Places to Intervene

Donella Meadows' "Places to Intervene in a System" is a framework which uses the concept of different levels or levers for change. This framework presents a hierarchy of twelve leverage points that offer a range of strategic opportunities for intervention within a complex system.

Starting from the relatively low power of constants, numbers and parameters and moving up to the level of the mindset or paradigm under which the system operates. The hierarchy is helpful because it helps suggests interventions / leverage points and their potential impact on system behaviour. For practitioners, this means not just addressing the symptoms of a problem but engaging with the underlying structures and mindsets that perpetuate it.