Welcome to the website of Stina Brown (she/they): Artist, writer, and systems thinker. Stina coaches, designs and facilitates because she loves people who are doing their best to change the world and knows some practical ways to help.

It’s a rare facilitator who understands emergence, systems thinking and the practicality of keeping a group on pace. Stina is that rare facilitator, who navigates easily between theory and practice, weaving spaces for people to do their best work. ~ Open Agency Network

Systems theory is the interdisciplinary study of systems, i.e. cohesive groups of interrelated, interdependent parts that can be natural or human-made. Every system is bounded by space and time, influenced by its environment, defined by its structure and purpose, and expressed through its functioning. A system may be more than the sum of its parts if it expresses synergy or emergent behavior. ~Wikipedia

When we think of “systems change” we think of outer changes that we can see – structural or visible shifts in a complex network or system. But often it’s the deeper inner work within a system that leads to the big outer changes in that system.

In 2014-2015 Stina was the Artist in Residence for the Academy For Systems Change, which articulates Systems Change as “…inherently an “inner” and “outer” process or journey. This work involves deep shifts in mental models, relationships, and taken-for-granted ways of operating as much as it involves shifts in organizational roles and formal structures, metrics and performance management, and goals and policies… This inner work – which involves developing awareness, compassion, understanding, and wisdom – also extends to teams, networks, organizations, and ultimately to the larger systems within which we work.”

For additional resources, follow the links:

• Academy for Systems Change – Systems Thinking Resources
• Academy for Systems Change – SYSTEM LEADER’S FIELDBOOK
• Robert Gass – Organizational Transformation Tools

From Organism to Organization
Systems thinking was originally developed by biologists in Europe in the 1920s to study cell biology, and how cells relate to each other. The context of the whole system was required to understand the behaviour of each cell (not in isolation). Organizations are Systems. Problems or issues in one part of an organization do not happen in isolation. Stina takes a holistic approach to her organizational work. Organizations are like ecosystems.

Organizations and leaders are recognizing that they need to learn how to be more adaptable and resilient… If we want to learn how to be adaptable, resilient, and have cooperative, mutually beneficial relationships, the teachers are all around us in the natural world… In terms of ecosystems, that means really looking at a whole system, with many diverse and interdependent parts, and the relationships among them. ~ Toby Herzlich Biomimicry for Social Innovation

“In order to change an existing paradigm you do not struggle to try and change the problematic model. You create a new model and make the old one obsolete.”
~ R. Buckminster Fuller