1. Systems Thinking 101 ACT Canada Workshop October 30, 2013 Debbie Mah Ryan Martinson Dena Ghoneim Greg Hart Geoff Ghitter Graham Matsalla

2. Agenda 1.Debbie Mah – Introductions 2.Ryan Martinson – Systems Thinking Basics 3.Dena Ghoneim – Collaboration Gap Analysis 4.Greg Hart – Creating Change in a System 5.Geoff Ghitter – Sustainability and Systems 6.Graham Matsalla – WalkABle Alberta 7.Discussion

3. Advanced Credit

7. Understanding Systems “Systems fool us by presenting themselves – or we fool ourselves by seeing the world – as a series of events.” “We are less likely to be surprised if we can see how events accumulate into dynamic patterns of behavior.” (e.g. the team is on a winning streak, the variance on the river is increasing, trends)

8. Understanding Systems “If the news did a better job of putting events into historical context, we would have better behavioural-level understanding, which is deeper than event-level understanding.” “When a systems thinker encounters a problem, the first thing he or she does is look for data, time graphs, the history of the system. That’s because long-term behavior provides clues to the underlying system structure.”

9. Understanding Systems “And structure is the key to understanding not just what is happening, but why.” “Structure determines what behaviours are latent in the system.”

10. Leverage Points Leverage points are seen as places to intervene in complex systems When seized, can make real change possible and enable our work to be sustained within systems Iceberg model is one way of understanding leverage in systems

11. Iceberg model 11 http://blog.gustavkaser.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/iceberg-poster.jpg

12. Iceberg model

13. Events - Behaviour - Structure Events - Events are the outputs, moment by moment, from the black box of the system. Hand releasing the slinky Behaviour - is a system's performance over time - its growth, stagnation, decline, oscillation, randomness, or evolution Resulting oscillations Structure - is a system's interlocking stocks, flows, and feedback loops Mechanical characteristics of the Slinky’s helical coil

14. Resilience There are always limits to resilience. Resilience is something that may be very hard to see, unless you exceed it and the system breaks down. Because resilience is not obvious without a whole-system view, people sacrifice resilience for stability, or for productivity, or for some other more immediately recognizable system property.”

15. Summary Systems are composed of elements, connections, and purpose They can be simple, complicated, or complex Different types of resilience exist within systems Systems mapping and the iceberg model are two tools to make decisions, understand systems, and find/use leverage points

16. October 30, 2013 Systems Thinking 101: Transportation Engineering, Planning, and Health Collaboration

17. Intro 1 Background & Context 2 Defining the System 3 The Survey 4 Findings

18. Background & Context What is the health problem? How can the built environment change our behaviour? What is the engineer’s role? Do engineers collaborate enough with planners and health officials? 1

19. Source: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

25. Mode Split Goals – Calgary Example Mode of Transportation Percent of all daily trips Percent Change Current Recommended Direction Walk/Cycle14 %20-25 %6-11 % Transit9 %15-20 %6-11 % Vehicle (SOV & HOV) 77%65-55 %12-22 % Source: Calgary Transportation Plan, 2009

26. Built Environment and Transportation DensityDiversityDesign Destination Accessibility Distance to Transit

27. Defining the System Who are the players in the system? Where are the leverage points? What change is possible? 2

28. Gaps to Collaboration The status quo? EngineersPlanners Health Officials

29. Gaps to Collaboration What can multi-disciplinary collaboration look like? Health Officials Engineers Health Officials Planners

31. The Survey Partnered in research with Alberta Health Services to understand: Is there collaboration? Why is collaboration not happening? Do policies make collaboration easier? Success stories? 3

32. Surveyed Municipalities Okotoks Lethbridge Camrose Red Deer Medicine Hat Grand Prairie Strathmore

33. The Survey Experience?YesPositiveNegativeNot interestedInterestedValue?Collaboration?NoInterest?

34. Findings 4

39. Desired Changes

41. Discussion Any Ah-ha’s? What have you already done that has incorporated Systems Thinking or something similar? What are leverage points in our current paradigm? (e.g. Health, Policy,