
- program runs February to November
- 2 hr live zoom sessions best suited to australasia
- *please mind the clock changes across the year
- fortnightly schedule for live sessions.
- total of 4 hours of live sessions each month
- optional activities each month up to 4hrs
- individual reflective writing, tracking and course integration
- paired peer conversation between live course sessions
- 1 coaching session with Dana and 1 coaching session with Seanna for each participant over the course of the program are included in course fees
read about your program directors
dana shen
dana has over 20 years’ experience working across the public and not for profit sectors in the areas of health, families and child protection. dana recently completed a two-year mindfulness meditation teacher’s course with Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach and is brings a strong First Nations and Ngarrindjeri lens to mindfulness practice.
feedback from past participants:
"Dana's teaching is extraordinary. I am well practised in meditation, and yet have new ways of approaching it with some of the instruction - making a cup of tea as metta is something that will stay with me, as will the connecting to all beings. Bringing her deep experience in systems has also been wonderful."
"brilliance & mastery - Dana brings a depth of practice and knowing to every session and creates an anchor of stability throughout the reflective and practice journey - I can't see any ways to improve this - thank you for sharing so much of your wisdom."
seanna davidson
seanna has more than 15 years experience as a systems practitioner, process designer, and educator in systems thinking and systemic change. her work draws on several areas of practice including human geography, art of hosting and theoryU, process work, and developmental evaluation and design.
feedback from participants:
"joyful, playful and optimistic in practice and sharing, with an eye for seeing what can be done across the tapestry of space and time - please don't change - thank you for sharing your light it has been invaluable in my journey."
"seanna has been a facilitation queen, I've learned so much from her transparent practice. the way seanna holds space for different perspectives and the feelings in the room are amazing. seanna's backpack of tools and examples and deep thinking about systems helped me feel equipped to try things myself."
what folks have said about our programs
"this ten month program has been a journey of resourcing myself and my internal capacities for leading with wisdom and grace. Drawing on indigenous knowledge and practice, and incorporating different techniques for emotional and nervous system regulation, we were supported to connect more deeply with our environments, ourselves, and with one another as we explored more sustainable and generative ways of showing up to steward the systems we work in. "
~ ruth toomey, director, public sector commission queensland
"i feel new confidence about my role in systems leadership and have strengthened my connections and support network too"
~ euan black, wilto willo lead - network and initiative partnership, TACSI
"dana and seanna work seamlessly together to provide a grounded, safe and authentic learning environment and over time a community of people who looked forward to learning about themselves at a deeper level - anchoring themselves in a mindful presence, opening up to learning, sharing ideas, concepts, framework about systems thinking and the personal and professional struggles and successes in maximising impact for the betterment of society across various complex systems."
~ steph mudie, dhs south australia, senior project officer
"I have found the experience of being a member of the 2025 systems leadership group to be invaluable to further building my practice and knowledge in systems change - an invaluable investment of time in skill building and translation."
~2025 participant
frequently asked questions
do i need to be a senior leader in my organization or community?
nope :) we are totally reframing leadership, and titles are not required. our approach to leadership is about good folks, working in a collective for the health of the whole. sound like you?
should I sign up with colleagues?
yes! this is a great idea to strengthen the capacity for systems leadership in your organization or work. however, it is not required!
do I need extensive experience in systems thinking?
no! this program is not academic, methods or project based, and does not require you to have experience in systems thinking or systems methods. this program has a core focus on you as a practitioner in the system. so open and curious, learning focused minds are welcome. having said that, we will be providing a tool box of practical methods and practices that you can apply if you wish
do I need to attend all sessions live?
we strongly encourage you to participate in all sessions live. however we appreciate that life happens and there will be times when you are needed elsewhere. for that reason recordings are provided. however you will benefit most from the content and the community by participating as much as you can.
do I need to do all the offline work?
we have tried to make this as minimal as possible, while still providing a strong focus on community connection, reflection and learning. it is your choice if you’d like to opt into pair meetings, optional coaching and reflections, but we would offer that it is an important aspect of systems leadership :)
will there be tools to help us apply systems leadership in our own contexts?
absolutely! you'll get a facilitation guide to everything we work with after you've already practiced in session, small group peer coaching for challenges you're working through, a coaching session with each dana and seanna, and paired peer connections for skills and wisdom sharing.
