Here Be Dragons

A systems studio for navigating complex challenges in turbulent times.

February 2nd - February 7th, 2025 | Innovate Calgary’s Social Innovation Hub, Alberta, Canada

 

What.

Here Be Dragons is a 5-day systems intensive for groups working to build a better future. It offers practical training, coaching and guided action-inquiry along with opportunities for both personal renewal and deepening the group field.

Why.

The studio is intended to increase the impact of systems projects and initiatives by building the capacity of teams working on them. We have space for 8 teams of 3-6 people.

Price.

Who.

$285 per person. This includes all instruction, coaching and program materials, two follow-up team coaching sessions, five delicious lunches, snacks and drinks along with two group dinners. Participants are responsible for their own accommodation, transportation and parking.

The program is offered by the Wolf Willow Institute for Systems Learning. We are grateful to be able to offer this program at a significantly reduced cost thanks to the generous support of our colleagues at the Suncor Energy Foundation.

 

These are strange and dangerous times.

It has become almost clichéd to speak about the four apocalyptic VUCA horsemen – volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity – that shape the leadership, innovation and decision-making terrain of the 21st century. And yet organizations of every kind seem to flounder in such terrain while leaders in all domains find themselves woefully un-ripened and unprepared for the growing complexity that characterizes our rapidly changing world.

Established institutions, stories and systems of all kinds are unravelling before our eyes and our efforts to fix them seem to be causing a host of new and unanticipated challenges. At the same time, exciting new patterns and possibilities are emerging before our eyes. It is truly an extraordinary time to be alive. And, whatever scale you work at, it’s a profoundly challenging time to be playing a leadership role and attempting to solve critical collective challenges. Many find themselves at the edge of the map.

The Invitation

A 5-day social innovation and systems change intensive for people working together on critical challenges.

The Here Be Dragons Systems Studio is a 5-day social innovation and systems change intensive for people working together on critical challenges. Social innovation holds a radical premise. It does not simply offer new solutions to entrenched social challenges. It seeks to transform the complex and largely invisible web of systemic relationships that keep generating such challenges. It draws from multiple disciplines including the complexity sciences, systems theory, transformative learning and social change movements and offers powerful tools, perspectives and models for people trying to make a meaningful difference in their world.

In an age of memes and jargon, what does that really mean in practice? According to noted Canadian scholar Frances Westley, a social innovation is any initiative – a product, process, program, project, or platform - that challenges and, over time, contributes to significantly changing the defining routines, resource and authority flows or beliefs of the broader social system in which it is introduced. It shifts the dynamics of the system.

Part training course, part action inquiry and part retreat, Here Be Dragons is intended to help you and your team use the tools and insights from this approach to move your work forward in a practical way.

Here’s How It Works

You apply and attend as a team... no less than three, no more than six.

You are already working together on a shared challenge. You don’t have to know the answer!

 

Overwhelm, recent failure and doubt would all be good ways to arrive. Your curiosity and collective commitment will be more useful than your certainties. Each day will pulse between plenary sessions with the whole group and times when you work on applying learning and developing strategy with just your team and a systems coach.


You will be invited to explore your challenge through a range of models and tools to generate new perspectives and possibilities. It will be intense. There may be some perspectival stretching. Some aha moments. Some drinking from fire hydrants. For sure there will be a lot of laughter.

There will also be an invitation to deeper self reflection. Systems entrepreneurship has both inner and outer dimensions and a social innovator’s awareness of their innermost selves is a critical variable in their capacity to effectively foster change within complex systems. Self and system are not separate. The ‘outer’ work of trying to change a system will often amplify our own ‘inner’ tensions and assumptions, blind spots and paradoxes; our capacity to engage generatively with such personal material profoundly shapes the nature of our subsequent impact in the world. There’s no getting away from that. So, what is it that we need to practice - both individually and collectively – if we are to connect with the deepest source of our creative intelligence and foster collective flourishing?  

Who Can Apply?

