Systemic Design & Complex Systems Transformation for Social Systems
About This Course
Social systems are complex adaptive systems that are designed and have evolved over time to fulfil their mission and purpose within their operating contexts. Transformation of such systems, including the services that they provide, such as to improve outcomes or meet needs, is a complex endeavour that often brings about unintended consequences. Existing methods to drive large scale whole system transformation is slow, often fails to scale, and may impede successful implementation in local contexts.
Any systemic transformation method with the hope of accelerating whole system change must address the need to train and gather numerous stakeholders as co-designers, it must enable a continual series of innovations that remain synergistic despite their introduction at different time points and into different sub-systems of a complex adaptive systems, and it must guard against incremental-only innovations, premature convergence and lock-in into transformation paths that are less transformative or with potential negative effects.
This workshop aims to impart to participants a foundational theory for deep learning and organizational effectiveness and health in social systems. It will also introduce critical design-, systems-, and complexity-thinking enabled methods and tools in the form of “playbook”, i.e., in the form of an integrated approach that will systematically design, prioritize and test your system and services transformation actions through time, anchored on a three-step iterative storytelling, model building and pathfinding process.
What You'll Learn
• Learn and practice systems-thinking as new language and models for collectively understanding social services & systems behavior and outcomes.
• Collectively discuss, reflect, and learn about participants’ own social & services systems.
• Appreciate the Core Theory of Success and learn about the application of Systems Effectiveness Tools Box as approach and methods/tools to support deep learning and systemic problem solving.
• Learn about the Health System Transformation Playbook and appreciate the need for an integrated design-, systems-, and complexity-thinking approach to transform complex/large social systems
• Learn about the Yishun Health regional population health system case study and collectively practice storytelling, model building and pathfinding using the steps of the playbook to generate possible systemic interventions for the participants’ own social & services systems.
Entry Requirements
English proficiency in speaking and writing.
Targeted at students from health and social sector organizations or public sector organizations, preferably with some experience in corporate, business or organizational leadership, strategy deployment and change management/transformation.