Causal Layered Analysis X Systems for Change
Earlier on, I had introduced Causal Layered Analysis — what it is, and begun to show how it might be used for change. I introduced two diagrams below as attempts at reformulating CLA for change.
In this post, I present how CLA might be integrated with a systems perspective and create a framework for change.
Causal Layered Analysis is an inquiry process that wants create spaces for deeper transformation. It does so through four levels of inquiry:
litany — the view of current reality
Causes — the causes of the current reality
Worldview — often the assumptions behind the causes
Myths and Metaphors — the unsaid, emotive deep stories that hold up reality in the minds of the participants, organisation and society.
The two diagrams illustrate two ways of preliminary thinking using CLA for thinking about transformative change.
The previous post highlight that using the myths/metaphor as a leverage of change might be simplistic; it might have to require actions on all the rest of the levels as well, as I will point out shortly. The current diagrams also seemed to suggest that levels “flow on” to the levels on top or below seamlessly; in reality we know that it is not the case and that efforts need to be sustained by parties for the ideas at one level to carry on to another. Nonetheless, historical practices as “tradition” or “best practice” can cause people to assume that these assumptions are dominant and carry on.
To effect change using the CLA context thus requires interventions at all levels, even at the litany and the myth/metaphor level. The second diagram shows that, to effect change, change-agents regardless of sectors, would have to emphasise one kind of CLA-complex (the pyramid consisting of all four levels) over another, and to have policies and actions that “bridge” and carry over into another CLA-complex. The idea of the “bridge” is that of “transitions.” There are question marks — the tentative nature of the transition is not always unknown.
CLA X Systems Lens
What I am doing in the next series of diagrams is to show instead, a different way. I turn back to systems dynamics as a way to interpret the dynamics that are sustaining one set of paradigms, and what might be needed to shift paradigms.
I refactored the CLA, with an assertion that the different levels do lead to one another, and are sustained by one another. The litanies are in a way, our deep stories reflected back to us. Deep stories feed into worldview via planning assumptions, and through the ways framing is done. And the worldview get translated into causes through policies and strategies. And lastly, causes lead to the litanies we see through implementation actions.
By putting two paradigms side by side, we get a clearer picture of how we might use the systems lens to think about change. From litanies to myths, we can think about what stories are being reinforced, and the need to have stories of a different nature to reflect different deep stories.
From the myths/deep stories to worldviews, we can ask about the myths that are making their way into planning assumptions. The assumptions don’t come from nowhere; they come from somewhere — through the stories we inherit and get diffused into our emotional worldview.
From worldview to causes we can ask about how the strategies are making their way into policies, and if there are alternatives.
And lastly, from causes to litanies, we can question the way policies are being implemented, and if alternative ways could be considered.
All across the different layers, there is also the need to keep track of how stories are reinforced over another. By continuously stressing one story, assumption, strategy, and news over another, we can de-emphasis what we don’t want, and champion what we do want.
Across the different CLA levels, we can see how CLA, when combined with the systems lens, can create something powerful — a framework for change that helps us find points within the various CLA levels to change the entire paradigm.
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