School of System Change: Helping changemakers make complexity work

There’s no one way to create lasting change. The School of System Change connects people with different tools and approaches to help them tackle complex challenges. As a Bright Spot, it is making systems change learning more accessible, equipping leaders to create real impact.

In a world that feels both on the brink and stubbornly stuck, the need for deep and lasting systems change has never been more urgent. Yet the path forward isn’t about a single roadmap or expert solution. It’s about growing the collective capacity to work with complexity, together.

The School of System Change exists to support leaders and changemakers who are already doing this work and those just beginning the journey. It supports individuals, organisations, and networks to build the capacity needed to lead transformation in uncertain times. With a multi-method approach, the School draws from a rich field of systems practices connecting learners with experienced practitioners and frameworks they can apply directly to their work.

Through tailored programmes, learning partnerships, and open resources, the School is widening access to systems change learning and cultivating a growing global network of changemakers working toward a more just and regenerative future.

“Like water running through the soil, what we mean by [our strategy of] 'irrigation’ is supporting changemakers to do the work by creating and sustaining collective learning throughout their own existing networks and ecosystems to enact deep, lasting change.”
- Sarena Chan, Partnership and Programmes Lead, School of System Change

How the School of System Change shifts the model from external expertise to embedded, systemic capability?

The School of System Change supports transformation in two key ways: through immersive learning programmes (systems change courses) and long-term learning and practice partnerships. Together, these help organisations develop a systemic approach to change, building the capabilities needed to meet complexity with confidence.

Unlike traditional consultants who offer solutions and move on, the School acts as a learning partner. It works alongside teams to build their internal capacity so that skills, insights, and frameworks stay embedded long after the engagement ends.

This approach has a longer lasting and deeper impact than the traditional consultant relationship and importantly builds resilience in the organisation to grow their own ability to lead change in our VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous) world.

How is the School of System Change expanding who leads and how we learn systems change?

The School of System Change is redefining who gets to lead systems change and how they learn to do it by supporting a diverse community of changemakers. From corporate leaders and funders to grassroots organisers and public sector innovators, the School helps people build the skills and confidence to work systemically, wherever they are.

In 2024 alone, the School equipped 680 changemakers across sectors to integrate systems thinking into their work.

What makes the School distinct is its multi-method approach to learning. Instead of championing one theory or tool, the School brings together a wide spectrum of experienced practitioners. Learners engage with diverse methods like complexity practice, systems dynamics, regenerative design, and deep equity to build a practice rooted in their real-world contexts.

The School shifts the model from external expertise to embedded, systemic capability partnering with organisations and networks to grow their internal capacity for learning, adaptation, and transformation.

In doing so, the School helps reimagine not just what systems change looks like, but who gets to lead it and how we learn to do it, together.

“Our programmes and partnerships are based on a learning pedagogy that supports the transformation of people’s way of thinking, being and doing in the world, so they can design and deliver ambitious systems change and lead change in a complex world. We do this through ensuring they are practising and applying the multi-methods across the field that are relevant to their needs and contexts, supporting community learning and setting them up to be lifelong learners.”
- Anna Birney, CEO (Chief Enabling/Evolving Officer), School of System Change

What could the future look like if the School of System Change’s model scales?

The School advocates the need to transform learning to focus on systemic capabilities and applied skills to enable people to navigate complexity in our dynamic, ever-changing future. The School has a vision to scale up its impact through its irrigation strategy, building on what it has already achieved.

If the School’s work continues to scale, the future would include a mass of changemakers across sectors and geographies who feel confident in working systemically to tackle complex challenges. It would contain more funders who understand the value of systemic approaches and invest in systems change learning to advance the causes they support.

Image courtesy: The School of System Change

Questions to consider

What are the elements of your work or project that would benefit from a systemic approach?

How might you bring a more systemic approach to your work at an individual, team, and organisation level?

What are the systems approaches and methods that you need to learn more about to bring systemic change?

Which of the School’s seven systems change capabilities do you have experience in, and which might you need to focus on building capacity in to work more systemically?

How are you planning to build your own capacity to work more systemically?

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