What Did We Learn This Year About Working in Complex Systems?

Dec 29

Written By Liz Moe

Field Notes | Freya + Co.

Let’s name it. This year was weird, hard, even a dumpster fire. It pushed all of us. This year reminded me that working in complex systems is less about finding answers and more about learning how to stay present, curious, and grounded when certainty is in short supply.

Across public health planning, HCBS capacity building, evaluation and measurement work, coalition facilitation, board governance, and individual IDI debriefs, the contexts varied widely. The patterns did not.

What follows are a few reflections from the field. Not conclusions or best practices. Just lessons that showed up repeatedly, in different rooms, with different people, facing different pressures.

What Complexity Actually Looked Like This Year

Complexity did not look like chaos. It looked like layers.

It looked like:

leaders making decisions with incomplete information
guidance shifting mid-process
staff carrying emotional and moral weight alongside technical work
systems responding exactly as systems are designed to respond, by resisting rapid change

In statewide public health planning, priorities evolved as new realities emerged. In HCBS learning communities, providers navigated quality expectations while also worrying about sustainability. In multi-year evaluation work, we held federal reporting requirements alongside real-world constraints.

As Donella Meadows reminds us, “The behavior of a system cannot be known just by knowing the elements of which the system is made.” This year made that visible. Complexity was not something to fix. It was something to work within.

Patterns We Saw Across Very Different Projects

Despite the variety of work, the same patterns kept appearing.

Trust mattered more than tools. Whether we were facilitating Cancer Plan steering committees, supporting HCBS providers, or conducting IDI debriefs, progress depended on whether people felt safe enough to be honest.

Structure helped people breathe. Clear process did not constrain conversation. It freed it. Time and again, thoughtful facilitation helped groups slow down just enough to think better together.

Learning happened when accountability was paired with care. In evaluation work, data became useful when it was framed as information for learning, not evidence for punishment.

This aligns with Amy Edmondson’s research on psychological safety: “People learn and contribute more effectively when they feel safe to take interpersonal risks.” Across projects, when people trusted the process, they stayed engaged even when the work was hard.

Where Systems Surprised Us

This year also brought surprises.

We saw moments where slowing down led to faster alignment. A carefully designed working session unlocked weeks of stalled conversation. A pause for reflection in an IDI debrief opened new clarity about leadership and culture.

We saw resistance that turned out to be care, not obstruction. In governance and coalition settings, what initially looked like pushback often reflected deep commitment to mission or concern about unintended consequences.

And we saw small shifts create outsized impact. A clarified role, a reframed question, or a shared definition changed the tone of an entire process.

As Ron Heifetz notes, adaptive work requires leaders to resist the urge for quick technical fixes and instead “mobilize people to tackle tough challenges.” That mobilization rarely happens on a rushed timeline.

What Held Steady Despite Uncertainty

In a year marked by change, a few things consistently held.

Clear purpose. Groups returned to purpose when decisions felt overwhelming.

Thoughtful facilitation. Process mattered, especially when stakes were high.

Honest data used for learning. Evaluation supported progress when it respected context and complexity.

Real relationships. In IDI debriefs, board rooms, and coalition meetings, trust built conversation by conversation.

As Peter Senge writes, “People don’t resist change. They resist being changed.” What held steady was not certainty, but respect for how people make meaning together.

What This Year Reinforced About the Work Ahead

This year reinforced a few truths I carry forward.

There are no shortcuts in adaptive work.
Sense-making is leadership.
And the long game matters.

Working in complex systems asks us to notice patterns, name tensions, and design processes that help people stay in the work without burning out. It asks us to trade urgency for clarity, and control for shared understanding.

At Freya + Co, this year affirmed why we focus on facilitation, evaluation, and reflective practice. These are not extras. They are the infrastructure that allows systems to learn.

A Closing Reflection

This year did not offer neat resolutions. It offered insight. It reminded me that progress in complex systems often looks like:

better questions
clearer roles
deeper trust
and the willingness to stay present when answers are not yet clear

Or, as Meadows put it, “We can’t control systems, but we can learn how to dance with them.”

That feels like the work ahead.