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1. System Map

How to use this activity

This activity supports practical application of the concepts in your lesson.

  1. Download this activity as a docx file
  2. Work through the activity step by step. Keep your answers concise and focused
  3. Return to your lesson when you are done.

What to do: Map actors, resources, constraints, relationships, and external influences

Expected output: A simple system map showing how your training fits into a broader context

Approximate time: 20–30 minutes

Used in

Before you start

You will typically need:

  • Outputs from earlier activities (if applicable)
  • Notes from your current lesson
⬇ Download as .docx

Instructions

Before you design content, you need to understand the system your training operates in. In this activity, you'll map the people, resources, relationships, and constraints that determine whether your training leads to real change. The goal is a concrete map you can refer back to throughout this workbook — not a polished diagram, but a working picture of where your training sits.

Build your system map

Step 1: Place your training at the centre

Start a new page — paper or digital, whichever you'll actually use. Place your training in the middle.

  • Title: (if it has one — skip this if you haven't named it yet)
  • Aim: What does this training aim to do? One or two sentences.

Step 2: Map the actors

Around your training, add every person, group, or organisation that affects whether it succeeds. Go beyond the people in the room.

For each actor, note:

  • Actor: Who is this person, group, or organisation?
  • Role: What is their relationship to your training?

For example:

  • Actor: Learners' line managers — Role: Decide whether learners can attend and apply what they learn
  • Actor: Funding body — Role: Sets reporting requirements and timeline

List at least five actors. Push further: Who influences your learners after they leave the training? Who controls resources your training depends on? Who benefits from the status quo and might resist change?

Step 3: Map resources and constraints

What does your training depend on, and where are the gaps? For each resource, note:

  • Resource: What is it?
  • Available? Fully, partially, or not at all.
  • Constraint or gap: What limitation does this create?

For example:

  • Resource: Reliable internet — Available? Partially (not in all training venues) — Constraint: Limits use of cloud-based tools
  • Resource: Time for practice — Available? No (sessions are back-to-back) — Constraint: Learners can't apply skills during training

Include material resources (funding, tools, venues), time, expertise, and institutional support.

Step 4: Draw the relationships

This is where your map becomes more than a list. Draw lines between actors and resources to show how they connect.

For each relationship, consider:

  • Direction — who depends on whom? (Draw an arrow.)
  • What flows — information, funding, authority, support?
  • Strength — is this connection reliable, or fragile?

You don't need a formal notation. Lines, arrows, and short labels are enough.

Step 5: Look for patterns

Review your map and note at least one example of each of the following:

  • Cluster: Where do multiple actors depend on the same resource or person? These are fragile points. If that one person or resource disappears, what breaks?
  • Gatekeeper: Who sits between your training and its intended impact? A manager who won't release staff. A policy that blocks learners from applying new methods. An ethics board that slows things down.
  • Missing connection: Which actors should be linked but aren't? If your training produces skilled people but nobody connects them to opportunities to use those skills, the chain breaks.

If you can't find any, push your map outward — you probably haven't mapped far enough beyond the training room.

If you already have a training

You have the advantage of experience. Map what you already know, then challenge yourself:

  • Add at least two actors you haven't considered before — people who affect outcomes but aren't directly involved in delivery.
  • Look at your constraints: which ones have you been designing around without questioning? Are any of them assumptions rather than facts?
  • Pick one gatekeeper from Step 5. What would it take to turn them into an ally — or to route around them?

If you are creating a new training

You're working with less certainty, which makes mapping even more useful.

  • Start from your intended aim. Who needs to be involved for that aim to be realistic? Add them as actors.
  • Think about where your learners will go after the training. Who or what will they encounter when they try to apply what they've learned? Add those actors too.
  • For resources, be honest about what you don't yet know. Mark anything uncertain with a question mark — these are things to investigate before you design further.
  • Pick your most uncertain area — the place where you know the least about the system. Write down one concrete step you could take to learn more (e.g., a conversation with someone, a site visit, a document to read).

Context check

Look at your completed map and identify:

  • What external factors (policy, infrastructure, culture, institutional norms) shape this system but are outside your control?
  • Which constraints are fixed, and which might be negotiable if you involve the right people?

Reflection

  • Where is the biggest gap between where your training sits and the change it's supposed to produce? What does your map tell you about that gap?

Reuse in later sections

Your system map feeds directly into: