Leadership Institute Co-Sponsors Systems Thinking Training for Non-Profit Organizations

Faith And The City Leadership Institute
May 2005

The Sustainability Institute and the Faith And The City Leadership Institute are pleased to offer a two-day training session, June 2-3, introducing the tools and use of systems thinking in the non-profit, education, public and service sectors. The for-profit business sector has long understood the value of systems thinking to “bottom line” strategies. Here is an opportunity for organizations that serve the common good to explore systems approaches to the bottom lines — social sustainability or what we might call “wellth.”

The persistent challenges that show up most in our communities — chronic disease, environmental degradation, racism, traffic, poverty, the growing gap between haves and have-nots — often share common characteristics and related causes. They defy quick fixes, they build and dissipate slowly over time, they are rarely “owned” by any organization but affect all, and their components are tightly coupled. These challenges are “systems problems.” Capacities for exploring systems approaches to overcoming them could lead to breakthroughs and different outcomes.

“Systems thinking” was invented in the 1950s at MIT. Systems thinking uses diagramming and simulation modeling to help groups of people improve their understanding of how to improve the way we do things in a range of social/physical systems. Our world is organized in systems – cities and metro areas, health care and education, social service and community development agencies, faith communities, commerce and industry, ecosystems – and all are mutually dependent upon and influenced by the other. This is the reality of all living organisms.

Session Leadership

Lead trainer for the session, Drew Jones of the Sustainability Institute, has trained a wide range of leaders in systems thinking and simulation modeling. He has run workshops for dozens of non-profit organizations, taught students at M.I.T., and co-designed a course for business consultants at Arthur Andersen. He was lead trainer for Visteon Corporation’s (an outgrowth of Ford) systems thinking and modeling course for two years and co-developed LEAD International’s systems thinking course, which is now being taught in 20 developing countries. Other training clients include the World Bank/I.F.C., The Foundation Incubator, and the Red Cross. He lectures on system dynamics at the University of North Carolina at Asheville, Duke University, and UNC-Chapel Hill.

Jones studied system dynamics simulation modeling, causal mapping, and facilitation through an undergraduate degree at Dartmouth (where Donella Meadows was his mentor) and a master’s degree at MIT (where he studied and did research under Professors John Sterman and Peter Senge). Many of the examples from the Sustainability Institute workshops he leads grow out of the organization’s research and consulting work in forestry, community development, manufacturing, urban growth, global climate change, public health, and other public interest areas.

Session Details

June 2-3, 2005
Thursday - Friday
9am - 5pm

Logan Room
Woodruff Center for Volunteer Services
100 Edgewood Avenue NE
Atlanta, Georgia 30303

Registration
$595 per person
$895 for two persons from the same organization
(Lunches and all materials are include)
Limited scholarships are available

Register early. Class size will be limited to maximize opportunities for coaching and interaction.

To register or for more information, click here. http://www.faithandthecity.org/resources/education/Seminar.shtml

For more information on the Sustainability Institute, visit www.sustainabilityinstitute.org.