Systems thinking helps us understand how elements interact within a wider system, tracing patterns, relationships and feedback over time. Complexity-aware practice complements this by focusing on what is emerging, where cause and effect are unclear, and how to stay adaptive as conditions shift.
In most real-world work, both are needed. The emphasis moves depending on context, from situations where structure and relationships can be mapped, to those where outcomes are uncertain and must be explored as they emerge.
The first section below offers quick starting points for different needs. The later sections provide a fuller map of the material, organised around three aspects of practice: understanding patterns and relationships, working with emergence and uncertainty, and bridging structure and emergence. These are not separate stages, and most situations draw on several at once.
Explore systems thinking and complexity resources on this site
The resources below support practical use of systems thinking and complexity-aware approaches in real-world settings. Some pages provide curated and annotated links to open-access tools, guides and frameworks from a range of organisations and practitioners. Others are my own reflections from practice on working with structure, emergence, learning and adaptation in complex, multi-actor settings. Use this section to find the most relevant starting point.
- If you are new to systems thinking and complexity-aware practice
Start with Reflections on systems thinking and complexity-aware approaches for a collection of practice-oriented posts on how these ideas show up in real-world work. - If you want tools and methods for mapping systems
Explore systems thinking tools and methods for practical approaches such as causal loop diagrams, rich pictures and stock-and-flow models. - If you are looking for systems thinking guides and frameworks
Go to systems thinking resources for curated and annotated links to open-access guides, frameworks and learning materials. - If you are working with emergence, uncertainty and adaptation
Visit complexity-aware resources and guides for resources that support sense-making, learning and adaptive practice. - If you are connecting systems thinking with evaluation
Explore complexity-aware monitoring, evaluation and learning and evaluation in complex settings for resources and reflections on evaluation when outcomes are uncertain. - If you are linking systems thinking with design and co-design
See systemic co-design and design thinking and co-design for curated and annotated links to resources on blending structure, participation and emergence in collaborative work. - If you are trying to hold structure and emergence together
Read Working between systems and complexity: a practitioner’s guide for a central reflection on moving between coherent structure and adaptive practice.
Understanding patterns and relationships
Seeing structure, connections, and leverage. This section focuses mainly on systems thinking approaches that help map and make sense of relationships, patterns, and feedback within complex situations.
Systems thinking and systemic design: working with complexity
This 2025 post by Will Allen explores how systems thinking and systemic design help navigate complex challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and social inequality. It highlights the importance of recognising interconnections, identifying leverage points, and using adaptive approaches to develop sustainable solutions. The post also introduces co-design as a key element in systemic design, ensuring that solutions are shaped collaboratively with those affected.
Systems thinking resources
Curated and annotated links to open-access guides, frameworks and learning materials that help practitioners apply systems thinking in real-world contexts. It highlights resources that explain systems concepts, identify leverage points, and support collaboration across complex settings. The collection links foundational readings with contemporary tools and courses, helping individuals and teams strengthen joined-up understanding, adaptive learning, and systemic approaches to change.
Systems thinking tools and methods
Practical tools, including causal loop diagrams, rich pictures, and stock-and-flow models for shared sense-making.
Systems thinking, systemic design, and systems innovation: what’s the difference?
This post offers a clear, practice-first guide to systems thinking, systemic design, systems innovation, and innovation systems – terms often used but seldom compared in plain language. It explores how they link, why clarity supports collaboration, and how each can strengthen projects and partnerships.
Working with emergence and uncertainty
Responding to what is unfolding. This section highlights complexity-aware thinking and practice, where outcomes are uncertain and the emphasis is on adaptation, learning, and responding to change as it happens.
Complexity-aware resources and guides
Curated and annotated links to open-access guides, frameworks and resources that support working with uncertainty, emergence and adaptation in real-world settings.
Complexity-aware monitoring, evaluation and learning (CAMEL)
How evaluation shifts when outcomes are uncertain, linking developmental evaluation, adaptive management, and sense-making approaches.
Evaluation in complex settings: reflections on practice and evaluator roles
A reflection on what evaluation looks like when change unfolds slowly and outcomes emerge over time.
Bridging structure and emergence
Using frameworks as scaffolding for learning. This section explores how systems thinking and complexity-aware practice are brought together in real-world work, linking structure with adaptability through approaches such as co-design and relational practice.
Working between systems and complexity: a practitioner’s guide
This introductory post explores the productive middle ground between structured and emergent ways of working. Draws on experience from collaborative long-term programmes, with practice-based questions for reflection. This is a central reflection for this section, linking the different strands of practice.
Systemic co-design
Systemic co-design integrates systems thinking and design thinking to support innovation and change in complex, multi-actor settings. It focuses on processes that blend structure and flexibility – combining mapping, visualisation, and co-creation to enable shared learning and adaptive action. The page curates key frameworks, guides, and reflections showing how co-design can foster inclusive, long-term collaboration and systems transformation across diverse contexts.
Design thinking and co-design
How design thinking and co-design interact with systems and complexity perspectives in collaborative work.
Working with complexity: Building relational foundations for systemic change
Managing change in complex settings takes more than better plans or new tools. It starts with building the relational foundations that enable collaboration, learning, and adaptation to develop and strengthen. This post explores how these foundations support systemic change, and how different approaches to relational, adaptive practice can help guide more sustainable and inclusive pathways forward.
Working well in complexity: seven foundational patterns
This post brings together seven foundational patterns that support joined-up work in complex settings. It outlines practical ways for teams to clarify purpose, surface assumptions, work relationally, and stay adaptive as conditions shift. The patterns draw on systems thinking, evaluation, co-design, and collaborative governance, offering a grounded reference point for practitioners wanting to connect systemic insight with day-to-day decisions.
Quick answers to common questions
What is systems thinking?
Systems thinking looks at relationships, feedback loops, and patterns across a whole situation rather than isolated parts. It helps reveal how changes in one area affect others, supporting decisions that address root causes rather than symptoms.
What is complexity-aware practice?
Complexity-aware practice recognises that outcomes in complex settings are often uncertain. Rather than relying on fixed plans, it focuses on learning, adaptation, and shared sense-making – helping teams stay responsive as conditions shift.
How do they relate to each other?
Systems thinking provides structure and coherence. Complexity-aware practice keeps attention on emergence and uncertainty. In practice, people move between the two – sometimes within the same piece of work – depending on what the situation requires.
When do I use one rather than the other?
When cause and effect are relatively clear and the challenge is to coordinate action, systems thinking helps most. When outcomes are uncertain and relationships are still forming, complexity-aware approaches become more important. Most real programmes involve both at different moments.
How does this connect with evaluation, co-design, and facilitation?
Systems and complexity thinking shape all three. Evaluation becomes more adaptive and learning-oriented. Co-design integrates mapping and emergence. Facilitation attends to both structure and what is surfacing in the room. Related resources are linked throughout this page and across the Social learning section.
For how systems and complexity thinking apply in collaborative settings, see Place-based approaches, Facilitation, and Working with resilience. For reflective and learning practices that support this work, see Reflective and reflexive practice and the Social learning hub. For evaluation connections, see Complexity-aware MEL and Theory of Change.
If you’re working in a similar space and would value short advisory or reflection support, you are welcome to get in touch. If you’ve found this page helpful, consider sharing it or signing up for occasional updates.
[* Image: Studio Romantic / Adobe Stock]