These are the people, organisations, publications, podcasts and videos that have informed reflective relational practice, all of which have provided inspiration as regards focusing on the role that relationships play in shaping social change. Priority pieces are marked ★.
Abt Global
- ★ From Systems Thinking to Practice: How USAID Is Embracing Humility and Relationships to Do Aid Differently (podcast, part 1 and part 2), Ankeeta Shrestha, Alexandra Nastase, Rachel Leeds, David Jacobstein, Monalisa Salib, December 2024
- From Insights to Implementation: Applying political economy analysis for real world impact (podcast), Alexandra Nastase and Pallavi Roy, February 2025 (my notes here)
Collective Change Lab (and friends)
- ★ My collated resources and notes here, including on Katherine Milligan, Juanita Zerda and John Kania, 2021, The relational work of systems change
- The systems work of social change (my notes here), Cynthia Rayner and François Bonnici, 2021
Human Learning Systems
- A Look in the Mirror? Can the “System Behaviours” Be a Useful Mechanism to Reflect on the Health of a System?, Toby Lowe and Max French, October 2019
- Harnessing complexity for better outcomes in public and non-profit services, Max French, Hannah Hesselgreaves, Rob Wilson, Melissa Hawkins, Toby Lowe, 2023
Relationality Lab
- Relationality: How moving from transactional to transformational relationships can reshape our lonely world, David Jay, 2024
- Relational Data Practice: How to combine stories and data to demonstrate the impact of relational work, Relationality Lab, 2024
Relationships Project
- ★ Putting Relationships First: The case for relationship-centred communities, organisations and systems, Matt Lloyd-Rose, David Robinson, Immy Robinson, February 2024
- A Glossary of Relational Phrases, Immy Robinson, October 2024 (see also these reflections from David Robinson and Rosa Friend)
School of System Change
- ★ Action Inquiry: A learning approach for systems change, Anna Birney, Rachel Phillips, Rachel Maria Taylor, April 2025
- ★ Power Dynamics: A Systemic Inquiry, Anna Birney, September 2021
- How Do We Know Where There Is Potential to Intervene and Leverage Impact in a Changing System? The Practitioners Perspective, Anna Birney, April 2021
- What is systems change?, January 2024
- Relating through change (Alive and Learning podcast), Anna Birney and Sean Andrew, September 2024
USAID
- ★ Local Systems Position Paper, October 2024 (my review here, with additional resources from the now disappeared USAID website here)
- The 5Rs framework in the program cycle, April 2016
- Market Systems Insights for Democracy, Rights and Governance: Success as a Dynamic System, David Jacobstein, April 2019
Selected additional pieces
- ★ Relational State Capacity: Conceiving of relationships as a core component of society’s ability to achieve collective ends, Dan Honig, Mekhala Krishnamurthy, Rahul Karnamadakala Sharma, February 2025 (see also my highlights and notes and my April 2025 joining some dots piece)
- ★ The Patterns of Possibility: How to recast relationships to create better systems and healthier outcomes, Jennie Winhall and Charles Leadbeater, February 2022
- ★ Place, localism, relationality, proximity and systems change, Dark Matter Labs, April 2025
- Exploring the Inconvenience of Systems Thinking, Two Inconvenient Women podcast, Holly Everett, Rachel Musson, February 2025
- ★ Adaptive Action: Leveraging uncertainty in your organization, Glenda Eoyang and Royce Holladay, 2013 (my highlights here; see also A brief introduction to human systems dynamics, and the Human Systems Dynamics website)
- Relational Systems Thinking (Part 1, 2021 and Part 2, 2022), Melanie Goodchild (PhD available here)
- Scaling Up Collaborative Social Accountability in Complex Governance Systems: A Relational Approach for Evidencing Sustainability, Florencia Guerzovich and Alix Wadeson, February 2024
- Relationality Across Cultures, Lana Jelenjev, April 2024
- Rethinking How to Finance System Health, Rob Ricigliano and Anna Muoio, December 2023
- These scientific rules of connection can supercharge your social life, David Robson, May 2024
- How to Add New Life to Your Relationships (even your best ones!), Robert Waldinger, Marc Schulz, January 2023