ECO-
SYSTEM
CARDS
Deepen your understanding of the status quo. Envision desirable futures. Design strategic experiments to learn more.
Introduction
What are
Ecosystem
Cards?
The Ecosystem Cards are a tool to support individuals, teams, organizations, and networks to explore the potentials and implications of adopting an ecosystem approach and define pathways to engage with ecosystems more intentionally.
The cards guide you through an iterative, nonlinear process involving three interconnected phases - plus a set of ecosystem roles that can be brought in at any point.
Click a stack to explore
The Deck
Four Territories
to Explore
How to Play
Who &
How
Who to play with
Whilst you can use the cards on your own to spark initial reflections, no one person or organization can think on behalf of an ecosystem. We recommend inviting other ecosystem actors to reflect together sooner rather than later.
Option A - Back Pocket
Keep the cards as a resource to draw upon to organize your own thinking or to design conversations and workshops around the concept of ecosystems.
Option B - On the Table
Put the cards on the table and invite others to explore a particular ecosystem together.
Tips Before Starting
Be mindful of complexity
Make sure you and your counterparts feel familiar enough with fundamental concepts around working with complexity and ecosystems.
Take enough time
Set aside a "good enough" amount of time to be able to lean into the process and see where it takes you.
Find your own way
The goal is not to answer every question on every card! Use the cards and questions that feel most relevant.
Build bridges between phases
Each phase requires a different state of mind. Find ways to step out of one phase and into another - take a restorative break or enjoy a creative activity.
Document your journey
Use the sensemaking cards at the end of each phase to capture your reflections, questions, and emerging patterns.
Suggested Process
Four Steps
1
Understanding
Start by surfacing insights around the current state of the ecosystem. Collectively agree on boundaries, review the cards, and move to sensemaking.
2
Envisioning
Unlock conversations about desirable futures. Tap into individual and collective re-imagination, explore different focus areas, and see what emerges.
3
Strategic Experimentation
Identify potential leverage points, articulate leverage hypotheses, design and run strategic experiments, then evaluate and reflect.
4
Iterate
Building on your experience and learnings, re-enter the Understanding phase and start all over again. The process is iterative and nonlinear.
The process is iterative - return to Understanding and begin again