Many of the challenges organisations face sit within complex systems where traditional planning approaches fall short. We help teams embed systems thinking into how they plan, make decisions, and respond to the complexity around them.
From organisational strategy through to capability building for frontline teams, we support organisations to think and work systemically so they can have greater impact.
Talk to us about systems strategy
Systems thinking is most powerful when it moves beyond a one-off exercise and becomes part of how an organisation plans, prioritises, and makes decisions. We work with organisations to embed systems thinking into their strategy, evaluation, and day-to-day practice so that it shapes how they understand problems, design responses, and measure progress.
This can look quite different depending on the organisation and its context. For some, it means developing a systems-informed strategy from the outset. For others, it means building capability across a team so they can apply systems thinking tools themselves. And for others, it means using systems methods like network analysis or systems mapping to generate the insights that inform strategic direction.
A systems map or network analysis on its own is useful, but its real value comes when it informs what an organisation does next. We help clients move from systems insights to strategic action, identifying leverage points, designing interventions that account for system dynamics, and building monitoring approaches that track whether the system is shifting as intended. This is what we mean by systems strategy: using a systems lens to make better decisions in complex environments.
We invest heavily in building the capability of the teams we work with. Our workshops combine conceptual foundations with hands-on practice using real examples from the organisation's own context. We cover core systems thinking concepts, practical mapping techniques like causal loop diagrams and stakeholder maps, and methods for identifying where to focus change efforts. We also provide ongoing mentoring and follow-up resources so teams can continue applying what they've learned.
Across our systems capability building work, we've supported organisations ranging from state government agencies and local councils through to advocacy organisations, universities, and international bodies. The common thread is helping people develop practical skills in thinking and working systemically within their own context.
We work with organisations at different stages of their systems thinking journey, from first introductions through to deep organisational embedding.
Working with leadership and staff to embed systems thinking into how an organisation operates, from defining what a systems approach means for the organisation through to training, mentoring, and strategic integration.
Tailored workshops that build practical skills in systems thinking, from introductory sessions through to extended hands-on sessions where teams develop systems maps for their own strategic challenges and identify leverage points for change.
Using systems mapping, network analysis, and other methods to generate the insights that shape strategic direction. This includes identifying where to invest, who to partner with, and how to design interventions that account for system dynamics.
Using social network analysis to understand the relationships and collaboration patterns that shape how a system operates, then using those insights to inform strategic engagement, partnership development, and resource allocation.
Supporting teams to apply systems thinking in their own contexts through one-to-one mentoring, co-facilitation, and follow-up sessions that help translate workshop learning into sustained practice.
Linking systems thinking to evaluation planning, so organisations can track whether their efforts are producing the systemic shifts they intend. This includes designing monitoring frameworks that capture system-level change over time.
A selection of our work embedding systems thinking into strategy, planning, and organisational practice.
VicHealth
Ahead of its new ten-year strategy, VicHealth committed to a more explicit systems approach. We worked with executives to define what this meant for the organisation, scoped training needs with managers, delivered staff training and mentored systems champions. The project also provided supporting content for the strategy launch.
Women's Health Goulburn North East
We are working with Women's Health Goulburn North East to develop a systems approach to gendered violence prevention across the Goulburn Valley and North East region. Workshops in Wangaratta and Shepparton bring practitioners and leaders together to map the factors influencing prevention and develop theories of change that clarify where effort should focus, what it needs to influence and what success would look like.
City of Melbourne
We helped the City of Melbourne update its priorities for shocks and stresses and examine how these interact with Council services. Evidence review and risk assessment identified 13 priority shocks and 14 stresses. Participatory mapping then explored cost of living, severe storms, and loneliness and social isolation, informing where Council could act directly, advocate for change and monitor emerging pressures.
Australian Human Rights Commission
We supported the Commission to develop its education strategy through a systems change approach. Working with staff, we refined the theory of change and developed practical guidance to help teams align their activities with the strategy and address barriers to embedding human rights principles in educational settings.
Uniting Vic.Tas
We worked with Uniting Vic.Tas's Social Impact Consulting team to clarify its strategic direction and the value of its consulting offering. Group model building, an environmental scan and theory of change development informed a refined value proposition and visual impact model, connecting consulting, training and research to outcomes for people experiencing vulnerability and the organisations that serve them.
Beyond Blue
We mapped support services and potential referral pathways to inform Beyond Blue’s partnership strategy. A desktop review and consultations with ten priority organisations informed a service system map and recommendations for developing formal and informal referral networks.
City of Casey
We are supporting Youth Services staff to apply systems thinking to real challenges in their work. The ongoing 2026 program combines a launch workshop, small-group projects, monthly coaching and a closing presentation session to build practical capability.
VicHealth
During 2024–25, we provided one-to-one systems thinking support through VicHealth’s Local Government Partnership, which included 35 councils. We helped councils apply systems thinking to health promotion and public health and wellbeing planning, and supported coordination among the partnership’s capability building providers.
Knox City Council
Developing a unique SNA methodology for Knox City Council to measure community resilience over time and use it as a strategic tool for engaging organisations in emergency management planning. The methodology was designed for Council to own and share across municipalities.