We invite applications from any motivated group working to address a complex challenge.

What do we mean by complex challenge? It’s a ‘wicked problem’ of some kind that arises from deeply entangled systemic variables and it’s resistant to simplistic solutions. Perhaps you are trying to address an ecological challenge. A pressing social issue. A youth crisis. A deeply polarized conflict. Something related to innovation in the energy transition or local economy sectors. Increasing the resilience or reducing the carbon footprint of your community. Working to prepare for – or deal with the impacts of – catastrophic droughts, fires, floods and rapid climatic changes. Finding ways to do more with less and addressing growing crises with dwindling resources in areas like housing or mental health. Whatever it is, you seek to get at the root causes of the problem and influence it in a way that leads to meaningful and beneficial outcomes.

A “group” could all be from the same organization or a blend of internal and external stakeholders and partners. It could come from any level of government, non-profit, business, community or philanthropic sectors. It could be a blend of all five.

We particularly welcome applications from groups who are:

  • Aspirational. You are trying to make the world a better place

  • Committed. You are serious about making a difference

  • Open. You are willing to look at your issue with fresh eyes

  • Connected. You have meaningful connections to the issue you seek to influence

  • Diverse. You embrace genuine diversity and are open to working respectfully across boundaries of difference

Some of the issues that teams were grappling with at the last Here Be Dragons included:

  • How to build cross-ministry capacity for social innovation across the public service.

  • Addressing the growth challenges faced by a long-standing regional arts-based youth development initiative that had just received significant funding.

  • Re-imagining and redesigning an Indigenous-led initiative to support healing and community economic development.

  • Strategic and program planning for a team recently charged to lead an organizational change initiative related to sustainability at a large energy company.

  • How to engage Canadian communities more deeply in climate advocacy initiatives.

  • A community taking the first steps towards truth and reconciliation.

  • A conservation organization re-thinking how to engage rural community stakeholders.

  • Imagining how a major Canadian city can build a flourishing innovation ecosystem that can attract and support new start-ups in the tech sector.

Program Rationale

Getting Real About Systems Change.

Across Canada, we see community leaders and ordinary people working together to uplift the lives of those around them and tackle a multitude of challenging social and environmental issues. And almost all of those issues - at whatever scale – are complex systems challenges. Such challenges are often inter-linked in ways that lead to cascading or exponential impacts. Many communities are dealing with the localized impacts of displaced systems challenges. Virtually all face adaptive challenges; previously successful strategies and ‘business as usual’ are often not only ineffective but may even be counter-productive. And there is a fractal quality to every one of these challenges; similar patterns and stories seem to be playing out in our bodies, in our own families, in our workplaces and communities and in the landscapes we inhabit. What this often means in practice is that virtually all community leaders and changemakers feel overwhelmed and stretched to their limit.

There is a growing awareness of the systemic nature of so many of the social, ecological and institutional challenges we face. But the cold reality is that most systems change initiatives fail to deliver on their optimistic goals even if they have all kinds of other positive benefits. Like many others, we have worked to understand the reasons for such failure. Time and again we see the same patterns consistently undermining attempts to change systems that seem to hold true across scales and domains – that is they are as true for national and trans-national efforts as they are for local community.

These patterns include:

1.   Unclear objectives: Initiatives may use the language of systems change but actual systems change may not be a serious, shared or clearly articulated goal.

2.   Unrealistic models of change: All too often, change models are overly simplistic, linear, and partial. They rarely account for the complex and messy realities of change processes.

3.   Flawed inquiry processes: Inquiry refers to both the starting point for understanding a challenge as well as the ongoing process of evaluation, reflection and sense-making. If the inquiry is partial, inaccurate or biased, so will the subsequent interventions that flow from it and the desired systems outcomes are unlikely to materialize.

4.   Flawed strategies: Ineffective strategies - flowing from a flawed model of change or inquiry process - or potentially effective but poorly executed strategies.

