Module 4: System Mapping

• Introduce facilitators
• Provide context for the session (why are we here?)
• Allow participant introductions if they are unacquainted
• Consider adding a few minutes to the agenda to:
  • build rapport through an ice-breaker activity
  • review ground rules to ensure a good discussion

• If this is one of several activities, consider using a visual agenda to situate this activity within the day’s events.
• A list of rules of engagement posted in the room during the meeting is a visual reminder of the group’s commitment to support a good discussion.

• Why and when we use system maps:
  • To understand the complexity of the topic.
  • To recognize the interactions and relationships among elements. Changing one element can have wide-reaching and often unintended consequences on the whole system.
  • Very useful in building a common mental model of the system.
  • Best used early in the foresight process as it sets the stage for subsequent work (knowing where to scan, ensuring coverage of certain topics, etc.).
  • It is often useful to develop a domain map before a system map.

• Remind participants that a system map is a representation of a system, rather than the system itself. There is no “right way” to draw one.
• Provide an example of a system map:
  • E.g. For the system map of values, the group identified:
    • actors using yellow sticky notes (e.g. government, media, citizens)
    • processes using blue sticky notes (e.g. lobbying, policy development)
    • The group indicated directions of influence using arrows and words.
    • e.g. connections between actors: media targets citizens; citizens digest media.

• Organize the teams—ideally 4–7 participants per team.
• If groups will self-facilitate, provide written instructions (including approximate time for each step) to guide their mapping and assign leaders for each team, or ask for volunteers.
• Assign the systems to be mapped.
• Have teams assemble around their whiteboards, allowing extra time if groups are relocating to breakout rooms.

• If groups are self-facilitating, consider having a facilitator and an assistant check in on them, particularly if using breakout rooms.
• If available, assign facilitators with experience in system mapping to lead each team map.

4. Activity: create system maps (40 minutes)

• If groups are self-facilitating, consider budgeting more time and ensure each group has:
  • a group member designated as facilitator/recorder
  • a copy of the system mapping selffacilitation handout
• We can think of a system map as a diagram of the connections among various layers of information.
  • More specifically: Actors use processes that operate within structures to achieve certain functions (outcomes).
• The first question(s) to ask when developing a system map are:
  • Who are the actors in this system?
  • What are the processes in this system?
  • What are the structures in this system?
  • What are the functions in this system?

• Note that a system map will often focus on only one or two of these dimensions.
  • Write the elements the groups generates on the page.
    • Using post-its on a white board is a good way to do this. Colour coding may also help if you are mapping multiple dimensions (e.g. actors in red, structures in blue)

• The second set of questions to consider relates to the relationships between elements:
  • Look for the flow of people, money, information, influence, etc.
  • Begin to draw lines and arrows showing which elements are related to which other elements in the system.
  • Where possible, use a word to define each relationship, e.g. A funds B, X regulates Y.

• The third set of questions relates to outside influences shaping the system:
  • What are some sources of change that are acting on the system (from the outside)?
  • Possible examples: population aging, climate change (This question relates to the topic of change drivers , which are discussed in module 5.)
• Final step: Label the maps with the system map subject, so they are clear to others.

• For small groups/ teams, it can be more engaging if everyone has a marker and can work on the map together.

• As it is easy to lose focus during a mapping exercise, so keep your participants on topic.

• A system map discussion can reveal new awareness of the assumptions about the system (e.g. What functions are assumed to exist? What constraints are assumed?)

• If a statement is raised that doesn’t have an obvious fit on the map, the facilitator can record it on a sticky and put it aside.

5. Review the participants’ system maps (10 minutes)

• If using breakout rooms, bring participants back to the large common room with their maps.
• Ask for a representative from each group to share a few points from their system map (allow approximately 2 minutes per group).

Alternative: If maps will not be reviewed again by participants, allow them some time during this meeting to walk around the room to see how other groups have described their systems.
This option might require an additional 5 minutes, depending on the number of maps.

6. Summarize key points about system maps and the exercise (10 minutes)

• If foresight learning is a key objective of the exercise (as opposed to content development), ask participants to share observations on thinking about this subject in a systems way. Possible discussion questions:
  • How has this exercise affected how you see your system?
  • What worked well? What was tricky?
  • Any observations when looking at other system maps?
  • Invite volunteer/assigned facilitators to share their perspectives.
  • Ask if participants noticed new assumptions through this exercise.

• Some things to point out:
  • There is no correct way to do a systems map.
  • This is about the discussion and seeing a system in a holistic way. Hearing others’ perspectives helps break us out of our own thinking and makes us aware of our unexamined assumptions.

• Concluding remarks about system mapping:
  • With this exercise, the group is developing a shared mental model of the subject.
  • Highlight the iterative nature of the exercise—maps tend to get better over time:
    • The involvement of subject matter experts can be helpful in refining the map.
    • Elements can be added or removed as understanding changes.
    • Consensus on what is involved in the system map may evolve.

• Consider leaving the maps in a shared place for participants to access (even if photos are saved in a folder). The map can suggest topics for participants to scan. Participants might even revisit the map and add to it if they know the map will be referred to again (e.g. if it will be refined eventually for a publication).
• If the system maps will be revisited and revised, indicate by whom, how and when.

7. Reflect on and/or evaluate the exercise (10 minutes)

• Give participants an opportunity to provide feedback on the exercise.
• This might take the form of:
  • Q&A discussion
  • Participant completion of an evaluation form
  • Informal evaluation—On their way out of the room, participants are asked to post one comment on a sticky note for each of two wall headings:
    • What Worked?
    • What Could be Better?

• Provide evaluation forms or sticky notes as appropriate.