What You'll Learn
This course builds on the foundation of Introduction to Systems Thinking to explore how complex systems evolve, how change emerges, and how to use these dynamics for meaningful social impact. You’ll learn to understand both the visible and hidden patterns of systems, identify leverage points, and apply practical tools to promote change in communities, organizations, and cross-sector initiatives. This course combines deep theory with real-world application, encouraging you to see problems not as insurmountable but as opportunities to tap into the evolutionary potential inherent in every system.
Through engaging examples, frameworks like holarchies, AQAL (All Quadrants, All Levels), and the Community Learning Model, and case studies that highlight successful collaborative evolution,you’ll gain strategies to identify assets, coordinate across stakeholders, and create conditions where groups can act together effectively. By the end of the training,you will not only understand the theory behind systems change but also be able to apply it to complex challenges inyour community, transforming crises into actionable opportunities for improvement.
How to understand systems as dynamic, evolving wholes
Learn how the universe, organizations, and communities operate as interconnected “holons” that preserve autonomy, form higher-level structures, and co-evolve across multiple levels.
How to identify leverage points and opportunities for change
Explore models like holarchies, AQAL, and the Community Learning Model to see where small interventions can create ripple effects that influence larger systems.
How to apply systems thinking to real-world challenges
Learn practical strategies for addressing complex community issues, using case studies such as crisis stabilization and collaborative problem-solving to translate theory into actionable plans.
What's Included in the Course
Workshop Modules
Meet Your Instructor
Bill Fulton
Executive Director
Bill provides strategic leadership for the overall organization, ensuring that the Canopy’s methods, model, and mission are carried out through its projects and lived out through its culture. He founded The Civic Canopy in 2003 to create a comprehensive community change platform to help communities transform individual efforts into collective action. He has over twenty years of experience in team development, collaborative problem solving, multi-stakeholder dialogue, and results-oriented network development. He received his BA in history at Brown University, MA in education at the University of Colorado at Denver, and a Ph.D. in religion and social change at the University of Denver and Iliff School of Theology.
