Launching a new program for system entrepreneurs who are ‘halfway through’

We are excited to announce the launch of our new peer-to-peer learning program, The Systems Sanctuary, for systems entrepreneurs who are head down, sleeves rolled up and have been working on their systems change project for at least two years.

We’ve chosen this group because we see a gaping hole in support for people who are really in the thick of it.

Consultants can help you get started, but it’s from two year mark on wards that it begins to get really tough. Stakeholders are watching you, you have to make tough decisions about money, strategy and collaboration, and often try to tell a compelling story at the same time.

Systems change projects are slow burners and can look messy and unfinished to the outside world, but that doesn’t mean they’re not building the foundations of something that could change everything. We’re placing our bets on the people who are ‘half-way through’. (*and hoping they will remain committed if we tell them it will all be over in 4 years!).

Peer-to-peer learning

Front and center of our program is a belief in the experience of the people we are bringing together. We’re focusing on peer-to-peer learning because we found spending an hour with someone who actually understands what you’re talking about is absolutely invaluable. Peers have ideas you can borrow, models and frameworks that are relevant to your challenges and most importantly can bring a sense of camaraderie and humor to your world when you really need it. Systems change can be heavy and serious, but it can also be joyful and inspiring.

Who’s behind it?

We have partnered with seasoned systems entrepreneur Tatiana Fraser of MetaLab, to create the program we wished we’d had when we were leading our systemic change projects in the UK and Canada.

We bring our collective experience of leading a systems change work in the UK and Canada to The Systems Sanctuary. Prior to launching The Systems Studio I co-founded and co-led The Finance Innovation Lab for 8 years, an award winning project designed to empower positive disruptors in the financial system. Tatiana has 20 years of experience creating strategic learning communities, building movements and working across difference including Indigenous, racialized and economically marginalized communities. Co-founder of Girls Action Foundation and co-author of Girl Positive (Random House 2016), she has worked to re-frame the narrative around gender equality and to advance the leadership and empowerment of girls and young women.

But this program isn’t about us. We will be using our diverse network to bring together a really interesting mix of people from across the globe, setting up the conditions for great conversation and then getting out of the way, so they can talk about what’s really meaningful to them.

Who should join?

We are seeking a diverse group who are working on different systems and challenges from public services, to poverty, to climate change, members of professions and beyond.

We especially welcome applications from those who have been disadvantaged by our current systems and are open to applications from all over the world. We will work out time zones as to fit our cohorts.

We know this group don’t always have huge resources and are pushed for time, so the program will be short, punchy and affordable and will run from February to July 2018. You can find full details and register online here.

The future

Our ambition is that the Sanctuary becomes a platform from which we can launch multiple communities of practice for different groups within the field of systems change.

If you know a group of systems changers who need a peer-led community of practice, get in touch.

Rachel@thesystemstudio.com

www.systemsanctuary.com

The Systems Entrepreneur: What’s in a name?

This blog originally appeared on the Kumu Medium channel. 

‘Systems leader’, ‘systemsprenuer’, or ‘systems entrepreneur’. Pick your favorite. Regardless of which one you go for, the concept is emerging with SSIR, HBR and MIT all using it, along with a cluster of philanthropic foundations and consultancies.

But what defines a systems entrepreneur?

Their intention is systemic change

Systems theory tells us that we don’t actually ‘change systems’, instead we cultivate the conditions that encourage a system to change itself.Nevertheless, the defining characteristic of a systems entrepreneur is their understanding that things don’t change if we work only on the symptoms of major problems. We have to understand the underlying forces that keep things as they are.

So, rather than take ‘ugly’ fruit that might otherwise be thrown away and turn it into healthy snacks, a systems entrepreneur would ask ‘why is fruit being wasted in the first place?’

They might convene the food industry giants, the policy changers, the social entrepreneurs and ask them to share their experience of the problem. Map the current dynamics together to help the system see itself better. They might use this intelligence to come up with a plan. Find resources to build connections across the system, create documentaries that highlight the current problems of the food system, build accelerators for the most promising alternatives, they could lobby for policy change that will make it easier for these alternatives to emerge. Systems entrepreneurs hold their plans lightly. They take their steer from the community itself, rather than from desk research. They iterate, learn, and change direction as the movement advances and they understand that all of this work takes time.

“Knowing that there are no easy answers to truly complex problems, system leaders cultivate the conditions wherein collective wisdom emerges over time through a ripening process that gradually brings about new ways of thinking, acting, and being.” — Peter Senge.

Their key skill is facilitation

Systems entrepreneurs are often natural ecosystem builders. It’s almost a personality type. They connect unlikely allies, build networks, they help people find others who want to change the same thing. Kevin Jones called these people “Community Quarterbacks”, Geneva Global describes them as “a person or organization that facilitates a change to an entire ecosystem, by addressing and incorporating all the components and actors required to move the needle on a particular social issue.”

