I am looking forward to introduce the community to systems thinking with the workshop: “Systems Thinking in Action”.
My mission is to help people navigate complexity, who want to make a positive contribution in the world. Many people are starting out very motivated to make a positive contribution in the world and there are many different ways to do so. Some people work at municipalities, others start their own impact ventures. But somewhere along the way, they get stuck in complexity. My mission is to help people to navigate complexity, so they can make their contribution. I have always been fascinated by interconnectedness and the place where I could see it most clearly was in nature. Therefor I studied Geo-ecology and dove deeply into the interconnectedness of natural ecosystems. This gave me a strong practical foundation in systems thinking and an appreciation for complexity. I worked on my first systems map for my master thesis and discovered the power of this visual approach to complexity. Since 2019, I have used my systems thinking and mapping skills to support social systems change.
Over the years, I have worked on projects on many different scales and topics. From supporting small impact entrepreneurs, to working with NGO’s and governmental organisations, working on topics such as diversity and inclusion, the circular economy or resilient neighbourhoods. When working with complexity, the typical consulting approach of coming in and giving advice on how to make improvements does not work.
Instead, I help people to talk to each other, think for themselves and discover ways to embed their goals in the patterns of the system. Because of this, I have also discovered my passion for teaching and coaching.
I teach online through the Systems Innovation Platform and in person through custom team workshops, at events and conferences and as part of university courses.Irrespective of the scale or topic of the complex challenge that I am working with, there are certain questions that I ask every time, that help to reveal the patterns of the system. I have developed a set of systems thinking question cards and a workshop to share these questions with others.Since 2022, I am the representative of the Systems Innovation Netherlands Hub and have co-organised many events to bring people together who want to contribute to systems change, to learn from and support each other.
