Systems thinking is a proactive mindset which encourages us to consider the bigger picture. With people at the heart of every complex system, effective systems thinkers know how to interact and shift the system, while staying grounded in the needs of people.
This ability to look at the system as whole, while embedded in local communities to drive change, is unique to Healthy Families NZ kaimahi and what sets the workforce apart from the rest.
We have built a workforce that are skilled systems thinkers, can shift mindsets and are comfortable to learn by doing. It is our systems thinking workforce that take the thousand steps towards achieving healthy, sustainable change across environments which fuels our prevention movement.
As our knowledge and practice constantly evolves, Healthy Families NZ kaimahi come together through Communities of Practice. These ‘communities’ provide the mechanism for our workforce to collaborate, reflect, share practice, collectively approach challenges and barriers and build capability.
With a new sector designed and led, ‘Practice and Capability Lead’ our prevention movement has a renewed focus on supporting and enabling kaimahi to grow their confidence as designers, innovators and leaders of systems change.
When we learn and strive to do better through influencing the systems around us and with a systems thinking mindset, we create a movement. And when we believe that people know their lives better than anyone else and work hard to ensure that individuals and communities play an active role in making the decisions that shape their lives – we create change.