Systems Thinking in Evaluation

Understand patterns, relationships, and feedback loops that shape results over time. This course helps teams move beyond linear thinking to better navigate complexity and create deeper, lasting impact.

Why this course matters:
 Most challenges organizations face are systemic, not isolated. Yet evaluation often simplifies complexity.

This course helps participants see patterns, relationships, and feedback loops that shape outcomes over time. By moving beyond linear cause-and-effect thinking, organizations can better understand unintended consequences, leverage points, and the broader systems influencing their work.

Systems thinking strengthens strategic alignment and supports deeper, more lasting impact.


Course Outcomes

  • Apply systems thinking to evaluation design and practice

  • Identify patterns, relationships, and dynamics shaping outcomes

  • Design evaluations that reflect complexity and emergence

  • Use systems mapping tools to support shared understanding

  • Develop learning-focused evaluation questions

  • Integrate multiple perspectives, including lived experience

  • Facilitate collective sensemaking and adaptive learning

  • Translate insights into informed action and decision-making