Complexity & change

Systems Thinking for Organisational Transformation

See the patterns. Change the conditions.

Understand what keeps familiar problems in place and where you can make a difference.

Explore how power, feedback and organisational routines shape behaviour. Learn to choose where to intervene, test your approach and adapt as conditions change.

  • Recurring patterns
  • Power & relationships
  • Points of influence
  • Learning through change
What you’ll take into your work

Find where your effort can change the pattern.

Build a clearer diagnosis.

Trace a recurring problem through decisions, relationships and routines. Define a boundary you can work with and test what you think is keeping the pattern in place.

Choose a change worth testing.

Compare possible interventions, consider who could benefit or carry the risk, and decide what to try first. Make your assumptions clear enough to learn from them.

Keep learning as conditions change.

Notice what your action changes, including delays and unexpected effects. Use those signals to refine your approach and decide whether to continue, adapt or stop.

Is this course for you?

You believe organisations can work differently.

You care about what organisations make possible for people. You want to understand how familiar ways of working take shape and where a different approach could open up change.

You’re curious about what lies beneath the problem.

When the same issue returns, you want to understand the forces that sustain it. You’re ready to look at how decisions, incentives and relationships interact, and to question explanations that feel too easy.

You want change to be fairer as well as effective.

You care about the people who live with organisational decisions. You want to think through who benefits, who may carry a new burden and how your choices could open up better possibilities.

You’re ready to experiment with purpose.

You’re drawn to trying a new approach and paying attention to what emerges. You want to make thoughtful choices, learn from the results and adjust your next move.

Bring an issue you care about. Find a different way to work with it.

Course outline

What you'll explore.

Four connected themes, with 20 modules.

Systems Thinking for Practice: Diagnosing Patterns and Shifting Conditions 5 modules

In this themeBegin with what keeps happening, and look at the boundaries, purpose and power that shape it.

  1. Systems Are Built
  2. Reading The System Through Power
  3. Boundary Setting: Choosing a Unit of Change
  4. Purpose as Behaviour: What the System Optimises For
  5. Emergence & Pattern Spotting: From Events to Structures
Why Change Stalls: Feedback, Friction, and Organisational Pushback 5 modules

In this themeExplore how feedback, delays and friction can sustain a pattern, even when people are trying to change it.

  1. Why Fixes Fail: Feedback Loops, Delays, and Unintended Effects
  2. Control, Compliance, and Workarounds
  3. When Pressure Distorts Learning
  4. The Cost of Friction: Rework, Delay, and Organisational Drag
  5. Defensive Systems: Why Organisations Protect the Pattern
Finding Leverage: Designing Interventions That Shift Conditions 5 modules

In this themeLook for places where a change in decisions, relationships or routines could influence wider behaviour.

  1. From Symptoms to Conditions: Choosing Leverage Under Real Constraints
  2. Decision Rights, Information Flow, and Incentives
  3. Designing Safe-to-Try Pilots
  4. Equity-Centred Intervention Design
  5. Tracking Signals That Are Hard to Fake
Making Change Stick: Learning, Adaptation, and Systems Stewardship 5 modules

In this themeBuild learning and review into your approach so you can adjust as conditions change and sustain what is working.

  1. From Intervention to Practice: Embedding New Ways of Working
  2. Learning Loops for Teams and Leadership
  3. Psychological Safety, Voice, and Honest Adaptation
  4. Stewarding Change Across Power Differences
  5. Review, Adapt, Repeat: Building a Living Systems Practice
From reflection to practice

Put one assumption to the test.

Start with a situation you know well. Look at how it works, choose an idea to test and decide what would help you learn from the result.

  • Define a boundary you can influence
  • Explore what may be sustaining the pattern
  • Choose a change and signals to follow
Try a reflection prompt

Take a closer look at one issue.

Choose a reflection prompt

Describe one issue that has returned more than once. What repeats across the different occasions?

Dr. Teia Rogers

Dr. Teia Rogers

Founder & Executive Director of JRNY Consulting

Meet the founder

Learning rooted in practice.

Teia brings nearly 18 years of experience in humanitarian and development work, combining senior programme leadership with research, evaluation, and organisational learning. She holds a PhD in Development Studies.

Her doctoral research focused on displacement and social strain, using comparative analysis to examine how different social conditions combine to shape people’s experiences and responses.

Her project leadership spans humanitarian response, peacebuilding, mine action, gender equality, and community mental health. Her work includes evaluations across several countries, evidence synthesis, and frameworks that help teams learn and adapt.

For you, this brings together:

  • Research rigour to help you assess evidence and make sound choices about your methods.
  • Programme experience that recognises the pressures, constraints and complexity of your work.
  • Reflective challenge to help you test assumptions, consider alternatives and develop your own judgement.
Explore Teia’s work
Choose your access

How would you like to learn?

Focus on systems thinking, explore the course library or learn with a facilitated group.

Single course

£65 one-off

Self-paced access to Systems Thinking for Organisational Transformation.

  • Four connected themes on organisational change
  • Patterns, power, feedback and places to intervene
  • Lifetime access to this course
  • 12 months of practitioner community access
  • Certificate of completion
Ask about this course

JRNY 360 membership

£29 / month

Access the JRNY 360 course library.

£174 with annual access

  • Access to every JRNY 360 course
  • A 30-minute coaching call
  • Live online learning events
  • Practitioner community and resource library

Confirm your payment option at checkout.

Explore membership

Facilitated cohort

£175 4 weeks

Explore learning with a facilitated group.

  • Weekly live sessions and guided practice
  • Space to work through questions with others
  • A cohort toolkit and community
  • Session recordings
  • Lifetime access to the course
Ask about a cohort

Learning with a team? Talk to us about tailored access

A few questions before you start

Before you begin.

Do I need to have studied systems thinking before?

The opening theme introduces boundaries, purpose and recurring patterns before moving into feedback and change. Start with a situation you know well and build your understanding as you work through the ideas.

What if I don’t have authority to change the whole organisation?

Choose a boundary you can influence, such as a decision process, a team routine or a partnership. Use the learning to identify a change you could test and consider whose support you may need.

Can I work through the course at my own pace?

Yes. The single-course option is self-paced and includes lifetime access to the course, so you can revisit the material as you put it into practice.

How is membership different from a single course?

A single-course purchase gives you access to this course. Membership offers access across the JRNY 360 library alongside coaching, live events and the practitioner community.

Can I try JRNY 360 before choosing a paid course?

Yes. Inside the Shift is a free mini course featuring selected lessons from across the library. Explore the free course.

Can you shape a learning pathway for my team?

JRNY offers tailored access and curated pathways for organisations. Tell us about your context and what you want the learning to support.

Open up a different way forward.

Take an issue you care about and explore the conditions around it. Start building a change you can test, learn from and develop.

Choose your access