Living Systems

We think of systems as simply behaviour that keeps happening. Systems are all around us, from the transport system to the respiratory system, our world is organised by these systems or patterns.

When collaborating in groups, or working with other people in different ways, there will also be systems that are shaping the behaviour in that space. These might be explicit or implicit, chosen or inherited systems. 

Often in our social movements we are trying to find better, more equitable, more effective ways of working together that do not reproduce oppressive dynamics dominant in wider society. In Navigate, we talk about this attention to how we work together, what we do to support effective, ongoing collaboration, Living Systems. 

By Living Systems we mean the ways of handling things like making decisions, engaging with conflict, or organising support. We can think of Living Systems as a set of agreements, but they are three-dimensional and dynamic - more than just policies or procedures. 

There are many ways of cutting the cake, but we talk about seven systems:

• Decision Making: Who makes what decisions, and what is the process for decision making

• Conflict Engagement: What happens when there is conflict

• Resource Flow: How do we get and distribute resources - skills, people, money, spaces etc.,

• Information Flow: How does information move around

• Care & Support: How do we organise support

• Connection & Community: How do we care for our relationships and sense of community

• Feedback: How can we support feedback to flow and be integrated effectively?