Network Convening &
Systems Change
A Multi-Phase Initiative for Coalitions and Cross-Sector Networks
Some challenges are too complex, too interconnected, and too urgent for any single organization or sector to solve alone. They require something rarer and more difficult, the ability to bring a fragmented field together, build genuine common ground across competing interests, and activate a shared strategy that generates momentum at the scale the problem demands.
This is that work.
Drawing on Future Search methodology and living systems principles, this offering supports coalitions, alliances, and cross-sector initiatives in designing and facilitating large-scale systems change processes, from initial stakeholder mapping through multi-organization convening to strategic activation and network coordination.
The Approach
This work applies regenerative design principles to the process of systems change itself, treating the network as a living system capable of renewal and evolution rather than a problem to be solved. It integrates whole-system participation, strengths-based facilitation, adaptive process design, and nodal intervention strategies to create the conditions for breakthrough alignment across complex, diverse, and sometimes competing stakeholders.
Who this is for
Coalitions, alliances, and backbone organizations ready to move a fragmented field toward coordinated action. Cross-sector initiatives working on complex place-based or ecological challenges. Funders and intermediaries seeking to activate the collective potential of their networks.
Considerations for this work
Network-level systems change initiatives involve longer lead times and multi-stakeholder coordination that requires careful design and sustained investment. This offering is currently being developed in active partnership with colleagues in the field. If you are working on a challenge of this scale and complexity, reach out to explore what might be possible.
What This Looks Like in Practice
In 2023, the US composting and compostables industry was at a critical inflection point. Commercial composting facilities were rejecting compostable packaging materials, threatening both climate and circularity goals across the country. The root cause was a fragmented ecosystem, inconsistent standards, siloed actors, and no shared strategy.
Over fourteen months, this methodology convened more than 110 organizations representing a microcosm of the entire US composting ecosystem, composters, haulers, municipalities, packaging manufacturers, certifiers, food service companies, policy makers, and researchers. Through fourteen discovery workshops and a three-day Future Search event, the network moved from fragmentation and competition toward genuine alignment, co-creating ten strategic priorities and forming a new activation steering committee to carry the work forward.
The result was not just a strategic plan. It was a fundamentally shifted culture within an industry, from isolation to interdependence, from competition to coordination, from fragmented action to collective impact.