Market Forces
Building systems thinking capability for Market Forces staff working to shift financial flows away from fossil fuels. Through a hands-on workshop, participants developed systems maps of the factors influencing fossil fuel and financial institution decision-making, identified leverage points for change, and explored how to link systems strategy to their advocacy planning and evaluation.
Strategic planning is one part of our broader systems capability. See the methods that inform our strategy work.
Whether you're looking for a one-off workshop, ongoing mentoring, or support to embed systems thinking across your organisation, we'd welcome a conversation about how we can help.
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VicHealth
VicHealth engaged us in 2022 to support an organisational shift towards systems thinking ahead of its new ten-year strategy.
We co-designed a definition document with the executive team, setting out what a systems approach meant for VicHealth, including roles and shared language. We then worked with managers to identify training needs for staff.
We designed and delivered systems thinking training, mentored systems champions and developed content to support the strategy launch. Together, these activities gave staff a shared starting point for applying systems thinking in their roles.
Women's Health Goulburn North East
Gendered violence prevention in regional Victoria depends on the organisations, settings and system conditions that shape what practitioners can achieve. Women's Health Goulburn North East has engaged us to develop a regional systems approach, building on the statewide participatory mapping process led by Respect Victoria in 2024.
This ongoing 2026 project involves two workshops, one in Wangaratta and one in Shepparton, with leaders, managers and practitioners from local government, health services, specialist family violence organisations and advocacy bodies. Together, we are mapping the factors that influence prevention impact across the Goulburn Valley and North East region.
The map will inform theories of systems change that set out where prevention effort should focus and how changes in specific conditions could contribute to prevention. These are intended to be testable accounts of change, with explicit expectations about what success would look like. Findings will be reported to Women's Health Goulburn North East and workshop participants.
Australian Human Rights Commission
The Australian Human Rights Commission engaged us to support a new education strategy for strengthening human rights education across Australia. The brief called for systems change thinking to inform how the Commission understood the barriers to embedding human rights principles in educational settings.
We advised staff on integrating systems thinking into strategic planning, facilitated theory of change workshops and reviewed strategy inputs. This helped the team clarify the changes it sought to influence and how its education activities could contribute.
Completed in 2026, our contribution included refining the theory of change and preparing guidance materials for internal teams. The materials support teams to align their activities with the framework as the Commission prepares to implement its new strategy.
Uniting Vic.Tas
Uniting Vic.Tas's Social Impact Consulting team supports corporate and government organisations to improve outcomes for customers experiencing vulnerability, including in banking, telecommunications, energy and insurance. In 2026, we helped the team clarify its offering and the changes it seeks to influence.
Through structured group model building, participants examined the factors that help and hinder organisational change. We combined these workshops with an environmental scan, value proposition design and theory of change development to connect the team’s activities with its intended impact.
The project produced a refined value proposition and a visual impact model. The model described outcomes for people, organisations and the wider sector, while the value proposition articulated the team’s connection to lived experience and community practice. These outputs support strategic decisions, communication with prospective partners and future service development.
Beyond Blue
Beyond Blue wanted to understand how its Support Service could connect with the wider support services sector. The project examined where to focus partnership development and how referral pathways could respond to people’s needs.
We were engaged to map the support services landscape and potential referral pathways to guide Beyond Blue's strategic expansion. This began with a desktop review of organisations delivering services that address common drivers of mental distress, including financial strain, grief, and loss. Working with Beyond Blue, we identified a starting set of 10 organisations to consult in depth.
Our consultations explored how each organisation felt about a formalised referral pathway with Beyond Blue, what their current service systems and partnerships looked like, what a networked approach might require given their infrastructure and resourcing, and any concerns they had. Through this process, we developed a service system map based on SNA principles, a summary of consultations and resource considerations, and a set of recommendations.
These outputs gave Beyond Blue the evidence to make strategic decisions about where and how to grow their formal and informal support and referral networks, ensuring their expansion efforts were targeted where they would add the most value to the broader service system.
City of Melbourne
The City of Melbourne engaged us in 2026 to refresh its evidence base on priority shocks and stresses and understand how they interact with Council services. The project combined risk assessment with participatory systems mapping to support resilience and service planning.
We reviewed approximately 20 global, national, state and local documents, assessed the likelihood and impact of identified risks, and considered their relevance to Council objectives and services. A workshop with around 20 staff helped refine a list of 13 priority shocks and 14 priority stresses.
Council staff then mapped three selected issues: increasing cost of living, severe storms, and loneliness and social isolation. We digitised the maps in Kumu and used the Action Scales Model and network analysis to examine the relationships between contributing factors and identify opportunities for Council action.
The maps distinguished structural drivers largely beyond Council’s direct control from factors it could influence through service delivery and planning, including demand for services, infrastructure conditions and barriers to access. The findings informed a response that combined direct action within Council’s remit, advocacy on wider drivers and monitoring of community outcomes.
Completed in July 2026, the project produced two reports and a workshop approach that Council could repeat internally. We worked with the City Resilience team throughout to support staff capability in applying systems thinking to service planning.
