An iterative approach to systems mapping.

Case Study: How to identify enablers and barriers in a complex system — a case study on systems mapping

“We’ve been dancing around these core issues for years — it’s so powerful to see the ripple effects and relationships.”

You might have heard about systems mapping and wondered how you can use it on a project, particularly one where you are dealing with a complex system.

This case study of systems mapping to explore the enablers and barriers to reaching more learners in the Literacy and Basic Skills sector shows one approach to using this tool to gain deeper insight into the dynamics impacting a system.

The Challenge and Opportunity

Literacy and Basic Skills (LBS) is an adult learning stream within the Ministry of Labour, Training, and Skills Development, and AlphaPlus is one of several support organizations. The pandemic moved the sector to a tipping point, forcing many service providers to quickly adapt in-person learning initiatives to remote ones, adding more strain to an already challenging service landscape. This project aimed to identify and prioritize a roadmap for moving the sector forward and increasing capacity through digital learning.

AlphaPlus supports the LBS system by helping adult literacy education providers incorporate digital technology into their services, bridging the gap between an organization’s current skills and new technologies. The pandemic necessitated the move from in-person to online learning, creating many challenges for providers within the LBS system who already lacked the capacity and resources to meet the demands of their learners. To address these challenges, the Ministry engaged AlphaPlus to work alongside stakeholders to identify gaps and priorities for digital services and tools for learners, educators, and organizations. These findings informed a roadmap that enhanced the LBS system’s capacity to deliver more services remotely and expand the blended learning opportunities to adults across Ontario.

Our Approach

Made Manifest took a systems thinking approach to visualize and understand the challenges within the current LBS sector. Leveraging ongoing consultations with learners, educators, and organizations from across Ontario, the team used this data to create a detailed systems map illustrating the key system dynamics, barriers, and opportunity areas. This map illuminated a new perspective on increasing digital capacity in the system.

The system map illustrates relationships in the Literacy and Basic Skills (LBS) system — including the core elements that impact the entire system, the capacity and resource factors, technological factors, and funding influences — and shows, ultimately, how all these factors impact learners. The diagram can help in identifying opportunities to gain leverage as well as learn what the system is and how to engage it effectively.

Made Manifest worked closely with AlphaPlus and the public sector consultancy, Cathexis, to provide a different perspective on the system dynamics and bring about new ways of working in the consultations with key stakeholders and users. The team observed eight consultations with educators, learners, and administrators from francophone, anglophone, deaf, and aboriginal communities. These consultations provided the foundational knowledge required to identify the challenges as well as the relational dynamics that exist within the LBS system.

A series of system maps were generated over several weeks, which helped to provide context and clarity regarding the current system. Ultimately, the system map is a tool for AlphaPlus to better understand the core systemic barriers and enablers to more technology use, the key relationships within the system, and the ultimate impact on learners of all these factors.

The system map enabled the team to better understand the key “stories” that reinforce system dynamics and have helped identify opportunities for AlphaPlus to gain leverage to expand learning opportunities for adults across Ontario.

A companion report to the system map outlined key systems dynamics and feedback loops in order to provide further insight from the system map.

Project Outcomes

“We’ve been trying to make a system diagram for so long but struggled to do it ourselves. This system visual is unique and helpful.”

By the end of the project, AlphaPlus had a system map, which they had struggled in the past to produce on their own, and a new perspective on system dynamics. This map not only provided them with a clear understanding of the current state of the LBS system but also provided the insight into key leverage points that AlphaPlus, as well as the Ministry, could tackle to expand the use of technology and, therefore, increase the reach of adult literacy programs across Ontario.

Applying Systems Mapping on Your Projects

From this work there were a few lessons learned that you might consider if you want to explore system mapping on your next project:

• Leveraging existing data sets and consultations: in this project, we piggy backed on ongoing consultations in order to gather context about the system. You can use existing data from desk research and talking to SMEs in order to gather the material you need for your systems map.
• Working iteratively: systems — and by extension systems maps — are complicated. You can expect to create and evolve many versions of the map — collaboratively co-creating a view of the system.
• Making meaning: in order to gain the most insight and utility from the map, you can isolate key feedback loops and document what they mean. On our project, we used a complimentary report to support understanding and interacting with the system map.

Systems mapping can be a powerful tool when dealing with complexity! Hope you feel inspired to try it on an upcoming project.

A big thank you to the AlphaPlus and Made Manifest team for all of their work grappling with this system map, and Cathexis who conducted the consultations.