Introduction
What is a tipping point? Learn and explore positive tipping points and making systems change with this curated and resourceful toolkit curated by the Green Futures Network at the University of Exeter.
The Positive Tipping Points Toolkit has been created to support transformational change at all levels. It has been developed to make working with complex systems more accessible, rewarding, and collaborative.
If we want to change a system we need to think like a system. If we try to trigger a change – for example a new behaviour, or a new policy – without first understanding what is required for that change to take root, then we risk having limited impact, or even making things worse.
Understanding, identifying, and working towards tipping points can help bring a wealth of benefits to our work for change:
- Becoming more comfortable with the uncertainty that is unavoidable when we try to shift large or small complex systems of environmental or social harm.
- Reframing systems thinking as something that can be accessible and familiar to all of us, by using play, story, creativity and structure.
- Developing more relevant indicators of progress, to inform strategic planning and development towards short and long term goals.
- Finding new stories of change that help us learn from what has and has not worked in the past, so that we can identify the actions that may make positive change more likely in the future.
- Creating opportunities to find new collaborations across different spaces, scales, and sectors, through a deeper understanding of our respective roles in changing a system.
What is a Tipping Point?
A tipping point occurs when a change in a system becomes self-reinforcing, building momentum towards widespread, and often irreversible, impacts.
Imagine rolling a ball to the top of a hill. As you push the ball you are facing resistance. Gravity is pushing against you, there might be rocks in your way, and your arms are getting tired. If you let go before the top, the ball will fall back to where you started from.
We sometimes see this with attempts to introduce new behaviours or policies. They cause a brief shift, but the system soon returns back to the way it was before. Once the ball has passed the top of the hill however, that resistance becomes momentum. Now releasing the ball will lead to a new destination, and one from which there is no quick or easy return.
This moment at the top is the tipping point, and it is a recognised and studied feature of complex systems. It is the moment where the conditions for the new system state have become significant enough to mean that the changes are now self-reinforcing, and even though the new system state has not yet been reached, it has become largely unavoidable, and often irreversible.
In this story, the ball is the system, and each side of the hill represents the state of the system.
Instead of a simple, linear journey from one state to the other, the system requires significant effort to shift, but once the tipping point is reached then positive feedback (in this case, gravity) will carry it further.
The characteristics of a tipping point include:
- A movement from one system state to another – a meaningful and significant change
- Positive feedback – self-reinforcing reactions that create momentum to amplify the change
- Non-linearity – small changes can have big impacts, and change can happen very quickly compared to the usual speed of progress
- Irreversibility – the change can not be easily undone (although this is sometimes possible over a longer period of time), even if the system changes again it cannot return to the exact same state it was in before
Key points to consider
- The tipping point is not the end of the story, but marks a shift where the change becomes self-perpetuating (the ball will keep rolling even when you stop pushing)
- It is also not the start of the story, and what happens before the Tipping Point is just as important as the moment of tipping (the process of getting the ball to the top of the hill)
- Not every change is a Tipping Point – common qualities include abrupt, self-reinforcing, and irreversible change
What can I do about Tipping Points?
Sometimes the idea of a tipping point can feel overwhelming, or disempowering. Some systems seem beyond our ability to influence, particularly Earth Systems like deforestation or glacial ice loss. But social systems, including social action on environmental issues, include many examples where we can contribute to transformative systems change.
Some examples of social systems which can be tipped include:
- A shift to a more accessible and fair housing system, where homes are affordable and meet the needs of communities.
- A town or city becoming more resilient to the predicted impacts of climate change, including flooding and extreme heat.
- A collective move towards eating more plant-based meals, with options becoming more varied, cheaper, and socially desirable.
A helpful way to think about Positive Tipping Points and what this Toolkit has been created to support is to consider intention, agency and desired outcomes.
How can I use the Positive Tipping Points Toolkit?
This toolkit has been created to support your work for positive change. Based on the latest academic research, it breaks down the idea of tipping points into 5 sections:
- the enabling conditions,
- feedback loops, and
- triggers that make up a tipping point, as well as the
- indicators that can tell us that we are on the right path, and
- how we can tell different stories of change in complex systems.
The toolkit has been designed to be used in many different ways, to support a wide range of people working in different ways and places. There is a world of ideas, activities, questions, and guidance within the toolkit.
The Toolkit exists to offer support for navigating systemic change:
1. A Map – The Positive Tipping Points framework
A way of mapping and making sense of the systems you are in, how they became the way they are, and how they are changing and can be changed. A theory of change to work with and share. A different way of looking at the world, to help you notice something new.
2. Tools – A growing list of ways to apply the framework
A collection of activities and interventions that support your journey by cultivating awareness of how complex system change happens. Ways to learn about and to process the map together.
3. An Approach – Examples and invitations to encourage new thoughts and patterns
A way of working rooted in care, intention, and awareness. Holding space for the emergence of new ideas and possibilities.
Positive Tipping Points Community of Practice
To support the ongoing development of the Toolkit, and the use of Positive Tipping Points in practice, the invitation is open to join the Positive Tipping Points Community of Practice. It is open to anyone who is interested in using the Toolkit to share ideas, challenges, stories, and support as part of a peer-learning space.
Access the Full Toolkit
Positive Tipping Points Toolkit
Explore Further
- Video – What are Global Tipping Points? University of Exeter
- Tools for Systems Thinkers: The 6 Fundamental Concepts of Systems Thinking
- Are we Ready for a Trigger?
- From the Berlin Wall to Today — Lessons for Harnessing the Moment of the Whirlwind
- Making Change: What Works?
- Systems Thinking and Campaigning: An Interview with Nicky Ison
- Systems Thinking for Campaigning and Organizing
- Bill Moyer’s Movement Action Plan and Four Roles of Activism
- The Movement Compass and Worksheet
- You’re not Failing, Social Change can Be Slow
- Books to Read if you are Interested in Activism, Social Change and Justice