the experience we bring
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clarifying purpose, and naming the ambition
designing learning that holds at scale and moves a field
with experience in both academic and professional conferences settings, workshops of all sizes, retreats, virtual and live events, we hold both a breadth and depth of experience to support this work. outlined below are some examples of our experience as related to the key elements of this work — naming the ambition, designing the learning, orchestrating the delivery, and building artefacts that last.
designing for individual and collective learning
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orchestrating the delivery
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building artefacts that sustain the experience
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clarifying purpose, and naming the ambition
fifteen years helping teams and collaborations find their role and contribution in their system, across health, housing, climate, water and equity.
a systemic analysis and strategy for climate risk management
with a state government team, used systems methods to interrogate the governing environment for climate risk to asset management, clarifying the role for the team, required collaborations, and future strategic efforts to improve system outcomes.
a systems approach to the development of an equity framework
with a state government team, developed a cross-departmental equity framework for the state. this involved designing the research process, reviewing disparate data types, engaging stakeholders, and synthesising insights into an accessible framework.
a place-based cross-sector collaboration for mental wellbeing
with a local partnership organisation, designed and delivered an inquiry in a Victorian community to identify pathways to improve mental wellbeing for residents and the role community organisations can play as a collective.
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designing for individual and collective learning
four multi-year roles designing adult learning programs, across universities and professional settings, in both Canada and Australia, where knowledge and experience are built together so learning integrates into practice.
a day long retreat to close an academic conference
designed, delivered and documented a reflective retreat for 60 academics and practitioners in the systemic design field, focused on illuminating the field of practice, exploring creative tensions, and creating sustainable connections.
a 6 day sector based social innovation lab
created in partnership with Waterlution, designed and delivered the complete cross sector learning experience including community building, site visits, and an innovation curriculum and project challenge to work towards a resilient water future. participants included 50 young leaders and mentors from Australia, Canada and 12 other countries.
a year long professional leadership program
created in partnership with a co-director, designed, delivered and have adapted and expanded the Systems Leadership Program. now in its third year, it is a 10 month, fortnightly virtual program that has engaged over 60 systems change practitioners from across sectors in Australia, New Zealand and America, designed to support leaders move through complexity and improve system outcomes.
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orchestrating the delivery
18 years building a facilitation practice, from water governance to social innovation and systems change. in the last 7 years alone, facilitated for over 100 clients, and over 20 events with 50 participants or more. more recently, the work builds this capacity in others.
strategy development for a newly integrated health department
2 day workshop to identify and align priority areas for the newly formed department. all 120 staff participated. activities moved through a sequence to find what's meaningful in their work, illuminate the black box of how their program area works, name the different forms of evidence that support population health, create a heatmap of program focus areas, identify needs in the field, and explore the unique positioning of the new branch. from these insights, the group developed a shared vision and values, a set of goals, a defined role, and a new set of branch priorities.
innovating systems thinking conference
initiated and designed a 2 day systems thinking conference, sponsored by a university, that brought together 50 academics and practitioners to interrogate advancements in practice and find opportunities for field alignment. a peer steering group was established to shape the direction of the design. as lead facilitator across the two days, each session was shaped and supported with its presenter.
local pain educators program
a training retreat delivered to 4 cohorts completing a year long pain science and education program, designed to prepare them to create and deliver a pain education outreach program for peers in the medical profession in their own communities.
systems thinking community of practice
a virtual community of practice run over 6 years for a network of systems thinking practitioners. sessions focused on building capacity to apply systems thinking tools and methods, exploring and addressing tensions in the field of practice, and generating professional connections among members of the community.
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building artefacts that sustain the experience
the elements that sit around a gathering carry as much of the learning as the sessions do. designing these alongside the program is how a gathering keeps working after everyone has gone home.
facilitation guides for systems tools
produced over 30 facilitation guides for systems thinking tools and methods to support applied practice for professionals in the field. each guide offers a step by step process and a set of reflective questions so that anyone can work with these tools and achieve meaningful insight.
rich picture visualisations for collective interrogation
created with a visual artist across two systemic change projects, bringing together diverse datasets, often drawing on analogies and storylines, into a large scale visualisation. these were used in large group workshops to explore, interrogate, and layer in insight — opening new routes for knowledge integration and supporting diverse learning styles.
a reflective practice adapted for systemic change
reflective practice runs through every project, supported by two frameworks: what, so what, now what, reworked for systemic practice, and triple loop learning. taking stock of what has shifted between the start and finish of a project surfaces what needs to adapt, and strengthens what comes next.