6 Conditions of Systems Change

Center for Child Counseling utilized FSG's publication "The Water of System's Change" to frame the feedback from the Think Tank event. Participants' responses fell into the following 6 conditions of systems change which are necessary to shift the conditions that hold the problem in place

It is interesting to note, that these six conditions were not first presented to the Think Tank participants, yet their responses fell within these conditions, further supporting the communities readiness to act.

In order to shift a system, work in all three levels of change must occur: explicit, semi-explicit, and transformative (or implicit) change

Six conditions significantly impede or propel systems change These are policies, practices, resource flow, relationships and connections, power dynamics, and mental models

These conditions are listed separately but, in reality, they can overlap and react to one another For example, change in the pediatric mental model of ACEs may trigger a policy change to conduct further evaluation prior to prescribing psychotropic drugs

Also, there can be conflict or friction between conditions. For example, changes in Palm Beach County practices might cause agitation and result in poor relationships between system partners

Work in changing mental models is less explicit and doesn’t result in immediate measures Rather, a way to see change is to monitor other conditions and ultimately it can affect the overall system itself

Historically, sector partners have worked at the explicit level of the inverted pyramid: policy, practices, and resource flow Action in these three structural conditions can generate quick results that are measurable using traditional methods However, if the semi-explicit and implicit system conditions are not addressed, change will likely have less impact and a lower likelihood of sustainability