Systemness is a Systems Leadership Academy designed to co-create wholistic social systems that serve whole people.
The Academy teaches systems-building principles, shares concrete examples of the ideas in action, and provides a space to practice the skills. The course is designed to empower experienced collaborative and/or systems leaders to approach and address complex social problems from a systems perspective.
The experience is ideal for (1) people who want to be better system thinkers; (2) leaders who want to create an authentic unity among a diverse group of stakeholders; and (3) communities that want to use a coherent, wholistic approach to address complex social
problems. It is particularly suited for participants with several years of experience designing and operating collaborative work in leadership positions to affect change.
The course is taught by the practitioners from CivicLab, a nonprofit institute dedicated to advancing the practice of civic collaboration.
The 2025 Systems Leadership Academy is an in-depth two and a half day lab that teaches systems-building principles, shares concrete examples of the ideas in action, and provides a space to practice systems building tools and frameworks.
Wednesday, October 1, 2025 - Friday, October 3, 2025
The 2025 Systems Leadership Academy will be held on Wednesday, October 1 through Friday, October 3 at the Wingspread Retreat and Executive Conference Center in partnership with the Johnson Foundation at Wingsrpead in Racine, Wisconsin. Designed around Frank Lloyd Wright’s Wingspread, the conference center is just 35 minutes from Milwaukee and 90 minutes from Chicago.
A social problem is a tangled knot: A social problem is not one thing. It’s a tangled knot of different kinds of interrelated and interacting problems. Our approach must match the complexity of the problem’s structure. An ecosystem approach sorts problems into four habitats based on the nature of the relationship between cause and effect.
Organizing around contexts, not problems: Instead of organizing teams around “what” a problem is about, an ecosystem approach organizes people around “how” a problem is structured. Structure is always a trade-off between scale and complexity. One organizing structure cannot do two different things.
It’s a system thing, not a single thing: Systemness is about achieving a harmonious balance between scale and complexity to create a wholistic system. The “system” is how we work together.
It’s better to dissolve a problem than solve it: If we don’t address a problem systemically, we will end up solving the same problem, over and over again.
If it remains invisible, it remains unchangable: To change a system, we must first be able to see it and interact with it. Sometimes systems change is not so much in the think of it but in the feel of it.
Solve for one, extend to many: Improving the macro system starts with the micro. We can't help a thousand people until we understand how to help one.
Leading systems: As leaders, we can build and organize a system that learns how to address any emerging issue, whether now or in the future.
CivicLab is now accepting applications for the Systemness Leadership Academy. The cost to participate in the 2025 Systemness Leadership Academy is $2,750.
The Academy includes:
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