Telling Stories of Systems Change

The most ambitious civic collaboratives strive to achieve a much deeper level of change than what results from a single program or even a group of programs. “Systems change” is often the term used to describe such deep change. And while there are a multitude of definitions available for the term, most describe it as addressing causes, rather than symptoms, by taking a holistic view of the inter-related conditions and interactions that hold the status quo in place.

Unfortunately, the term “systems change” reeks of jargon. An individual in need of stable housing probably doesn’t want to hear about “systems change.” What they want is an affordable, accessible, quality place to live. Or, in the case of a healthy food initiative that is part of a systemic change effort, what was wanted was more mushrooms on toast.

Any narrative about systems change needs address this key question: What needs to change to get the deep, enduring change we want?

The sheer complexity of our communities makes it difficult to answer such a question. For example, there are a multitude of factors that influence health outcomes in a community, ranging from the accessibility of health care services to the quality of the air and the water.

Answering the question “what needs to change” begins with an acknowledgement that there many inter-related conditions – not just one thing or a few things -- that hold the status quo in place. And if we want to disrupt the status quo and generate more desirable, equitable outcomes we need to alter those conditions. And to alter those conditions, we need a framework to understand them and be able to tell stories about what it takes to alter them.

A helpful framework is in the essay, the Water of Systems Change by John Kania, Mark Kramer and Peter Senge. The authors identified six high-level conditions that hold the status quo in place:

·         Mental Models: Habits of thought—deeply held beliefs, assumptions and taken-for-granted ways of operating that influence how we think, what we do, and how we communicate.

·         Power Dynamics: The distribution of decision-making power, authority, and both formal and informal influence among the players.

·         Relationships & Connections: Quality of the connections and communication occurring among players in the system, especially among those with different roles, priorities, motivations, constraints and experiences.

·         Resource Flows: How money, people, knowledge, information, and other assets such as infrastructure are allocated and distributed.

·         Practices: Activities of organizations, institutions and programs working to improve outcomes. Includes the procedures, guidelines, or informal shared habits that comprise the work of each entity.

·         Policies: Government, institutional and organizational rules, regulations, and priorities that guide an entity’s own and others’ actions.

This framework is helpful for both understanding what needs to change to achieve “systems change” and for telling stories about what a deeper level of change looks like and what it takes to achieve it. Recently, the Healthy Community Partnership of the Mahoning Valley used this framework to tell a story of how one initiative catalyzed by the partnership has begun to transform the system of “corner stores” – that primarily sell liquor, lottery tickets and junk food -- into a system of “community stores” that embrace their role in supporting a healthier neighborhood.

The Partnership is telling that story, and will tell more stories using the framework, to inform and inspire its members, supporters and others to alter the six conditions, disrupt the status quo and accelerate enduring, positive community change. The story shows that the sale of more healthy food doesn’t result in systems change, but the way the Partnership’s members went about encouraging the sale of more healthy food altered the mental models, relationships and power dynamics in the community in ways that are indeed leading to enduring, positive community change. So make yourself a healthy snack, pull up a chair and read about mushrooms on toast.