9 Questions for Developing a Theory of Systems Change
Posted on Fri, Oct 14, 2011
The pressures of today’s world lead people to spend most of their time fighting fires or trying to plow through long lists of action items. Organizational Development professionals need to step back and reflect on how to shape the organization’s future instead of just coping with current circumstances. Having a clear picture of how to achieve what you want increases your ability to achieve it.
Most often, systems thinking is applied and taught as a set of tools for looking retrospectively at why people have not been able to solve a problem or achieve more of what they want. However, the same systems tools can also be used prospectivelyto answer questions about the critical success factors that need to be consider and how to integrate these elements into a coherent and compelling strategy.
9 questions to help you develop and refine a theory of systems change:
-
In order to achieve our vision, what factors are key to our success?
-
How are those success factors causally related to one another?
-
What is our theory of systems change?
-
What theories of change do our constituents hold?
-
What do end users believe needs to be done?
-
How aligned are the above views? How can we integrate different views to strengthen the theory?
-
If the core theory is intended to amplify what is working now, then how will multiple success factors reinforce one another over time and create one or more virtuous cycles? What are potential limits to growth, and how might these be addressed?
-
If the core theory is designed to take corrective action, what is a balancing loop that specifies the goal of the system, the actual performance, and the corrective action(s) we plan to use to bridge the gap? What reinforcing loops will be put in place to ensure that solutions are sustained over time?
-
How will we test and refine the theory of change over time?
Asking powerful questions is an especially effective way of inviting stakeholders onto a level playing field and surfacing and strengthening everyone’s mental models.
Using these 9 key questions prospectively you can improve people’s ability to see more clearly, create what they want, and foster sustainable and lasting change.
About the author: David Peter Stroh is an internationally recognized expert in helping leaders apply systems thinking to problem-solving and strategic planning in both for-profit and non-profit organizations.
He is a founder and principal of Bridgeway Partners, a founder and director of the Applied Systems, and a former founder of Innovation Associates – the consulting firm whose work formed the basis for co-founder Peter Senge’s The Fifth Discipline.