Donella Meadows

and her Levers for Change

(see also JW's notes on paradigms and other entries in the glossary of terms)

• These brief notes derive from Twelve Levers for Change and other articles by Donella Meadows.

Systems thinking

Meadows studied methods used by the UN (and other government agencies) to achieve behavioural change. She listed a dozen methods, but concluded that the ones most used were the least effective. This list is, therefore, presented in what she saw as a reverse order of usefulness.

• 12. Constants, parameters, numbers (such as subsidies, taxes, standards)
• 11. The size of buffers and other stabilizing stocks, relative to their flows
• 10. Structure of material stocks and flows (such as transport network, population age structures)
• 9. Length of delays, relative to the rate of system changes
• 8. Strength of negative feedback loops, relative to the effect they are trying to correct against
• 7. Gain around driving positive feedback loops
• 6. Structure of information flow (who does and does not have access to what kinds of information)
• 5. Rules of the system (such as incentives, punishment, constraints)
• 4. Power to add, change, evolve, or self-organize system structure
• 3. Goal of the system
• 2. Mindset or paradigm that the system — its goals, structure, rules, delays, parameters — arises from
• 1. Power to transcend paradigms

A Revised List

This is from The Academy for Systems Change (Donella Meadows Project)

• 12. Constants, parameters, numbers (such as subsidies, taxes, standards).
• 11. The sizes of buffers and other stabilizing stocks, relative to their flows.
• 10. The structure of material stocks and flows (such as transport networks, population age structures).
• 9. The lengths of delays, relative to the rate of system change.
• 8. The strength of negative feedback loops, relative to the impacts they are trying to correct against.
• 7. The gain around driving positive feedback loops.
• 6. The structure of information flows (who does and does not have access to information).
• 5. The rules of the system (such as incentives, punishments, constraints).
• 4. The power to add, change, evolve, or self-organize system structure.
• 3. The goals of the system.
• 2. The mindset or paradigm out of which the system — its goals, structure, rules, delays, parameters — arises.
• 1. The power to transcend paradigms.

Further Reading

• Meadows, D., Randers, J. & Meadows, D.,2004. Limits to Growth: The 30-Year Update
• Meadows, D., 2008. Thinking in Systems: A Primer