5.   Support challenges. Systems change initiatives are shaped by the relational networks from which they must draw energy to sustain themselves such as funding, technical support, material assistance, moral support, social solidarity and cultural values. The inability to successfully and ethically navigate complex and highly diverse webs of social relationships is often fatal to genuine systems change.

6.   Competency and capability challenges: The competencies and capabilities required for systems change initiatives are often quite specific and it’s hard to find good places to learn them, rare to find them consistently modelled, and equally rare to be coached and mentored in their application.

7.   Contextual Challenges: Systems dynamics are often resilient – and there are many contextual reasons why they are hard to change. Sometimes it’s simply the overwhelming reality of dealing with the scale of existing community crises and symptoms that makes it nearly impossible to step back and address underlying causes.

 

Here Be Dragons helps teams look directly at each of these areas. When it comes to your specific project, are you clear on your purpose? Do you have a realistic change model? How can you deepen your understanding of the systemic dynamics helping to generate the issues you are working on? Where are the intervention points? What would realistically make a difference? How would you know if they were really making a difference? What kind of support, learning, growth and development will be needed?

Program Content

Systems change is not something that an individual or community group can ‘do’.

It is usually about transforming the relationships between those who shape a particular system. But there is still a tendency to create training experiences for individuals who are then expected to return to their context and implement their learning. Here Be Dragons takes a different approach. We are working with groups and teams - including their funders, supporters and stakeholders; together they make up a potent force for change within a community. They represent part of a community’s capacity to shape its own future and the program is designed to help them do just that.

The course content is generally divided into five themes:

  1. Maps & Models: we will present a highlight reel of what community leaders and changemakers have consistently found to be the most useful concepts from social innovation, systems mapping, complexity modelling and social change initiatives. The focus is neither abstract nor academic – we will do our best to make this information as useable and practical as possible for groups working at the gritty frontlines of social reality and systems change. Teams will have the opportunity to immediately take these maps and models for a ‘test drive’ to see what value they hold for their own area of focus.

  2. Tools & Tactics: A systems and complexity lens offers a palette of distinct strategies to think about and practically influence the relationships that lead to particular systems outcomes. Participants will explore tangible strategies for intervening in systems with greater skill and intention.

  3. Projects & Perspectives: Each day, teams will have time to work on their initiative with support from a systems coach. The Studio offers an opportunity to step back, to ask new questions, to invite new considerations and to be encouraged to approach it with a fresh perspective.

  4. Reflection & Renewal: There will be opportunities for participants to reflect, both individually and as a team, on their work, their approach, their thinking, their assumptions, their way of working, their patterns and their priorities. There will also be opportunities to step back from the pace of their daily lives and to renew their own vitality and inspiration.

  5. Community and Connection: participants not only build incredible new connections as a team during an experience like this, they also gain tremendous value from who else is in the room. Working in your community – no matter how dedicated you are – can be lonely and isolating work, and it can be very invigorating to realize you are part of a much wider community of practitioners and fellow-travellers who are working on similar challenges. The connections made during the course will also extend beyond the final day of the program.

Each day will pulse between plenary sessions with the whole group and team breakout sessions. Days are typically intense. There may be some perspectival stretching. Some Aha! moments. Some drinking from fire hydrants. For sure there will be a lot of laughter.  

There will also be an invitation to deeper reflection. Systems entrepreneurship has both inner and outer dimensions and a social innovator’s awareness of their innermost selves is a critical variable in their capacity to effectively foster change within complex systems. Self and system are not separate. The outer work of trying to change a system will often amplify our own inner tensions and assumptions, blind spots and paradoxes; our capacity to engage generatively with such personal material profoundly shapes the nature of our subsequent impact in the world. What is it that we need to practice - both individually and collectively – if we are to connect with our deeper creative intelligence and foster collective flourishing? 

