System Change

Systemic change is generally understood to require adjustments or transformations in the policies, practices, power dynamics, social norms or mindsets that underlie the societal issue at stake. It often involves the collaboration of a diverse set of players and can take place on a local, national or global level.

Adam Zeiner and

PLACES TO INTERVENE IN A SYSTEM

(in increasing order of effectiveness)

Constants, parameters, numbers (subsidies, taxes, standards).

Regulating negative feedback loops.

Driving positive feedback loops.

Material flows and nodes of material intersection.

Information flows.

The rules of the system (incentives, punishments, constraints).

The distribution of

donellameadows.org • Leverage Points: Places to Intervene in a System

Keely Adler

PLACES TO INTERVENE IN A SYSTEM

(in increasing order of effectiveness)

Constants, parameters, numbers (such as subsidies, taxes, standards).

The sizes of buffers and other stabilizing stocks, relative to their flows.

The structure of material stocks and flows (such as transport networks, population age structures).

The lengths of delays, relative to the

donellameadows.org • Leverage Points: Places to Intervene in a System

Keely Adler

Theories of Change and Logic Models: Telling Them Apart

Understanding the distinction between Theories of Change and Logic Models, their components, and when to use each in program design and evaluation. Balancing complexity and simplicity for optimal effectiveness.

theoryofchange.org

Sam Liebeskind

Co-Impact

co-impact.org

Adam Zeiner

Places to intervene in a system

Gordon Brander newsletter.squishy.computer

Sam Liebeskind

When we seek to intervene in any system created by someone, it’s not enough to view their decisions and choices simply as the consequences of first-order thinking because we can inadvertently create serious problems. Before changing anything, we should wonder whether they were using second-order thinking. Their reasons for making certain choices... See more

fs.blog • Chesterton’s Fence: A Lesson in Second Order Thinking - Farnam Street

Sam Liebeskind

If you didn’t want to look closely at your own organizational practices, if you felt uncomfortable about what younger works were agitating for, if you feared changed or anything that usurped your understanding of “how business is done” — Quiet Quitting was the easy answer.

Anne Helen Petersen • Bed Rotting and Loud Quitting

Keely Adler

I have heard John McKnight say that advisory groups speak quietly to power, protestors scream at power, and neither chooses to reclaim or produce power. The real problem with rebellion is that it is such fun. It avoids taking responsibility, operates on the high ground, is fueled by righteousness, gives legitimacy to blame, and is a delightful

Sam Liebeskind

Counterintuitive. That’s Forrester’s word to describe complex systems. Leverage points are not intuitive. Or if they are, we intuitively use them backward, systematically worsening whatever problems we are trying to solve

donellameadows.org • Leverage Points: Places to Intervene in a System

Keely Adler