Scaling is often understood as taking a successful approach and expanding it to new places or larger populations. Yet in complex, multi-actor settings such as development, environmental management, health, and community-led change, change rarely travels so neatly. This post reflects on how thinking about scaling has shifted, and what it can look like to grow work across contexts in ways that remain meaningful, locally owned, and able to last.
Many years ago, when I first worked in agricultural extension, scaling was usually described in quite simple terms. You would trial something with a small group of farmers, refine the approach, and if it worked, the next step was to roll it out more widely. It was a tidy logic that suited the way projects were funded and assessed. Yet across different farms and communities, it was clear that what succeeded in one place could falter in another.
Looking back, much of the attention was on perfecting the thing being scaled, rather than understanding what helped people make sense of it and carry it in their own way. The focus was often on individual farms changing practice, rather than on how the wider catchment or system might need to shift for that change to hold.
Over time, work in this space has moved beyond individual farm systems into settings where change depends on many actors working together. Catchment initiatives, co-design processes, and collaborative environmental programmes brought a different set of questions. The focus is no longer just on encouraging uptake of an externally designed innovation, but on how people learn together, build trust, and shape the system conditions that make change possible. It has become clearer that scaling in complex settings is less about replication and more about supporting change to travel with integrity across contexts.
Why this focus on scaling now
Across many fields, there is growing recognition that good work often remains small or struggles to hold once project funding ends. This is not only an agricultural challenge. Climate adaptation, community health, education, and social change initiatives face similar issues when promising practice does not translate well across places. Recent thinking on the science of scaling highlights that many pilots still falter because the focus remains on the model, rather than on the people, relationships, and conditions that allow change to take root. Paying more thoughtful attention to scaling feels important now, not for bigger numbers, but to help worthwhile efforts grow in ways that stay meaningful and sustainable across contexts.
If your work involves supporting change across different actors or places, you may find the companion pages useful. They offer a short overview of current thinking on scaling and a set of curated resources for those wanting to explore the ideas in practice.
What sits at the heart of scaling now
Thinking about scale has shifted. Rather than treating it as a matter of reaching more people or as a phase that follows a successful pilot, many now see scaling as an ongoing process of supporting change to travel well. Across sectors, different traditions use different language, but most now rest on three linked elements. These three elements help us keep scale grounded in both people and place.
- Reach – Supporting ideas and practices to move across places or groups in ways that leave room for local interpretation and ownership.
- Meaning and capability – Deepening understanding, relationships, and the skills needed to adapt and sustain the work over time.
- Enabling conditions – Shaping the wider environment so that positive practice holds. This includes policy, resourcing, structures, and the stories and norms that influence behaviour.
Earlier conversations focused mainly on reach. Experience has shown that spread without meaning, capability, and enabling conditions rarely sticks, and can even undermine the very qualities that made the work valuable in the first place. These elements are most helpful when treated as interdependent, with each one strengthening the others over time.
Some find the language of scaling out, scaling deep, and scaling up useful as a simple way to hold these three elements together. The risk is treating them as separate tasks to complete, rather than connected influences that move at different speeds and reinforce each other. It can also be tempting to treat them as a checklist, when they are better seen as lenses to hold together over time.
Variations of this framing are now used in different sectors, including health, education, and social change. Some approaches draw on social movement thinking, emphasising momentum, collective identity, and renewed waves of action as change travels. Others sit closer to implementation science, aiming to support wider uptake while strengthening the cultural and systemic shifts that help change hold. While the language varies, the shared thread is a move away from simple roll-outs and towards scaling that pays attention to people, meaning, and conditions for sustainment.
What this looks like in practice
In real settings, scaling usually unfolds in small steps rather than grand leaps. It grows through choices that keep the work relational and grounded in place. This is different from the more familiar pattern of designing a model, testing it, then expecting others to replicate it faithfully. When scaling is approached as shared stewardship rather than rollout, the work shifts from enforcing consistency to enabling local agency, learning, and adaptation.
