In systems thinking, we speak of ‘intervention points’ - places where we intervene in a system in the hopes of effecting a certain change. When the goals we could focus on have a lot of potential to create ripple effects or a major shift in the ecosystem, these are also called ‘leverage points’. To keep it simple, you can think of leverage points as strategic intervention points.

One thing you should know is the concept of leverage points is foundational. A leverage point is a place within a system where a disproportionately small shift - a focused intervention - can generate outsized impact across the whole system. This principle has been deeply explored in systems thinking literature, most notably by Donella Meadows, who outlined a hierarchy of leverage points that highlights variations in strategic impact.

Leverage points are sometimes described metaphorically as the “trim tabs” of systems: tiny control surfaces that help steer a large vessel. When correctly identified and activated, these points enable changeworkers to do less but achieve more, optimising impact through insight rather than effort alone.

Understanding leverage points requires a shift from conventional problem-solving - which often focuses on symptoms - to a systems perspective that examines underlying structures, goals, and behavioural patterns. This is key to systems change, since working at superficial levels (like fixing a visible problem without understanding its deeper cause) yields limited and temporary results.

What you need to know before diving into finding strategic intervention points includes:

• A system is more than the sum of its parts - it comprises interacting elements, feedback loops and emergent behaviours.
  
  
• Systems tend to resist change; the point that looks obvious may not be a high-impact leverage point.
  
  
• Effective intervention demands humility, openmindedness, patience, iterative learning, and deep engagement with stakeholders.
   

Moving Beyond Symptom Management in a System

A common trap in systems change is tackling symptoms instead of root causes. For example, providing additional services to a struggling community may feel helpful, but without addressing deeper structural and incentive issues, it risks becoming a band-aid solution or not a solution at all.

The iceberg model is a great analytical starting point here: events and patterns (the tip of the iceberg) are visible, but below the surface lie systemic structures, mental models, and worldviews that actually drive outcomes. Starting with event-level problems often leads to reactive, short-lived fixes. By contrast, addressing underlying structure shifts the whole system’s behaviour over time.

And here’s an important insight from lived practice: while it’s tempting to want to “control the system,” this illusion is dangerous. Falling into the Sorcerer’s Apprentice trap - believing you have the system fully figured out and can plan and control every outcome - undermines real adaptation and learning. In complex systems, uncertainty is the norm. Tools like the Cynefin Framework exist to help practitioners recognise when systems require adaptive approaches, not linear planning.

Importance of Finding the Most Disproportionate Levers to Pull

In systems change, not all intervention points are created equal. Some require vast resources yet yield minimal system movement; others are subtle but catalytic. Finding the most disproportionate levers - those that unlock far more impact than the effort invested - is the essence of strategic systems intervention.

This means looking for leverage points where:

• A single change affects multiple feedback loops
  
  
• Incentives align across actors and institutions
  
  
• Power imbalances shift in favour of collective well-being
  
  
• Unresolved systemic tensions are released, not suppressed
  
  

To start identifying these, changeworkers can use tools such as the iceberg model and ecosystem mapping alongside reflective questions that calibrate expectations about impact, feasibility, risk, and alignment with purpose.

My experiences have shown that many changeworkers begin with noble intentions but lack a clear sense of how leverage manifests in real systems, particularly when incentives and institutional rules are misaligned.

For instance, through an ecosystem mapping and iceberg analysis process at Collaboratio Helvetica (my old NGO), colleagues and I discovered that, despite significant efforts to support systems change practitioners, the absence of accessible connections to decision-makers and funder incentives trapped changemakers in a low-impact loop. This insight reoriented their strategy towards engaging funders themselves through collaborative lab work - a strategic choice rooted in system structure and incentives, not just goodwill.

Want deeper expert advice on finding strategic intervention points? Watch our free online workshop Ecosystem Mapping 101. You’ll shift from feeling stuck in complexity to seeing the patterns that keep the issue in place, and the intervention points that could bring about real change.

Acknowledging Complexity & Embracing an Iterative Approach

Complex systems tend to behave counterintuitively. One common pitfall is assuming that if you understand the system once, you understand it fully. This is rarely true. A system is a dynamic, adaptive network of relationships and feedback loops that evolves over time.

Effective systems change requires:

• Iterative experimentation: Prototyping, learning from outcomes, and returning to adjust based on new data.
  
