Mapping the system

Activity concept

The thing about icebergs is that what you see is just... the tip of the iceberg. We can use this metaphor to understand most environmental problems, including the decline of pollinators. In our daily lives, we observe worrying events in the world - dead insects on the street, disappearance of flower meadows – the tip of the iceberg. But are they a part of a bigger trend? What are the underlying social, political, economic and material causes behind such trends? What kind of beliefs, concept and values support these? To uncover these hidden layers of problems takes some systematic thinking and patience. Systems thinking is a way of understanding problems as more than just a collection of events. By uncovering underlying causes and connections, it allows to find more efficient ways to create change. This specific activity uses a tool known as Iceberg Model to help you uncover and reflect on the different layers of a system.

Stage: Sense-making

Format: In person, Online, Hybrid

Work Modality: Small groups, Large groups, Plenary

Location: Outdoor, Indoor

Duration: 90mins

Topic(s): Pollinators

Tools

Post-its, Pens, crayons etc..., Poster template

Team

Facilitator / moderator, Scientific expert (e.g., entomologist)

• The facilitator will need to understand well systems thinking approach to be able to explain and guide this activity.
• In this case the expert might best be someone who can help participants think through the deeper layers of the system, so you might want to involve for instance a social scientist or a philosopher.  

Process

Start by introducing the basic ideas of systems thinking and thoroughly explaining the Iceberg Model. This might be a new way of thinking for many participants, and it takes a while to grasp it. During your explanation, use examples for each level of the Iceberg. Ideally, use an example that everyone in your audience will be familiar with from daily life. 

Take getting sick as an example. You noticed that you got sick more than usual this winter. But it's not just you, it is a part of a bigger trend, as many of your colleagues at work have also been sick. Going deeper, you realise that this is enabled by the new office sharing set-up, based on the new policy of the company where you work, which strives to promote collaboration (and save money on office space). This is something new, connected to a collaborative mindset brought by the new director. But there is more - your colleagues feel too pressured to work to ever take a day off, so they keep coming to work even when they should better stay at home, which is part of a mindset too focused on productivity to consider personal care as equally important.

After the introduce the concept, leave time for questions and make sure that everyone understands the task.   

During the actual activity, go through the layers of the Iceberg. Start at the top, with the events, and ask participants to come up with as many ‘events’ connected to pollinators as they can. Invite participants to write these down on post-its and place on the poster. Group the events that seem similar – do you see some patterns emerging? If so, note them down on the lower level. Next, reflect with participants what kind of structures let these patterns emerge and persist? Are there particular laws, relationships, practices, infrastructures that cause or support them? Are there any interactions between these, such that one structure supports different patterns, or a pattern is created by several structures? Draw these connections. Finally, at the deepest layer, think about the assumptions, identities, convictions, beliefs and ways of thinking that underpin what you spoke about before. These are usually very widely shared, taken for granted and not always clearly articulated, so it might take a while to uncover them. 

As you go through the layers and ideas, allow participants ample time to reflect, discuss their proposals and identify connections. You can also use additional tools to animate the brainstorming – for instance the 1-2-4-all method from Liberating Structures can be repeated at each level of the Iceberg.

Compatibility

• You can start the activity by inviting participants to locate on the poster different observations from >noticing exercises you did previously - and only then thinking about additional elements.
• Iceberg Model can help you identify a point in the system that you would like to work on to create change. As such it is a good way to identify what you will work on in the >co-design phase. The deeper the layer, the more impact working on it might have.