System Mediation

At the crossroads of efforts to bring about change

It's almost become commonplace in recent years to say that the evolving climate and biodiversity crises, the pandemic, growing conflict and many other world crises have triggered some profound soul-searching. Like many others, we, the 4 co-authors of this post, began an individual and then collective journey to ask ourselves what we could bring to our communities in a context where, despite all the efforts we see around us, we feel we need to do more, much more!

Our collective journey began at LLio’s Social Innovation Forum in Rivière-du-Loup a year ago, and continued during the Café at the edge of the world hosted by the Wolf Willow Institute. By sharing our different experiences and insights, it became clear to us that there is a space of action and intervention to be explored at the intersection of systems and institutions.

Our experience spans various overlapping domains, including social innovation, technology, government and community. We've also had the chance to work with a wide variety of stakeholders (NFP's, governments, corporations, universities and philanthropic organizations), and have been involved in projects seeking to address complex issues at different scales across Quebec, Canada and around the world.

Collectively, our work has led to the creation of new structures and initiatives, as well as innovative projects, helping to consolidate or strengthen existing organizations, networks and communities. Whether it's through the incubation of social innovation models, experimenting with partnership approaches to smart cities, supporting networks of climate leaders, or capacity-building for not-for-profit organizations - there's no shortage of system-change initiatives that we've been involved in. However, both through our own projects, as well as those we observe, we are left with the impression that the deep-seated transformations and systemic changes so often hoped for rarely materialize, or if they do are not sustained. Despite this difficult reality, we remain deeply committed to the idea that intentional change within and between systems is essential. The urgency of the situation compels us to seek a response together, one that is transformational, as well as caring and anchored in concrete improvement.

As we will discuss in a forthcoming post, there are many different approaches and definitions of systems actors, and their respective roles. Our individual experiences have led us to pay attention to the intersections, and spaces “in between” that have been less explored to date. We have found that the large-scale collective endeavours that worked best - those with the ability to achieve impacts at different scales - were characterized by people playing a very active role in mediating between stakeholders and, more specifically, between the systems involved; a kind of acupuncture approach linking individual, organizational and systemic dimensions.

This mediation role has mythic, yet obscure qualities. It is described as being exercised behind the scenes, and is frequently carried out by a single person, conscious of the need to align goals and ensure that all parties are deeply and actively involved. Those playing this role also have the courage to point out things that are unspoken, with compassion and understanding, in order to mitigate inconsistencies or tensions that could derail large-scale initiatives.

The reality is that this role is often voluntary, undefined, and operates without a clear mandate. It is precarious and liable to be overlooked if the person carrying it out switches jobs, or simply burns out taking on tasks that are not his or her responsibility. We feel it's necessary to extend the scope and understanding of this role, so that it's not just the responsibility of one person, but is seen as a collective undertaking.

We have therefore decided to take a closer look at the notion of mediation on a systems scale, which in future we will refer to as systems mediation. As we mention above, this is nothing new, many people do this work, often without naming it and generally without it being recognized. In fact, over the past year since we began delving into and discussing this concept, many people have either recognized themselves in this role, identified the existence of such actors in their ecosystems, or wished to see their presence in their work. To meet complex challenges, people acknowledge that to ensure alignment and collaboration between heterogeneous stakeholders with different worldviews, it's not possible to rely on goodwill alone.

In light of these findings, we feel it's crucial to understand this role more clearly, to define it, determine its scope, and ensure that initiatives aimed at creating systems change explicitly account for the need for intentional and shared systemic mediation.

We have been wrestling with the question of how to bring this vision forward. How to give ourselves the time and space to explore this subject, and be able to work on it, while recognizing that many people are already involved in these issues, and with the understanding that our perspective is limited by our identity and experience.

We have chosen to launch an initiative called "Transition Bridges Project", because we believe that systems mediation is about building bridges, bridges that link people and ways of thinking together. For the moment, this initiative has no organizational home. We're embarking on a journey, hoping to open up the discussion and explore how these ideas might resonate with people. We don't believe that this is a miracle solution, but rather that by suggesting alternative configurations and approaches, we can better meet shared objectives.

In the coming weeks and months, we'll be sharing our reflections in greater depth. We'll be taking a closer look at existing approaches to systems work (of which there are many!), sharing concrete examples of what we are calling systems mediation, and, if the planets align, sharing some of our first experimentations with systems mediation.

We have decided to share our thinking, which is still in its early stages, in a spirit of openness and exchange. We hope that our work will enable those working in the field of systems change to think about their role from a different vantage point. However, this reflection can only grow if it encompasses multiple perspectives. The relevance of this approach will only be validated through a multitude of perspectives. So, if our initiative resonates with you, we'd love to hear from you!