Choose a creative, collaborative, community-centered path forward
We change by doing.
"Thinking" and "strategy" is noble, valuable, important and necessary. And it does not, on its own, create change. Change does not happen through thinking. Change happens when we make. Change is in the making.
Creating alone creates alone-ness.
There is a time and a place for solo endeavours and individual work. Introverts, poets, artists and engineers alike, all create during independent states of flow and focus. This kind of creative focus matters, and the work of an individual creator deserves celebration and respect.
In the world of systems change, one individual leader holding the job of idea-generating and decision-making results in exclusion and disenfranchisement, creating the very conditions we were looking to avoid. Healthy leadership welcomes, includes and encourages participation.
The way we work shapes the world we live in.
The means are exactly the ends. Or you could say: How we lead is how we live. The conditions of our daily work are the environment in which we dwell. A flourishing future happens in the now, as we participate in the act of co-creating something new. Systems change leadership, then, is about co-designing the future in a way that brings its values to life even now.
To involve is e-volve
Involvement is evolution. You meet a deeply human need when you create the space to listen to the ideas and needs of others. That act of strengthening human connection? It's world-building. You're doing the work of future-making when you take the time to listen. It's not a side-quest, a distraction or a diversion.
Plus: when people are participants in the act of creation, their own investment increases. It results in deeper commitment. When a greater breadth of input and ideas is part of your process, it literally generates more options: it makes creativity more possible. When you design solutions based on real needs, that's the true definition of innovation.
To listen and involve others in the work of designing new ways forward results in greater creativity, innovation, commitment and social resilience.
Given all this...
- That change is in the making
- That co-creative change takes us further
- That the way we create shapes the world we live in
How then, shall we lead?
Systems change leadership
You might also call it:
- A co-design process driven by listening and marked by imagination.
- A highly participatory, collaborative design project.
- A pathway of sensing, empathizing, synthesizing, imaging, deciding, prototyping and making — together.
The work of embarking on systems change leadership will be different every time, but there are a few guarantees:
- You'll listen and observe and learn: With a lens of Appreciative Inquiry, you'll pay attention to today's reality. You'll learn to see what's really going on.
- You'll engage in participatory dialogue: You'll create space to listen to the stories of people in your community.
- You'll do the work of synthesis: You'll bring your insights together with clarity.
- You'll do the work of co-design: With sketchbooks and easel charts, with vibe-coding AI tools and good ol' post-its, you'll dream up what's possible.
- You'll test and prototype: You'll get feedback on the directions you're exploring.
- You'll decide and direct: You'll make choices based on what you've tested, and bring that vision to life with careful creation.
- You'll be changed through the process: It's not just solutions that get created, and not just organizations that change. It's us, through relationship, who find ourselves evolving.
What it might look like
Co.school has helped partner with organizations to design and lead co-design processes big and small, like:
- Helping a foundation run a deep community-engagement process to re-design a new grant stream
- Helping a non-profit reimagine how they can tackle food security through better logistics and partnerships with grocery store chains
- Helping a health agency better serve its patients with smarter transportation solutions
- And, like this: bringing the BC Disability Collaborative to life:
Kevan Gilbert
What could go wrong?
Co-creative processes for systems change are not necessarily a good fit for every situation:
- If you already know what you need to do, our recommendation is to simply do it. Undertaking a creative, community-engaged process may simply result in delay.
- If you aren't ready to act on what you learn, don't run a process like this. A tokenized engagement process that asks for community input, but doesn't take that input seriously or change the outcome, only leaves the community more frustrated.
- If your community is experiencing deep pain and grief, there may be better ways to serve them. Asking for stories, imagination and involvement in a time of suffering may simply aggravate the wound.
- If we can not care for each other, we may not succeed. The work of co-creation involves sharing stories, exploring problems, and imagining solutions. It's real life. It involves pain, challenge, conflict and requires trust. Our ability (as facilitators, participants and sponsors) to care for each other within that process is an essential part of this process.
Everything is in our way.
- A hurting world: Our planet appears more fractured than ever, making "change leadership" all the more urgent. However...
- Orgs are spending less: The economy is making it hard for organizations to secure budgets for meaningful change initiatives.
- People are choosing AI-first: Out of curiosity and cost savings, generative AI is tricking people into seeking easy answers for deeply human problems.
- Practitioners can't stay afloat: The economy is making it hard for solo facilitators and smaller design practitioners (which is where most change leadership originates) to stay in business.
- Our leading lights are leaving: Under pressure from growing fascist threats, the challenged economy, the need to prioritize their own healing, a refusal to participate in the ways design can be dehumanizing, some of the leading luminaries doing the work of systems change leadership are packing up shop.
As a result, we have fewer and fewer folks ready to do the hard work of inclusive, imaginative, innovation.
Many feel stuck, as if waiting for some shift in the room...Maybe if the political climate was more inclusive. Maybe if the workplace environment was solid on its values. Maybe if the economy was more stable. Maybe once we figure out our AI strategy. Maybe if we can just get a better glimpse of the future.
In reality, this is it. The change you seek will not come upon you like a blizzard or a blue moon. Change is in the making.
If you find yourself in a situation where you recognize the world's complexity, are in possession of a budget you direct, want to choose human connection over AI quick fixes, and are seeking partnership and support to help your organization navigate towards a healthier future: let's chat.
Getting started
Book a free intake call: get to know Kevan, learn more about systems change leadership. I can't promise quick fixes, but I can offer first steps.
Co-creation for complexity
“As we face crises on many fronts—health, climate, inequality, governance—the challenge that looms largest for me is our diminished ability to work together across lines of difference. The co-creation mindset is critical for anyone working in complex problem spaces. The methods and tools that Co.school employs help people work together by ensuring meaningful participation, harnessing collective intelligence, and shaping sustainable solutions for the future. Kevan and his team are exceptionally skilled and possess a toolkit of creative problem-solving techniques that can be applied across disciplines. I hold their work in the highest regard."
- Krystal Renschler, Founder & Facilitator, Mutatio
