School of System Change update December 2022: into a new phase
Since the end of 2021, the School of System Change has been thinking strategically about our next phase. We have worked collaboratively with many of our stakeholders on new strategic positioning and articulation of our purpose and approach to transformation. We have a beautiful new website and our own social media channels! Things are also changing in the team. It’s time for a bit of an update.
The School has a clearer positioning and set of offerings
Mission
The School of System Change exists to nurture the work of leaders and changemakers who are embracing complexity and bringing about a just and regenerative world.
Who we work with
We engage with people working within their contexts — as professionals in organisations, networks, sectors and movements.
We believe that ongoing work to shift paradigms needs sustained cultures and structures of collective learning in context. This means
- We work with people looking to bring about systems change in whole fields, sectors or places — to irrigate them with systems change capacity. We believe this needs a particular kind of partnership. We commit to collaborations where we can go deep into learning together, co-designing bespoke work programmes and evaluating their impact. Co-facilitating allows us to adapt the most relevant practice from the wider field of systems change for the culture and learning styles of each specific context. We do not have a predetermined thematic approach. Instead we are looking for a few ambitious leaders across sectors, systems and networks to create bold new partnerships for systems change.
- We support organisations through learning and practice partnerships, and tailored courses. For 2023 — we are also exploring how we can support teams with their ways of organising for systems change.
- We offer open enrollment courses for people to experience the School’s offerings, and find those who would like to go deeper into systems change. We have three recurrent courses: Basecamp (6-months), Delta (5-weeks), Spark (6-weeks).
What makes us unique: our multi-method approach
At the School of System Change we support changemakers to navigate the field and practice of systems change, and learn to apply the tools that are most relevant to their work. Drawing on complementary theories and methods helps develop people’s confidence to influence change in different, fast-changing contexts. We are also curating the resources and learning commons across the field working with with diverse contributors and facilitators.
Purpose
Our deeper purpose is to nurture a systemic, living paradigm where learning is change.
The School has an updated identity and more visibility
There is more differentiation from an external and marketing perspective: the School has an updated visual brand to reflect its revised positioning and purpose, a separate website with improved functionality for finding courses, and separate social media channels.
Our updated brand: find out more here
Our new website: here
Our social media channels
What about people?
The School enabling team in 2023 consists of seven people, alongside our group of facilitators:
Facilitators
Sean Andrew, Corina Angheliou, Louise Armstrong, Rodrigo Bautista, Jen Berman, Marion Birnstill, Jessica Conrad, Abdul Dube, Sumi Dhanarajan, Lisa Gibson, Ruslan Kildeev, Zoya Lukyanova, Rachel Phillips, Georgia Rubenstein, Laura Winn, Payam Yuce Isik
Enabling team
Anna Birney, Director / Sarena Chan, Partnerships and Programs lead / Saskia Rysenbry, Learning Curator / Jasmine Castledine, Operations and Producer / Raphaël Lachiver, Producer / Mairi Lowe, Communications / Clara Hesseler, Team Assistant
Leadership changes
Anna Birney is now dedicated 100% to the School.
Laura Winn is leaving the leadership team, and will no longer be Head of the School from the end of 2022, however she will still be involved in a number of projects next year. This decision comes after a year long co-inquiry between Anna and Laura into the viability of a co-leadership approach for the School, which was rich and challenging, and concluded with a recognition that something different is needed right now to lead the School into this next phase. More systemic forms of leadership and organising remain an intention and an active inquiry going forwards. Laura will be spending four months living and working in New Zealand from January to April 2023, and will continue to work from France with a focus on regenerative practice in Europe from the Spring onwards.
Anna will continue to lead the School, supporting more distributed leadership as the network develops. A working group is looking at the network and partnership model for the School, including the value flows, organising model and governance so that we align to our strategy of supporting irrigation and a living systemic paradigm. This links to a wider inquiry about patterns of organising for systems change.
Organisation
The School is becoming “more independent” from Forum for the Future, the organisation that has founded and hosted the School from the outset.
In late 2021, Forum for the Future’s board approved a new strategic direction for the organisation focusing on several thematic areas for change, and recognising that the School’s theory of change was different, but complementary to Forum’s. The decision was made to therefore create more independence between the two sister brands.
However, the School of System Change still sits fully within Forum for the Future’s legal entity, and won’t be spinning out in 2023.
Of the 20+ people working for and within the School of System Change on a regular basis, many don’t sit within Forum for the Future. The increased independence of the School from Forum will continue this trend.
We will continue to partner with Forum for the Future, as our founding partner with three key thematic focus areas, alongside other partners we work with to bring systems change learning to ecosystems of changemakers.
Appreciation and invitation
This moment of moving into a new phase is also an opportunity for us to thank all our partners, contributors and team members for all your engagement and support over the last few years. We sense that the world needs system change more than ever, and rejoice at the patterning of a new living paradigm where learning is change. We would like to invite conversations about how we might continue to collaborate in different shapes and forms in this new phase.
