Sustainability Institute offers the following workshops in systems thinking, as well as custom-designed trainings to meet a variety of capacity-building and applications.
Joanna and Fran Macy Workshop- Taking Heart in Tough Times
A weekend workshop offered January 25th-27th, 2008 at Sumner Mansion in Hartland, Vermont. Taking Heart in Tough Times equips us to perceive and take part in the Great Turning, the epochal shift from the industrial growth society to a life-sustaining society.
Introduction to Systems Thinking: Applications for the Non-profit, Education and Public Sectors
Every year or so, Sustainability Institute offers a 2-day training session introducing the tools and use of systems thinking in the non-profit, education, public and service sectors. The training is open to individuals or small groups on a price-per-seat basis. Limited scholarships are available. To add your name to the list of people who will be notified when registration is open, please email Drew Jones.
Systems Thinking for Leaders in Social Change
A one day introductory course, it presents three concrete, practical leadership tips derived from the fields of systems thinking and system dynamics. Highly interactive, it includes gaming, group discussion, and causal mapping.
We present this workshop in two forms: a one day session to train leaders or a two-to-four day "train the trainers" workshop where we provide trainers with a 50 page "facilitators manual" and prepare them to teach others the workshop.
How distinctive from other workshop offerings: Our most practical, simplest, lowest-tech, best-documented course. The only one we teach with the hopes of others teaching it in turn.
Read more (pdf)...
University Courses
Our staff designs and delivers University courses and guest lectures on
systems thinking and system dynamics. Topic areas include causal loop
diagramming, simulation modeling, systems thinking games and interactive exercises. We also offer seminars on the content areas of our research (e.g., commodity systems, forestry, agriculture, energy utility policy, and diabetes).
Recent engagements include projects at Smith College, University of
Peace (Costa Rica), University of Virginia (Darden Business School),
Duke University (Fuqua Business School), and University of North
Carolina (Asheville and Chapel Hill).
For sample descriptions, see:
- Systems Thinking for Sustainable Enterprise, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.
Resources:
- Systems Thinking Workshop flier (121KB pdf)