Systems Innovation

Explore Forces

…that enable and inhibit optimal system performance

ENT36XX Systems Innovation by Design

Systems Innovation > Framing > Forces > Loops > Map > Levers

After framing the systems problem, the next step in Systems Innovation is Exploring Forces in the system…

The forces that impact a system can include people, trends, events, norms, beliefs, phenomena, institutions, laws, policies, etc.
In this first step you will cast a wide net and illuminate the various forces that cause your system to behave as it does - both positive and negative, using Affinity Maps as your tools.
You will then prioritize and group the forces into themes.
Themes will be analyzed through SAT Analysis.
The Iceberg Model is another tool for analyzing the root causes of a system issue.

Enablers and Inhibitors Affinity Maps

1. Build an Inhibitor Affinity Map

Utilize an Affinity Map to identify negative forces in the system that INHIBIT the systems from accomplishing your desired goals as identified in your Framing Question.

Open your Miro board
Each team member work individually in your own work space of the Affinity Map tool to fill out sticky notes identifying Inhibitors, one per sticky note
Share your sticky notes with your team mates in the share area of the Affinity Map
Group similar sticky notes together and identify themes

2. Build an Enabler Affinity Map

Once finished with the Inhibitor Affinity Map, use the same technique to develop an ENABLER Affinity Map to identify forces in the system that assist in accomplishing your goals as identified in your Framing Question.

Themes

Select the top 6–8 themes from the Affinity Maps (include enablers as well as inhibitors). To help your prioritization, fill in the blank: You cannot understand the system unless you understand _____________________ themes. The top themes you select will be the starting point for the next step in the process.

In Miro, write your top themes on sticky notes and post them in priority order in the Top Themes area. Below those also add some of the other strong themes that didn’t make the cut. You may revisit this second tier later.

Upstream Causes and Downstream Effects

In this step you will do a deep dive into the prioritized themes you captured and begin to explore their upstream causes and downstream effects. We are going to use something called SAT analysis—a structured way of making sure we are looking at the system holistically. The causal relationships we illuminate in this step will be the major inputs for drawing connections between factors in your systems map moving forward.

Upstream causes are things that lead to the theme, or that cause it happen.

Downstream effects are things that the theme causes to happen.

SAT ANALYSIS

Structural: Refers to the physical and social environment in which people live; both the natural (e.g., air quality or drought) and built environment (e.g., housing stocks, a transportation system); as well as political, social and economic institutions and infrastructure (e.g., the electoral system, legal system, economic policy, labor unions, church associations).

Attitudinal: Refers to widely held beliefs, values, norms and intergroup relations that affect how large groups of people think and behave (e.g., ethnic tensions, social capital, fears, group trauma, religious beliefs, and attitudes like trust in government or a belief in “rugged individualism”).

Transactional: Refers to the processes used by and interactions among key people (e.g., leaders at all levels) as they deal with important social, political and economic Issues (e.g., important negotiations, violence, problem solving, influence, leadership). Key transactional factors might include things like lobbying by human rights activists, the influence of a community elder, mediation by a member of Parliament, or extreme political rhetoric by a religious leader.