The Wolf Willow approach to learning is radically holistic. We will be hosting Here Be Dragons as fellow learners who are deeply anchored in our own journeys of inquiry and traditions of practice. Our programs always seek to engage the imagination, heart, body and spirit just as much as the cognitive mind. We understand the land – Nature – to be perhaps our greatest teacher and the very best of classrooms. We centre Indigenous ways of knowing and being. We honour the rich cultural tapestry of life experiences, teachings and practices reflected in our hosting teams and participant groups. Elements like somatic coaching, contemplative disciplines, expressive arts, consciousness-shifting practices, imagery, music, movement and celebration are incorporated alongside with more familiar leadership, social innovation and system change pedagogy. We try to keep it real and we have a lot of fun! And above all, we are committed to supporting people to be able to make their very best contribution in these strange and dangerous times.

Outcomes

  • You will develop a practical fluency around the language and core concepts of complexity, resilience, social innovation and systems change.

  • You will experiment with some different tools and processes to visualize the key dynamics and potential leverage points within the systems you seek to impact.

  • You will learn to design and implement systems intervention strategies.

  • You will explore some specific capabilities and metaskills required for influence in complex environments along with the practices required to cultivate them.

  • You will cultivate greater self-awareness around your own tacit assumptions, mindsets, meaning-making structures and conceptual scaffolding and the ways these impact your capacity for skillful action – both individually and as a group.

  • You will meet some really interesting fellow travellers and may build some valuable new connections.

  • You will have figured it all out! Maybe not, but we hope that you will leave with a sense of excitement and momentum along with some realistic ways to move your initiative forward.

Details

The Detail:

  • The Systems Studio opens on the evening of Sunday February 2nd. It will end by 4pm on Friday February 7th.  Please be prepared to stay the entire time, and expect full days. As the date nears, we will be sending out additional program, scheduling and packing information to help you prepare and plan your time with us.

  • The program will be held in Treaty Seven Territory at Innovate Calgary’s Social Innovation Hub, a state of the art facility that includes large meeting areas, breakout rooms, creative studio space, co-working areas and videography/podcasting/production facilities housed in the Alistair Ross Technology Centre adjacent to the University of Calgary.

  • The total cost is $285 per person (team sizes between 3-6 people) This includes:

    • All course instruction, coaching and program materials

    • Two follow-up team coaching sessions (online)

    • Five Delicious lunches, snacks and beverages

    • Two group dinners

    We are grateful to be able to offer this program at a significantly reduced cost thanks to the generous support of our colleagues at the Suncor Energy Foundation.

    Groups from outside the Calgary area should plan on staying locally. Each team is responsible for their own accommodation, transportation, and parking.

  • Each day will follow a similar rhythm:

     

    0800 – 0830      Centering Practices (optional)

    0900 – 1030      Plenary session I

    1030 – 1100      Break

    1100 – 1230      Plenary session II

    1230 – 1330      Lunch 

    1330 – 1530      Team session

    1530 – 1600      Break

    1600 – 1700      Plenary reflection

    1700 – 1900      Dinner/Free

    1900 – 2100      Evening session (at least 2 evenings)

    • Applications open on October 15th and will remain open until the program is full.

    • Groups are invited to apply together (one application per team).

    • We have space for 8 teams. Total enrollment is capped at 40 places.

    • For additional questions please contact Cheryl Rose at cheryl@wolfwillow.org

  • The Here Be Dragons Systems Studio is hosted by the Wolf Willow Institute with support from our partners at the Suncor Energy Foundation. Wolf Willow is a group of scholar-practitioners, artists, activists and systems entrepreneurs who are dedicated to supporting the people who are building the world we most yearn to live in.

     

    The Institute is one of several initiatives that have emerged from the work and relational legacy of the Social Innovation Generation, a collaborative partnership that sought to address Canada’s most pressing social and ecological challenges by bringing communities, practitioners, scholars and funders together to establish an enduring culture of impactful social innovation. This included a focus on the development of open-source social innovation curriculum which included the creation of the Getting To Maybe residency that ran for several years as a partnership between the Waterloo Institute for Social Innovation and Resiliency and the Banff Centre. We will be joined at the Studio by several guest faculty and systems coaches.