Systemcraft
How to tackle complex problems
Systemcraft is our practical approach to making good change happen. It underpins our work on complex problems. You can use it too! Here’s how:
The Essentials Course
Learn more during 4 hours of self-paced learning.
Systemcraft Labs
Contact us about applied training for a cohort of people leading systems change.
The Systemcraft Guide
Download a free primer.
Why Systemcraft?
We face complex problems every day. Whether it is poverty for coffee farmers, nutrition for school children, the threat of violent extremism, or plastic in our oceans, our lives are impacted by patterns of behaviour and interactions far beyond our control. These problems can seem impossible to address, and many create significant harm for today’s societies and future generations.
Tackling these problems is vital to creating a more just, equitable and sustainable world. At Wasafiri we are committed to this hard work and believe that any individual or organization can help lead positive change.
Yet current efforts to tackle such problems often fail. Responses are siloed and static, and so have limited impact. We need a different way of addressing these problems, tapping into the immense capacity of ordinary leaders, the power of collaboration, and the imperative for responses that adapt alongside the challenges they seek to address.
Systemcraft is Wasafiri’s framework for tackling complex problems. It helps change leaders and their institutions to answer “What next?”. It is built from a robust body of theory and grounded in our experience as change practitioners working in diverse contexts. It offers a robust intellectual framework for analysis and prioritisation; impels a mindset shift from solution-provider to change entrepreneur; and is supported by tools and resources for everything from system-mapping to partnership development.
The Systemcraft approach
The world’s toughest problems share similarities that make them complex. These are problems where there is no single root cause, no single actor owns it, the nature of the problem is constantly evolving, and it is perpetuated by entrenched behaviours and interests.
Complex problems require a different way of working. Where a problem fits these criteria, meaningful change cannot be achieved through traditional approaches. We created Systemcraft to address that need.
Systemcraft helps answer ‘So what do we do next?’ Systemcraft starts with a person or institution and the problem they see. It is action-oriented and practical, helping change leaders to take steps forward on the journey of achieving positive change
Shifting systems requires working collectively and adaptively. The potential to change systems depends on our ability to work in concert and to learn from our actions.
Systemcraft enables us to work on underlying conditions. By acting upon five dimensions for change, it enables us to find and shift the broader ‘system’.
Five dimensions for change
Systemcraft offers five dimensions for action. These are the things we can work on when we seek to create system level change; and answer the perennial question, ‘What should I do next?
Together the five dimensions determine the collective and adaptive capacity of a system. That is, the capacity for those within in the system to adapt and work through conflicting interests.
Systems resist change. That’s because they have evolved out of the rational incentives of multiple actors, which together have formed something that “works” for some people, somewhere at least some of the time — even while creating collective problems. Efforts to shift a system will need to overcome this inertia, which maintains the status quo. Hence, changing the system requires building collective awareness and agency such that a set of actors are strong, willing and coordinated enough to change things. The five dimensions help us look at the familiar in unfamiliar ways, scan for opportunities beyond the ‘quick wins’ and ‘low hanging fruit’ and find counter intuitive ways to intervene and create change.
Change the Incentives
Create mutually reinforcing interventions that change structural and informal incentives, and influence behaviours.
Organise For Collaboration
Change is collective. Build coalitions and enhance the formal and informal architecture to enable different actors to coordinate efforts.
Make It Matter
Forge an inclusive movement championing the transformation; ensure relentless storytelling that connects with people’s concerns and lived realities.
Set The Direction
Set ambitions, goals, create milestones, mobilise resources. Create enough clarity to step forward.
Harnessing Collective Intelligence
Developing learning systems. Facilitating participatory research and design processes. Co-creating prototypes and pilots. Strengthening decision making structures.
Five dimensions for change
Systemcraft offers five dimensions for action. These are the things we can work on when we seek to create system level change; and answer the perennial question, ‘What should I do next?
Together the five dimensions determine the collective and adaptive capacity of a system. That is, the capacity for those within in the system to adapt and work through conflicting interests.
Systems resist change. That’s because they have evolved out of the rational incentives of multiple actors, which together have formed something that “works” for some people, somewhere at least some of the time — even while creating collective problems. Efforts to shift a system will need to overcome this inertia, which maintains the status quo. Hence, changing the system requires building collective awareness and agency such that a set of actors are strong, willing and coordinated enough to change things. The five dimensions help us look at the familiar in unfamiliar ways, scan for opportunities beyond the ‘quick wins’ and ‘low hanging fruit’ and find counter intuitive ways to intervene and create change.
Change the Incentives
Create mutually reinforcing interventions that change structural and informal incentives, and influence behaviours.
Organise For Collaboration
Change is collective. Build coalitions and enhance the formal and informal architecture to enable different actors to coordinate efforts.
Make It Matter
Forge an inclusive movement championing the transformation; ensure relentless storytelling that connects with people’s concerns and lived realities.
Set The Direction
Set ambitions, goals, create milestones, mobilise resources. Create enough clarity to step forward.
Harnessing Collective Intelligence
Developing learning systems. Facilitating participatory research and design processes. Co-creating prototypes and pilots. Strengthening decision making structures.
Change the Incentives
Create mutually reinforcing interventions that change structural and informal incentives, and influence behaviours.
Organise For Collaboration
Change is collective. Build coalitions and enhance the formal and informal architecture to enable different actors to coordinate efforts.
Make It Matter
Forge an inclusive movement championing the transformation; ensure relentless storytelling that connects with people’s concerns and lived realities.
Set The Direction
Set ambitions, goals, create milestones, mobilise resources. Create enough clarity to step forward.
Harnessing Collective Intelligence
Developing learning systems. Facilitating participatory research and design processes. Co-creating prototypes and pilots. Strengthening decision making structures.
Change the Incentives
Create mutually reinforcing interventions that change structural and informal incentives, and influence behaviours.
Organise For Collaboration
Change is collective. Build coalitions and enhance the formal and informal architecture to enable different actors to coordinate efforts.
Make It Matter
Forge an inclusive movement championing the transformation; ensure relentless storytelling that connects with people’s concerns and lived realities.
Set The Direction
Set ambitions, goals, create milestones, mobilise resources. Create enough clarity to step forward.
Harnessing Collective Intelligence
Developing learning systems. Facilitating participatory research and design processes. Co-creating prototypes and pilots. Strengthening decision making structures.
A short introduction to Systemcraft
Want to know more? Watch Wasafiri’s Dr Kate Simpson, co-author of the framework, introduce Systemcraft and why it is useful.
Download the Systemcraft Guide
Subscribe to our newsletter “Change Happens” and then download our Systemcraft guide to tackling complex problems.