Either way, they build momentum by creating and capturing the energy of key people within a system and get them organized in new constellations to intervene.

They are also often natural diplomats. They can wear many hats, talk to senior and junior, activist and executive. They find language that brings people along together, rather than alienates.

As a result, getting good at facilitation is the key skill of a systems entrepreneur. Facilitation is important because it marks the shift in a mindset from us thinking we can ‘make change happen’ towards one where we create the supportive conditions where the people lead change themselves. As Lucho Osorio-Cortes a markets systems specialist at the BEAM Exchange says “Facilitation, is the creation of appropriate conditions for the market actors to change their system, in ways that make sense to them, at their own rhythms and maximizing their own resources.”

They get off their bum and make stuff happen

They initiate. They create projects and programs and coalitions and incubators that didn’t exist before. They are entrepreneurial in nature, even if money isn’t the value they create.

They also take personal risk, sometimes financial risk too. As disruptors of the status quo, their role is often questioned (‘who are you to convene?’). They have to lead strategy that goes against the wishes of powerful actors, without complete knowledge of where they will end up.

So what?

Systemic problems require systemic approaches, but instead we still rely on traditional approaches to social and environmental change, funding ideas that work on symptoms not causes.

There is a growing movement of systems entrepreneurs who have been experimenting with systems change theory and are learning what works and what doesn’t in practice, but their work is often invisible and undervalued. One step away from the impact, it can be hard to fund and as a result the field doesn’t have the coherence nor the visibility to have the impact society needs.

To help them succeed, two things badly need to happen:

1. We need to bring together the systems entrepreneurs. To connect, learn and find peer support.
2. We need to get better at funding them. This is starting to happen. Indy Johar is working on sparking a movement around ‘systems venturing’. Bobby Fishkin and colleagues in San Francisco are convening a growing group around impact investing for systems change and several groups of philanthropic funders have met to start to work this out including a retreat hosted by SiX last year in Canada.

We plan to get organized around solving these problems in 2018. If you are interested in helping to make this happen, please do get in touch rachel@thesystemstudio.com.

The Challenge of Systems Leadership

This post first appeared on the Kumu Medium site

“At no time in history have we needed… system leaders more.”

— Peter Senge et al in their seminal 2015 SSIR article The Dawn of Systems Leadership

But, being a systems leader is hard work. It’s slow, painstaking, with many dead ends, limited fans and just when you think ‘why am I doing this again?’, a smattering of inspiring, life affirming moments that keep you committed to the cause.

If we need a pipeline of systems leaders to get working on our multiple interconnected challenges, we need to support them to do their work better and to stick at it when it gets tough. This starts with an understanding of the unique challenges they face. Here’s a few:

Being a systems leader makes you question your assumptions about everything

And that’s exhausting. Mapping systems and hearing multiple perspectives, you start to see how society, structured by our ancestors, continues to be reinforced by the institutions we are surrounded by. You hear the voices of the people who have lost out under those arrangements and see your place in the order of things, which is often uncomfortable.

I realized a year or so in that I’d been handed what I call ‘the colored glasses of culture’ at birth. A set of beliefs, behaviors and values for ‘the way we do things around here’. The more I delved into a systems approach, the more these assumptions were exposed and the more I questioned my own views. As a British person, for example, am I really supposed to be proud of Churchill and the British Empire? Is it ok that we partied so hard at University, while others can’t afford to attend school? At what age did I realize that being white was a ‘race’ too, not just a default? What does that mean for people of color?

The unraveling of things I was taught to take for granted has led to wave after wave of new awareness. It starts with a niggling cognitive dissonance that gets louder over time and prompts me to try and change my own behavior.

It’s much easier to get angry, much harder to listen, to understand and to try and change yourself. But systems leaders, if they are doing their work well, set out on a lifelong journey of self-discovery. As Senge et al say:

“Real change starts with recognizing that we are part of the systems we seek to change. The fear and distrust we seek to remedy also exist within us — as do the anger, sorrow, doubt, and frustration. Our actions will not become more effective until we shift the nature of the awareness and thinking behind the actions.”

Are you an expert or are you ignorant?

Vanessa Kirsch, Jim Bildner and Jeff Walker in HBR said of system entrepreneurs “They must have a deep understanding of the system or systems they are trying to change and all the factors that shape it.”

While Peter Senge et al said: “one of their greatest contributions can come from the strength of their ignorance, which gives them permission to ask obvious questions and to embody an openness and commitment to their own ongoing learning and growth that eventually infuse larger change efforts.”

While these insights might appear contradictory, I think they actually just highlight another dissonance systems leaders face.

