Watch & Learn
Everything is a System
Systems all the way down (and up)
Everything is a system. And every system is nested within something larger.
This animation takes you on a journey from the atomic to the cosmic. It starts with an atom, then zooms out through lungs, a person, a community, a country, the planet, and the solar system, before looping back to where we began.
It illustrates a foundational idea in systems thinking: there is no "the" system. What we call "the system" depends entirely on where we draw the boundaries. An individual is a system of organs and cells, but also part of a family, an organisation, a community, a society. A school is a system of classrooms, teachers, and students, but it's also part of an education system, a local community, and a broader social context.
This idea of nested systems reminds us that every boundary we draw is a choice. We zoom in to understand detail; we zoom out to see context. Neither view is correct. They're just different ways of looking at the same thing.
Some questions worth asking:
- What level am I focusing on here?
- What's above and below the boundaries I've drawn?
- What might I see differently if I zoomed in or out to a different level or focus?
Changing Systems
Understanding that everything is a system is a starting point. The harder question is: how do we actually change them?
This is where systems thinking becomes systems practice. It's not enough to map a system or understand its parts. At some point, you have to act. And when you do, the system responds.
The animations below explore three dynamics that anyone trying to shift a system will eventually encounter: the challenge of overcoming entrenched stability, the drag of passive resistance, and the pushback that comes when change starts working.
Shifting the System
Why change doesn't always stick
Systems tend to settle into stable patterns. Think of a ball resting in a valley. It takes energy to move it, and if the valley is deep enough, it will roll right back to where it started.
In socio-ecological systems thinking, this is called resilience. Not resilience in the everyday sense of "bouncing back from adversity," but the ability of a system to absorb disturbance and still maintain its basic structure and function. A deep valley represents a highly resilient state. That can be a good thing if the system is healthy, but a real problem if you're trying to shift away from something harmful.
This animation shows what it looks like to shift a system from one state to another. A hand flicks the ball, pushing it up and over into a new valley. But sometimes the new valley has a steep wall on the other side. The ball doesn't have enough momentum, so it rolls back to where it came from.
This is why so many change efforts fail. We push hard, see some movement, and then watch things return to "normal." The old pattern was just too resilient.
But watch what happens next. The hand flicks again, harder this time, and the ball makes it over. Change is possible, but it often requires sustained effort, or a bigger push than we first expected.
Some questions worth asking:
- What's keeping the current state within the system so stable? What factors are 'locking' it in place?
- Have past attempts at change run out of momentum before reaching a new stable point?
- What would it take to push through, not just to the edge, but over it?
Resistance in the System
When the obstacle isn't the wall, it's the water
Sometimes the barrier to change isn't a steep climb. It's something slower, heavier, harder to see.
This animation revisits the ball and valley, but now the valley is filled with water. The hand flicks the ball just like before, but this time the ball doesn't roll. It floats. Progress slows. The energy that worked last time isn't enough here.
This is what resistance looks like in many systems. Not outright opposition, but drag. Passive disengagement. Processes that absorb energy without ever saying no. People going through the motions. Meetings that lead to more meetings. Agreement in the room, but nothing changes afterwards.
Water doesn't block the ball. It just makes everything harder. And because there's no visible wall, it can be difficult to name what's getting in the way.
Different obstacles require different thinking. You can't push through water the same way you climb a hill. Sometimes you need to float, find a current, or drain the valley altogether.
Some questions worth asking:
- Where is energy being absorbed without visible opposition?
- Is the resistance active, or is it passive disengagement dressed up as cooperation?
- What would it mean to work with the resistance rather than against it?
Backlash in the System
When the system pushes back
Sometimes you do everything right. You build momentum, overcome resistance, and finally crest the hill. And then someone pushes you back down.
This animation shows the ball making it up and over the steep valley wall. But just as it reaches the top, a different hand appears and flicks it back the other way. All that effort, undone in a moment.
This is backlash. Not the passive drag of resistance, but active opposition. It might look like a policy reversal after a change in leadership. A new initiative quietly defunded. Key people reassigned. Or a coordinated effort to discredit the work and return to the old way of doing things.
Backlash often emerges precisely because change is working. The system, or those who benefit from its current state, responds to protect itself. The closer you get to real change, the harder the pushback can become.
Anticipating backlash doesn't mean avoiding it. It means planning for it. Building coalitions. Protecting wins. Creating changes that are harder to reverse.
Some questions worth asking:
- Who or what benefits from the current state of the system?
- Where might opposition emerge if change efforts start succeeding?
- How can progress be protected or embedded so it's harder to undo?
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