Section One
Background and Overview
To begin your LASC journey, we encourage you to review Section 1. Here, you’ll learn about the rationale and framework for this new approach to workforce development.
This section of the toolkit explains why a systems thinking approach to learning in workforce development, and a focus on systems change, are needed to comprehensively and collectively address today’s complex public health challenges.
While there is no single definition of systems thinking, five concepts are important:
- Committing to learning, adopting an inquiry-based, ‘what-if’ or ‘not-knowing’ mindset and preparing to see answers or perspectives that challenge one’s own thinking
- Understanding and reflecting on diverse perspectives regarding the challenge
- Seeing the connections within a system (e.g., networks of people or resources) or between systems, identifying leverage points and feedback loops that reveal opportunities for maximizing resources and benefits
- Distinguishing between technical and adaptive aspects of complex challenges and looking beyond the obvious issues for root causes
- Understanding the various pieces within whole systems
Section 1 further discusses the connections between systems thinking and workforce development and provides a high-level overview of the LASC Toolkit 2.0.