As co-leaders of The Finance Innovation Lab, we had limited background in finance and as a result, our credibility to convene was called into question often. But as I noticed in 2011, my lack of knowledge was actually a strength. There were so many ‘positions’ we could’ve stood for within our community: ecological vs environmental economists, investment bankers vs alternative currency peeps, fintech vs impact investing. Everyone had deep knowledge of their territory. If we’d been advocates for one of these positions over the others it certainly would have cut the diversity of our project at the beginning.

You see, a systems leader is often a convener of difference. You have to know enough about the different positions within that system you’re working on to understand the dynamics at play, and then you need to be willing to suspend your assumptions when you host a gathering. If you show up with a strong agenda, siding with one group over another, your guests will spot it a mile off and it will significantly derail your work.

Unless of course you’re convening a ‘scene’ within the movement. And this is why your role is complex.

By a ‘scene’ I mean a set of actors who want to do the same thing — like a sharing economy group, a gender lens investing group, or a fintech for good group. In this case you are building a sense of camaraderie based on similarity. Here it helps to be a champion of the cause, to illuminate shared interest and support the group to imagine just how powerful they could be if they acted together.

A beginners mindset or a lack of understanding of the players, the issues, and the challenges is a stumbling block here. You have to know your stuff to have credibility and to have the power to convene a ‘scene’.

Perhaps being a systems leader is someone with a birds-eye view who doesknow what they don’t know. Not an expert, but a convener of them.

Are you an activist or a diplomat?

You have to care enough to act, but as a systems leader, while you have a personal view about what needs to change in the system, you must have the ability to authentically put those views aside when it comes to bringing people together. Geneva Global described that “Acting as a neutral facilitator…a networker, and a diplomat” are crucial capacities of a systems leader. Senge et al say:

“All change requires passionate advocates. But advocates often become stuck in their own views and become ineffective in engaging others with different views. This is why effective system leaders continually cultivate their ability to listen and their willingness to inquire into views with which they do not agree.”

This involves an ability to ‘suck it up’ rather than to ‘blow up’ when people attack you. That is why systems change process often leans on Buddhist and peace keeping techniques (and takes lots of practice). It comes from focusing on a vision for how things ‘could be’ rather than focusing on the symptoms that currently enrage warring sides. It can be really difficult and it takes restraint.

Collaboration is key, but bad collaboration hurts

Collaboration in systems change programs comes in two forms:

1. As a systems leader you are almost certainly collaborating with people directly. This might be with key co-founders, funders, peers, networks, consultants. They will help you to convene diversity and support the ecosystem that emerges in ways you could never do on your own.
2. You will be asking others to collaborate in new ways. As the host of a diverse ecosystem made up of relevant industry actors, innovators, policy makers, you will be asking them to do the same.

Learning how to collaborate yourself, teaches you a huge amount about how to create the conditions for others to do the same. It also keeps you humble because it reminds you just how hard it is to do well. This challenge is something Adam Kahane talks about in his book Collaborating with the Enemy, so I know I’m not alone on this:

“I have also wrestled with this challenge. At home, at work, in the community, I have at various times found myself needing to get things done with people I don’t agree with or like or trust. In these situations, I have felt not only frustrated, upset, and angry, but also baffled and embarrassed: how could I, a person whose work is to help people collaborate with their enemies, find it so difficult to do so myself? ….The most important lesson — obvious to some, surprising to others — is that collaborating with the enemy, although not fun or easy, is possible.”

You need to learn lots of new skills

Facilitation in the broadest sense is key to systems leadership. Your role involves facilitating an ecosystem of solutions to your systemic challenge: bridging, translating, connecting, building. But systems are different and what’s required in one project will not necessarily translate to another.

Daniela Papi-Thornton in her TEDx talk, highlights the range of skills systems entrepreneurs need to be successful:

“Real system change entrepreneurs are agnostic about the tools they use to create change. Yeah they might start a social business if that’s what’s needed, but if that doesn’t work… they’ll do something else. They will work with governments to get new policy, write a book, work with corporates’, work with non profits, be activists, they might even hug a tree from time to time.”

So being a systems leader means you need to have to be open to being a beginner again. To be continuously learning rather than enjoying your ‘expertness’.

In the Finance Innovation Lab we learnt coaching skills, design thinking, how to facilitate, business writing, network building, policy advocacy and tools for campaigning (among others). Some of this was funded by my organization at the time (ICAEW), but some of it we paid for ourselves and did in our free time.

Where next?

Systems leaders have a complex job to do and they therefore need thoughtful support. The School of Systems change are doing a great job at this. Tatiana Fraser and I are plotting a new program of support for systems leaders.

But we need more.

More incubators, more accelerators, more coaches, more mentors and more community.