While each context is different, a few habits seem to support scaling in ways that hold both integrity and local relevance.
- Creating learning networks that help people share insight and shape practice together.
- Designing for variation from the outset so others adapt rather than adopt.
- Paying attention to capability, relationships, and trust as part of the work, not as add-ons.
- Involving those who influence system settings early so learning can inform policy and institutions over time.
- Recognising that slowing, reshaping, or even stopping activity can be part of scaling well.
These habits encourage reach, meaning, and enabling conditions to evolve together, rather than pull in separate directions. They also remind us that scaling is less about expanding a model and more about supporting others to interpret, shape, and carry the work in ways that fit their place. It takes patience and care, especially as people navigate uncertainty, pace, and the shared responsibility of growing change well.
Principles that support scaling in complex systems
Over time, certain principles have shown themselves to be helpful when supporting change to travel and take root across different settings. They encourage a way of working that stays attentive to place, people, and the wider system that holds patterns in place.
Start with context
Begin by understanding the landscape, relationships, and incentives that shape what is possible. Rather than focusing only on the innovation, pay attention to who is involved, what matters to them, and what might support or limit change in their place.
Work with others as partners
Meaningful scaling grows when people shape, test, and adapt ideas together. Involving those most affected in the learning, design, and reflection helps change stay relevant and strengthens local ownership.
Keep a systems view
Scaling is more than reaching more people. It is a chance to strengthen the conditions that support ongoing learning and improvement. Look at the flows of knowledge, resources, and influence that will help change hold and evolve.
Make room to adapt
Return to your approach regularly. Notice what is shifting, where energy is building, and where support is thin. Adapt plans as you go, treating iteration as part of stewarding change, not a sign that something was wrong.
Together, these principles create the conditions for scaling that is thoughtful, grounded, and more likely to endure. They encourage a practice that is shared rather than imposed, and that grows through learning, trust, and steady attention to what each place needs to thrive. These principles invite us to grow change with care rather than speed.
Building in reflection and adaptation
The principles above are most helpful when they are lived, not just noted. As work begins to travel across places or partners, it can help to pause and reflect together on questions such as:
- How is the local context shaping what is possible now, and what might shift over time?
- Who is shaping this work, and who else needs to be invited to build shared ownership?
- Where do power, resources, or decision rights sit, and how might they be used to support change to last?
- What signs would we look for in a year’s time to show that the change is holding with meaning, not only reach?
Coming back to these questions over time can help teams stay attentive to people, place, and the system conditions that support change to take root and endure. And remember that these reflection points can be built into regular meetings or learning reviews, not just at project milestones. As you do this, look for qualitative stories and small-scale signals of progress—not just numbers—so that learning includes the depth, context, and lived meaning that support change which lasts.
Ongoing tensions and bringing it together
Even with this shift in thinking, many of us still work within systems that favour short pilots, quick wins, and visible numbers. It is often easier to report on how many people adopted a practice than to understand whether it became meaningful, or whether the surrounding system is now more supportive. Funding and evaluation settings do not always allow room for the relational and reflective work that scaling in complex settings requires.
If we view scaling as stewarding change across contexts, the work becomes less about replicating a model and more about supporting others to interpret, shape, and sustain change in their place, while helping the wider environment adjust around it. It is an ongoing, relational process that involves learning, adaptation, and attention to what holds patterns in place.
To support those exploring this further, I have created two companion pages. One page offers a short overview of current thinking, and the other curates tools, guides, and articles for practice:
- Approaches to scaling in complex settings – an overview and responses to common questions
- Scaling resources for complex settings – curated links to tools, guides, and articles
Scaling in complex settings is not primarily a technical challenge. It grows through people, relationships, shared meaning, and a system that supports rather than constrains. When attention is given to these elements, scale becomes less about numbers and more about change that lasts.
If you’re working in a similar space and would like support with facilitation, MEL, or process design, you’re welcome to get in touch. I’m particularly open to short, well-defined advisory, writing, or reflection support, and am always happy to talk through what might be useful.
