Reading the Map: A Workshop on Why Transformative Change Gets Absorbed

Have you ever told a story so powerful it moved people to action... And yet six months later, somehow they are doing exactly what they were always doing?

We all want to change harmful systems. But why do well-intentioned efforts so often get absorbed by the very systems they're trying to change?

In this interactive workshop, we'll use MAPS—a framework for understanding the forces that shape how change takes hold, gets stuck, or spreads, to explore a real challenge you're trying to shift.

You might bring a challenge like:

• Shifting a harmful narrative or public conversation

• Getting a new approach adopted beyond the people already convinced

• Changing behaviour around a social or environmental issue

• Moving an institution or community toward a different way of working

• Turning a promising idea or intervention into lasting systems change

Together, we'll uncover where the system may be pulling change back, and identify potential points of leverage.

Come with a change you're trying to create. Leave with a different way of seeing the system around it, and a new place to intervene.

Want to get a feel for MAPS before the workshop?

• Watch this short introduction to the framework: An Intro to MAPS

• Explore the thinking behind MAPS: Neither Horizon Substack