  
• Feedback-informed adaptations: Feedback isn’t just useful - it’s essential. Delays in feedback are common in complex systems and can mask the true impact of interventions. Learning to interpret delayed signals is part of strategic patience.
  
  
• Humility and willingness to embrace uncertainty: Navigating complexity means accepting that definitive answers may not exist. Interventions may change direction as new understanding emerges.
  
  

This iterative mindset mirrors adaptive governance - a practice of adjusting strategies in real time based on what the system reveals, rather than rigid adherence to predetermined solutions.

Deconstructing the System: Ecosystem Mapping

To find high-impact intervention points, you need a clear picture of the system at hand. To do this, I recommend The Iceberg Model and Ecosystem Mapping as core diagnostic tools.

An ecosystem map visualises:

• Key stakeholders and actors
  
  
• Flows of resources, power, and information
  
  
• Feedback loops and reinforcing dynamics
  
  
• Structural barriers and enabling conditions
  

Defining the System’s Boundaries

Deciding what to include or exclude in your analysis sets the stage for meaningful exploration. Boundaries aren’t inherently fixed -  they should be revisited as your understanding evolves, but having an initial boundary helps organise complexity into a more manageable analytical frame.

Key questions include:

• What are the limits of the system influencing the problem?
  
  
• Which actors have decision-making power?
  
  
• Where do external forces (policy, markets, culture) intersect the system?
  
  

Boundary setting also helps avoid the trap of trying to solve “everything at once”, which diffuses focus and weakens potential leverage. You’ll also be able to better grasp the full picture of potentially good intervention points. I promise, this upfront work is needed in order to find the best intervention points!

Unveiling the System’s Structure: Stocks, Flows, and Feedback Loops

Inside the system’s boundaries lies its structure - the architecture of interactions that sustains behaviours over time. Systems thinking distinguishes between:

• Stocks: Accumulations (e.g., financial capital, human resources, trust among actors)
  
  
• Flows: Rates of change into and out of stocks (e.g., funding, talent development)
  
  
• Feedback loops: Cycles where outputs feed back as inputs, reinforcing or balancing behaviours
  
  

Mapping causal loop diagrams or feedback structures helps reveal where interventions might disrupt vicious cycles or support virtuous ones. For example, identifying a reinforcing loop where underfunded changemakers repeatedly lose human capital highlights a potential leverage point tied to funding flows and incentives.

In conjunction with ecosystem mapping, I recommend completing the 5R Framework for your system. This uncovers 5 important R’s: Rules, Roles, Relationships, Resources, Results. A change in any of these will hopefully also lead to a change in the Results and impact that a given system is producing, which is usually why we take action in the first place (having noticed shortcomings, challenges or problematic symptoms).

Identifying Key Actors and Interconnections: The Human Element

Systems are people systems. Structural maps should include human actors, power dynamics, and cultural values - because no change in our world today happens without human agency.

Identify:

• Institutional actors with decision-making power
  
  
• Influencers shaping norms and narratives
  
  
• Gatekeepers of key resources
  
  
• Complementary allies with shared purpose
  
  

Mapping relationships and dependencies among these actors reveals intervention opportunities where strategic human-led collaboration, negotiation, or incentives can shift system behaviour.

Donella Meadows’ Leverage Points: A Hierarchy of Strategic Impact

Donella Meadows’ seminal essay Places to Intervene in a System presents a ranked list of leverage points - from least to most powerful - that reflect the potential systemic impact of interventions.

This framework reminds us that not all intervention points are equal. Low-leverage changes often relate to parameters and numbers; high-leverage ones touch on rules, goals, and paradigms.

Levels of Intervention: From Superficial to Transformative

While different frameworks exist, Meadows’ hierarchy suggests:

1. Parameters, numbers, and constants - easiest to change, lowest impact (e.g., adjusting fees, subsidies)
   
   
2. Buffers and stabilising stocks - limited leverage and often hard to alter (e.g. reserves or capacity constraints)
   
   
3. Structure of material stocks and flows - nodes and physical organisation
   
   
4. Delays and feedback loops - timing shifts can influence stability
   
   
5. Information flows - improving transparency or data distribution
   
   
6. Rules and policies - incentives, constraints, and governance frameworks
   
   
7. Self-organisation and system design - capacity for new structures and roles
   
   
8. Goals of the system - redefining purpose
   
   
9. Mindsets and paradigms - deeply held beliefs driving system behaviour
   
   
10. Transcending paradigms - awareness beyond existing worldview assumptions
    
    

Deep leverage points -like goals and paradigms - are harder to shift because systems typically resist changes at these levels. But when successfully reoriented, they can sustainably and meaningfully transform the system’s long-term behaviour.

