Toolkit one: transformations and transformers

In this TED talk, Johan Rockström explains the concept of planetary boundaries, how humanity has already blown past several of them, the dire repercussions, and what we might do about it.

You can go deeper into the topic of planetary boundaries by taking this course, available for free on SDG Academy. And don’t skip checking out the many other courses available on this website.

In this Netflix documentary, Johan Rockström teams up with David Attenboroug to discuss the science of planetary boundaries and its effects on our struggling planet.

Explore your country’s planetary boundaries compared to others, using the country comparison tool from the University of Leeds. See if you can find countries that remain within planetary boundaries while providing a good life for all – and investigate what they do that might point to reasons for this.

In this segment from a Stockholm Resilience Centre open MOOC, Per Olsson discusses what large scale transformations might mean and how transformation is profoundly different from adaptation.

This characteristic of the big issues we face is one of the reasons why systems transformations are so important. Learn what a wicked problem is in this short article.

This is just one example of how people are collectively raising their voices and putting their efforts into creating transformations now. Such declarations and movements exist all around the globe an in many different forms.

This classic book by Paul Hawken maps the rise of declarations and movements all around the globe and in many different forms. He theorises that the vast number of them, from the very tiniest and most locally-rooted, when linked together, amount to a new era of changemaking.

The renowned African scholar and philosopher, Achille Mbembe, reflects on the effects of colonialism and global capitalism on the continent, and what Africa’s future could be.

This paper presents four possible futures for Latin America, based on a structured scenario-building process. Both the scenarios, themselves, and the process are interesting and relevant to changemakers.

Here’s an example of similar scenario planning in the Asia Pacific region.

In this segment from a Stockholm Resilience Centre open MOOC, Johan Rockström explains the great acceleration, how it has resulted in a new planetary epoch – the Anthropocene – and the resulting need to redefine sustainable development.

Mercy Corps staff around the world talk about their approach to resilience and how thinking differently has transformed how they work.

In just over two minutes, Peter Senge introduces the concept of systems thinking and the basics of systems thinking leadership.

The African Biodiversity Network explores the problem of fractured communities and the need for connected and collective action in the face of complex problems. They describe their community- and Indigenous-rooted approach, respecting emergence, in order to catalyse change.

In this lecturette, one of a series from the Waterloo Institute for Social Innovation and Resilience at the University of Waterloo, Frances Westley explains how complex systems are fundamentally different from the conception of the world as a kind of mechanical clockware – the dominant paradigm over the past several hundred years.

Frances Westley examines a few basic features of complexity, why our world is becoming increasingly complex, and some of the implications.

Going further into characteristics of complexity, Professor Westley discusses cascading effects, over-connectedness, herding behaviours, and feedbacks that are sensitive to very small changes. She argues that to be able to understand what is happening in a system, we need to use a complexity lens.

This video introduces the key concepts of simple, complicated, and complex domains; that not all problems are complex; and how to recognise each type.

This framework for understanding simple, complicated, complex, and chaotic domains, is useful for making sense of issues in personal, organisational, or global contexts.

The certainty/agreement matrix is an analytical framework for understanding the nature of problems, and whether they sit within the zone of complexity. Knowing this is important in order to bring the right mindset and apply appropriate skillsets and tools.

This short animation shows you how to apply the certainty/agreement matrix in your own work.

In this lecturette, Frances Westley goes a bit deeper into the characteristics of a system and the key insight – necessary for any good problem analysis – that all parts are interconnected. She also introduces the critical insight (to be examined more later), that you are a part of the very system you seek to change.

These learning modules are an introduction to systems, complexity, social innovation, and the role of the changemaker. Several short sessions have been covered, above. But it’s well worth going through all the learning modules in order, to get a grounding in these concepts.

System innovation (Si) has posted an entire introductory course on YouTube. It covers definitions and foundational concepts, as well as various tools for understanding systems.

