ENERGY
The energy that drives most social change comes from within social systems.
Making the Map helps the changemaker focus on those settings and situations that have settled into what experts call an "unproductive equilibrium" -- a stand off of “restraining forces” (i.e., those maintaining the status quo) and the “driving forces” (i.e., those for changing the status quo) have neutralized each other.
Somewhere in this stand-off is where energy gets trapped. Social situations, groups and even individuals are all systems that fall in and out of balance. In a school, for example, an understaffed playground can fall into disrepair, a poorly taught class (in the form of a group) can lapse into mediocrity and individual students can drift into a state of apathy in the face of the debilitating dynamics of poverty.
But here's hope: While an unproductive system may appear to be stable, it can sit at the cusp of change, and when change occurs, it can be rapid and extensive.
Making the Map helps the changemaker focus on those settings and situations that have settled into what experts call an "unproductive equilibrium" -- a stand off of “restraining forces” (i.e., those maintaining the status quo) and the “driving forces” (i.e., those for changing the status quo) have neutralized each other.
Somewhere in this stand-off is where energy gets trapped. Social situations, groups and even individuals are all systems that fall in and out of balance. In a school, for example, an understaffed playground can fall into disrepair, a poorly taught class (in the form of a group) can lapse into mediocrity and individual students can drift into a state of apathy in the face of the debilitating dynamics of poverty.
But here's hope: While an unproductive system may appear to be stable, it can sit at the cusp of change, and when change occurs, it can be rapid and extensive.