The Learner's Guide for Points of Intervention

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This course focuses on points of leverage in interventions: places where practitioners can intervene in complex situations to improve them, stop them getting worse, or otherwise make a significant change in system behaviour.<ul><li>We will consider the idea of leverage, drawn from mechanics, to consider typical ‘levers’ which can be applied to creating disproportionate change in a system.</li><li>We will map Donella Meadows’ 12 points of leverage to Peter Senge’s iceberg model, summarising the factors affecting systems interventions, and consider the usefulness of both models to your own practice – as a matter of utility and/or personal preference. &nbsp;</li></ul><h3 id="4279bb01-f94f-495f-bd91-fcb9acb5fb06" data-toc-id="4279bb01-f94f-495f-bd91-fcb9acb5fb06" style="font-size: 20px; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.2;">Objectives</h3>In this course, you will:<ul><li>Understand, critique and reflect on the appropriateness of Donella Meadows’ 12 points of leverage for systems intervention and Peter Senge’s iceberg model.</li><li>Consider interventions you have been involved with in the past, reflecting on which points of leverage did and did not work, and why, and how much effort was involved in identifying, shaping, securing and applying the leverage to get the expected or intended outcomes.</li><li>Work with a real-world case study) from an integrated care system within the NHS.</li><li>Consider alternative models, frameworks and/or heuristics to surface potential high leverage interventions using various systems methods in your own situations.</li></ul>This is an informational course and it does not include exercises.&nbsp;<h5 id="c4b2976f-a4d5-4123-b734-ec5710678476" data-toc-id="c4b2976f-a4d5-4123-b734-ec5710678476" style="font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; line-height: 1.2;">Trainer</h5>The training is facilitated by&nbsp;Simon MacCormac, a systems thinking practitioner with more than 30 years’ experience.Simon MacCormac is a seasoned strategic advisor with over 30 years of global consulting experience across digital transformation, systems thinking, and executive leadership. With a sound track record of board-level advisory and enterprise-wide transformation, he has led major initiatives in healthcare, defence, finance, telecoms, and national infrastructure across the UK, Europe, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa. A certified Advanced Systems Practitioner, Simon blends systems thinking, strategic facilitation, and executive coaching to drive sustainable, collaborative outcomes. His roles have included senior leadership at CSC, Nokia Siemens Networks, Deloitte, and Arthur D. Little, and he continues to consult independently with public and private sector clients, notably within the NHS and care sector. Simon also teaches to postgraduate level and contributes to UK government systems thinking initiatives.

This short course - Points of Intervention -  is  one of the Managing Systems Interventions courses in our intervention skills course set.  Other courses can be accessed via the sytemspractice.org website.

Points of Intervention

Systems Thinking practitioner

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