Frances Westley examines the concept of agency, what it means, and how it differs in contexts where changemakers are seeking to address a complex problem and shift a whole system – in particular, the difference between social entrepreneurs and systems entrepreneurs.

If changemakers must act differently in complex contexts, must innovations also be different? Westley argues that, yes, they must, and that problem-solving can enable adaptation, but does not transform the system creating the problem in the first place.

Watch this short Greenpeace promotional video, which sets up the discussion in the following resource.

Frances Westley continues the discussion by asking us to reflect, with honesty, about our role in and contributions to the systems we seek to change. She explains some common failures of changemakers to think systematically.

Aid worker and psychologist, Alessandra Pigni, developed this website as a way to explore the deep emotional and spiritual issues that changemakers face. It’s a trove of useful reflections and resources. Sadly, Alessandra died in 2018, but the work that she so generously shared remains, for us to benefit from. You can learn more about her at alessandrapigni.com.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb introduced the term antifragile into our vernacular. It’s an important concept for systems thinkers (see toolkit three: Working in organisations). Here, happiness researcher, Tal Ben-Shahar, discusses the concept within the context of personal growth, and introduces the S.P.I.R.E. (spiritual, physical, intellectual, relational, emotional) model of antifragile growth.

This blogpost from apolitical proposes a framework for thinking about the personal growth and progression of innovators. Here, the subject of the framework is government workers, but the concepts are easily applied in any sector. Whether or not you agree with the framework, it provokes good thinking and inquiry.

This short documentary presents examples and makes the case for the internal, relational work of organisations as key to catalysing transformative change.

This website is dedicated to providing resources to changemakers to tackle their inner work.

In this short video (part of an open MOOC from the Stockholm Resilience Centre) Tim Daw explains the critical concept of ecosystem services and how they relate to well-being.

Carle Folke challenges us that we need to reconnect people and planet if we hope to be able to tackle the complex problems we face.

This interactive infographic, from the Crisis Group, delves into the many and deep connections between climate change and conflict.

A dictionary from UNDP, described as ‘an everyday guide’. This is a resource that doesn’t make assumptions of prior knowledge, and explains concepts in plain language (in English, French, and Spanish, currently).

Beatrice Crona, of the Stockholm Resilience Centre, explains the key concept of teleconnectivity in social-ecological systems.

Here, we go further into understanding teleconnections and the feedback loops that can intensify and drive them, in this short segment from the SDG Academy Library.

You can dive into many more related topics in the SDG Academy Library.

This short, tongue-in-cheek video explains what whole systems and lifecycle thinking is, and why they’re important for addressing complex problems.

The concept of antifragility is an important one to understand complex systems and what they mean, in practice, to our work and lifeways. It was popularised by Nassim Nicholas Taleb in his book of the same name. This blogpost explains Taleb's concept of antifragility through extensive quotes and explanatory notes.

What does ‘self’ really mean when one is part of a complex system which is, itself, embedded in other complex systems? This article argues for a radical rethinking of the concept.

Now listen to an inspiring expression of this kind of thinking, from the underlying philosophy, to imagining what must be done to put it into practice in the political sphere, and in society more generally.

This short animation focusses on individuals' relationships to dynamics at other scales within a system and introduces an analysis tool for understanding this self in system, system in self relationship. You can download and use the worksheet, "The journey tool", below.

This worksheet includes the framework shown in the video above, along with an extra page for you to add notes about your own situation. You can use it in your work (do this with your team/other stakeholders). Start by identifying the person you’ve chosen to focus on who is moving through your complex system. Then, discuss their experience. What is happening for them at each level and at each of the different nodes in the framework? When things go awry, which node or level is that coming from? And what’s driving it at other levels or in other nodes? You can also use this tool to reflect individually on your own, personal, situation. Think of a tough issue you’re dealing with right now, and ask the same questions. Where are the pressures coming from? How are they connected? This will help you to better see and appreciate how you’re a part of the very system you’re trying to change – and how it’s inside you, as well.