System Foundations
How systems really work, why they fail, and how to get a whole team seeing the system, not just their own corner of it.
Coming soon · For services, teams and leaders
System Navigator for Organisations
I’ve been on the other side of a lot of forms, calls and consultations. Most organisations aren’t trying to make things hard. They just can’t see the work their systems hand to people. This collection helps you see it, and fix it.
It’s the companion to the individuals collection. That one is for the people going through the systems. This one is for the people running them.
Join the waitlist
Leave your details and I’ll let you know as it gets closer.
Where I’m up to
Still being built.
I’m planning to open this next year, once the individuals collection has settled. A small starter set comes first, then the rest.
Some of it is written and some of it is still being built. I’d rather tell you that than pretend it’s all finished. Join the waitlist and I’ll let you know as each part is ready.
What’s in it
Six parts.
Leadership Systems
Feeling safe to speak up, trust, making decisions together, and having lived experience in the room.
Service Design Systems
Mapping the path people really take, finding the barriers, co designing, and cutting back the paperwork you hand people.
Improvement Systems
Finding the gaps, getting to the root cause, closing the loop on feedback, and checking what actually changed.
Organisational Toolkits
Practical toolkits for talking with the people you serve, running workshops, handling change and checking how it went.
Professional Resources
Handbooks, conversation cards, meeting guides, a human impact scorecard, and a field guide for noticing what’s really going on.
How each one works
Every product works the same way.
- One idea to start with
- A short lesson
- Something to do as a team
- A conversation
- One action for your organisation
- A way to check what changed
How we work through it
Ten steps.
- 1. Observe
- 2. Listen
- 3. Understand
- 4. Map
- 5. Find the barriers
- 6. Co design
- 7. Improve
- 8. Measure
- 9. Learn
- 10. Sustain
It starts with listening, and it ends with making the change last.
Where you begin
The starter set
A small way in, so your team gets a quick win first.
- System Foundations for Organisations: Part One
- Leading Better Systems: Part Two
- Designing Services People Can Use: Part Three
- The Organisational Action Toolkit: Part Four
- Voices That Systems Miss
Who it’s for
For the people who run the systems.
- Disability and NDIS providers and professionals
- Community organisations and non profits
- Councils and government teams
- Health professionals, social workers and educators
- Service designers and researchers
- Patient and carer advocates
- Teams who want a first win in 15 to 30 minutes
In the meantime
I run a one hour workshop for councils, agencies and providers called Co Design That’s Real. It’s honest and kind. It’s about how consultations get built, not about blaming anyone.
Or start with five signs people are being heard but not influencing change.
Licences
How licensing works for organisations.
When you buy a Lightening Up product you are buying a licence to use it. The licence you need depends on how you use it.
Personal
The default on every purchase. For you, and for the supporters, family or advocate you use it with. Supporters never pay extra.
Practitioner
For one practitioner using a product with their own clients as part of paid work. It allows printing for those clients, but not sharing files or use across a team.
Organisational
For teams, services, schools and programs. Covers a named number of staff, allows sharing inside the organisation and use with the people you support.
Who it is for
- Advocacy organisations
- Disability and community organisations
- Peer support programs
- Schools and mentoring programs
- Health and social service teams
What organisations may not do
Publish the materials anywhere public, put them behind their own paywall, remove the Lightening Up branding, present them as your own work, or use them to build a competing product.
A person's own information
Anything people write belongs to them. Do not keep it without their consent, use it for anything they have not agreed to, or share it beyond what they expect.
Read the full Licence and Usage Policy, or email me to set up a licence for your organisation.
What it’s built on.
Lived experience first, then research. I draw on people like Donella Meadows (where to push in a system), Amy Edmondson (feeling safe to speak up), Sherry Arnstein (the ladder of participation) and Moynihan and Herd (administrative burden). Also the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. This is practical tools and plain language. It’s not legal advice, an audit or an accreditation, and I can’t promise any particular outcome.
Want to talk it through?
Tell me about your organisation and what keeps getting stuck, and we’ll work out where to start.
Madeleine x