Berkana Two Loops

A big picture map of how change happens

  • Overview

    Inspired by nature, The BERKANA TWO LOOPS is a big picture map of how change happens. Knowing where you - and others' - are on this model helps you more deliberately and effectively design interventions for equitable and enduring change. The Outside’s clients and collaborators experience leaps in understanding and practical alternatives to get unstuck. If you want to dive deep, see far, and reorient your approach for great impact, take the leap with us!

  • Module 1: The First Loop

    Developed by Margaret J. Wheatley and Deborah Frieze of The Berkana Institute, and adapted by The Outside, this model for change shows us that when local efforts connect as networks, then commit to work as a community of practice, a new system emerges at a greater level of scale. In this first session, your instructors, Tim Merry and Tuesday Ryan-Hart, lay the groundwork for understanding this pragmatic model for systems change - systems are born, they peak and they die.

  • Module 2: The Second Loop

    In session two, instructors, Tim and Tuesday, illustrate the second loop where a new system is born - viable alternatives are identified, connections are made, learnings and failures are shared, relationships are built and forward momentum is gained.

  • Module 3: Roles of Change

    What is the role that you, and others, take on to make change? Are you a trailblazer, a hospicer, an illuminator or a steward? At times, you may be more than one. In session three, Tim and Tuesday describe and define the roles and relationships needed to help create the new.

  • Module 4: Seeing More Clearly

    In the final session, Tim and Tuesday encourage you to lean into the messiness of this change model. They share a number of questions for you to be thinking about as this model plays out in your organization / community / sector all while encouraging you to think critically around issues of equity: Who is showing up in what roles? Who has access to trailblazing? Who is telling the stories of the Trailblazers? Who gets to point to the future? 

Meet your instructors: Tuesday Ryan-Hart + Tim Merry

Course Curriculum

  • 1
    Module 1: The First Loop
  • 2
    Module 2: The Second Loop
  • 3
    Module 3: Roles of Change
  • 4
    Module 4: Seeing More Clearly
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  • Berkana Two Loops: Module 1 - The First Loop Video: The First Loop (10:10 mins) Handout: Berkana Two Loops - The Model Handout: Berkana Two Loops - Glossary Article: "Using Emergence to Take Social Innovation to Scale," by Margaret Wheatley and Deborah Frieze Additional Resources OPTIONAL: Reflection Questions + Exercise Two Loops: Module Specific Resources + Reflection Questions (resource page for download)
  • Berkana Two Loops: Module 2 - The Second Loop Video: The Second Loop (13:35 mins) Additional Resources OPTIONAL: Reflections Questions + Exercise Two Loops: Module Specific Resources + Reflection Questions (resource page for download)
  • Berkana Two Loops: Module 3 - Roles of Change Video: Roles of Change (13:11 mins) Additional Resources OPTIONAL: Reflection Questions + Exercise Two Loops: Module Specific Resources + Reflection Questions (resource page for download)
  • Berkana Two Loops: Module 4 - Seeing More Clearly Video: Seeing More Clearly (5:49 mins) Additional Resources Further Reading (Article) - Leadership in the Age of Complexity by Margaret Wheatley OPTIONAL: Reflection Questions + Exercise Two Loops: Module Specific Resources + Reflection Questions (resource page for download)
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"Tim and Tuesday are just one light bulb moment after another." —Gail, USA

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