Expanding the Strategic Landscape: Beyond Meadows’ Framework

Complementary Intervention Points for Action

While Meadows’ hierarchy offers a powerful conceptual frame, real-world systems change often demands adaptation and contextual sensitivity.

Additional intervention lenses include:

• Network dynamics and power mapping - understanding influence beyond formal structures
  
  
• Temporal opportunities - windows where political or cultural conditions align for change
  
  
• Narrative and meaning-making processes - shaping collective understanding of problems and solutions
  
  

These expand the strategic landscape beyond static lists, enabling practices that respond to the system’s evolving dynamics.

Leveraging Narrative Power and Mental Models

Mental models (i.e. how people perceive and interpret a system, belief, or concept) exert profound influence on behaviour. Shifting frames of mind and personal narratives can awaken new possibilities and open pathways to deeper leverage points.

Language, perspective, and shared stories shape:

• What actors see as possible
  
  
• How problems are understood
  
  
• Which solutions seem feasible and which gain traction
  
  

By intentionally shaping narratives, changeworkers can influence shared meaning systems that precede structural change. This is a critical step in systems change as systems are intrinsically shaped by how actors and stakeholders act (i.e. their behaviour).

A Framework for Strategic Prioritisation and Action

Once possible strategic intervention points are identified, strategic prioritisation is essential. If you don’t prioritise, you’ll get overwhelmed with all of the possibilities and that won’t get you anywhere.

Any assessment should consider:

• Potential impact: the scale of system behaviour change expected
  
  
• Feasibility: whether current conditions and capacities support action
  
  
• Risk: unintended consequences and system resistance
  
  

Tools like scoring frameworks (e.g. 1-5 impact ratings) help weigh trade-offs and facilitate dialogue among stakeholders.

Engaging and Empowering Stakeholders for Collective Action

Because systems change is a collective endeavour, engaging a diversity of stakeholders enriches understanding, builds legitimacy, and increases the odds of sustained, collective action. Stakeholder empowerment, transparency, and co-creation are not optional extras; they’re strategic necessities when it comes to systems change.

Want greater support in uncovering strategic intervention points? Watch our free online workshop Ecosystem Mapping 101. You’ll shift from feeling stuck in complexity to seeing the patterns that keep the issue in place, and the intervention points that could bring about real change.

Agile Implementation: Policy Prototyping and Adaptive Governance

Systems change benefits from agile implementation - prototyping actions, seeing how the system responds, and refining accordingly. Adaptive governance supports learning, adjustment, and resilience, and vice versa. 

This approach recognises that:

• Systems change is not linear
  
  
• Unexpected reactions are inevitable
  
  
• Continuous learning is a form of leverage
  
  

Managing resistance is part of the journey; high-leverage interventions often face the strongest pushback because they challenge the status quo. If you’ve done your due diligence and devised strong strategic interventions with stakeholders, then don’t get discouraged if not everyone is on board or if you face pushback from some. It’s always difficult to make everyone happy, which is why a lot of systems change is building upon compromises.

Navigating Resistance and Sustaining Momentum

Resistance can arise from:

• Loss of power or privilege
  
  
• Fear of uncertainty
  
  
• Misaligned incentives
  
  

Strategic responses include:

• Building coalition support where every voice feels heard
  
  
• Communicating early and often
  
  
• Iterating in response to feedback

Embracing the Role of the Strategic Intervener

To conclude, how to find strategic intervention points in systems change isn’t a checklist exercise - it’s honestly a mindset and an ongoing practice. Becoming a strategic intervener means:

• Seeing patterns and trends rather than symptoms
  
  
• Mapping deeply and iterating often
  
  
• Balancing ambition with realism
  
  
• Building collective agency
  
  

It means acting not from certainty, but from curiosity, humility, and systems literacy.

Systems change is hard. I’m not going to lie. Yet when we shift our gaze to the places where small actions yield outsized impacts, we open up pathways to fundamental transformation. And that’s what we’re all about as changeworkers!