Panarchy

Purpose

Panarchy helps groups understand how change at one level of a system influences and is influenced by changes at other levels. By mapping adaptive cycles across scales (individual, team, organisation, industry), it reveals leverage points and cross-level dynamics that single-level analysis misses. Use it when change efforts at one level keep failing because of forces at another, or when strategic planning needs a systems perspective.

At a glance

• Group size: 8–30 people
• Duration: 60 minutes
• Difficulty: Advanced
• Facilitation style: Structured
• Setting: Indoor / Remote-friendly

How to run

1. Introduce Panarchy (10 min): Explain that systems operate in nested adaptive cycles at different scales. What happens at the macro level (industry, economy) affects the meso level (organisation) and micro level (team, individual) — and vice versa.
2. Map the levels (15 min): In small groups, identify 3–4 levels relevant to the challenge. For each level, identify where it sits on the Ecocycle (birth, maturity, destruction, renewal).
3. Identify cross-level interactions (20 min): Ask: "How is the macro level affecting the micro? Where is the micro level disrupting the macro? What cross-level dynamics are we ignoring?"
4. Find leverage points (15 min): Identify where a small intervention at one level could unlock change across levels. Prioritise 2–3 actions.

Materials needed

• Multiple Ecocycle diagrams (one per level) stacked vertically on a wall
• Sticky notes and markers
• Connecting lines or yarn to show cross-level dynamics
• Timer

Pitfalls & common mistakes

• Staying at one level only — the value is in the cross-level analysis.
• Making it too theoretical — keep examples concrete and grounded in the group's reality.
• Trying to change all levels at once — focus on the leverage points where effort will have the most cascading effect.

Inclusion & accessibility

• The visual stacking of levels makes systems thinking tangible.
• Use concrete examples from participants' experience rather than abstract theory.
• For remote: use a vertical digital canvas with Ecocycles at each level.

Variations

• Panarchy timeline: Map how the levels have interacted over the past 5 years.
• Panarchy scenario planning: Use cross-level dynamics to build future scenarios.
• Panarchy + Critical Uncertainties: Combine to explore which cross-level dynamics are most uncertain.

When NOT to use this

Avoid Panarchy when the group has no familiarity with Ecocycle or adaptive systems thinking — run Ecocycle Planning first. Also not appropriate for simple, single-level problems.

Source & further reading

Developed by Henri Lipmanowicz and Keith McCandless as part of Liberating Structures, based on the Panarchy framework by Lance Gunderson and C.S. Holling. See *Panarchy: Understanding Transformations in Human and Natural Systems* (2002) and liberatingstructures.com.