Valuing our teams through learning and sharing

We’re growing through peer support and skills development.

At MSDI, we help our team to develop their skills, and give them the space to support each other’s learning, so they can have a greater impact through their work.

Team members from ClimateWorks set up the Systems Change community of practice in late 2020 as an informal lunchtime learning opportunity for anyone exploring systems change.

In 2021, the group was made up of 63 people from across MSDI. Each month between 20-30 people would meet online for an hour to learn from colleagues, problem-solve challenges and share learning and insight.

“I've got a bunch of new things on my reading list and swirling in my brain as a result and I really appreciate you fostering the conversation – I feel privileged to be part of a CoP that's generating such rich discussion.” – Lecture, David Robertson

No matter where people are on their journey of understanding and working towards systems change in their work, the community of practice has become a valuable space for our MSDI team to build their knowledge and confidence. The group has given the members the chance to connect with each other, gaining a better understanding of each other’s work and the opportunity to reach out for future collaborations. It is a place that connects research with practice and education to ensure that we can create successful and impactful change in the world.

MSDI also offers our people more formal learning opportunities.

Everyday, many of our MSDI team members meet with project partners and colleagues. Which means that everyday they can facilitate discussions that could lead to powerful change.

That’s why MSDI offered its team a facilitation course that enables participants to improve their ability to clarify, influence and inspire others, which hastens the pace of change.

Course leader, Aaron Densham says, “People come out more confident of themselves and how they are as a leader.”

The course builds our team’s skills to design and deliver effective facilitation. At MSDI, facilitation is delivered in many ways from co-designing projects, to strategy meetings, team meetings, stakeholder engagement, training and more.

The course leaders come from multiple MSDI units and create a warm, connected and safe space where participants can be themselves as well as be challenged to realise their potential. Essentially, these are the qualities of good facilitators, mentors and leaders; the qualities that we need at MSDI to influence change, transform systems and achieve our vision.

MSDI Capability: Build capacity and empower leadership by building the skillsets and mindsets for effective action, enabling people to lead from where they are.

OzHarvest ‘Use it Up’ Campaign

Leading food rescue organisation OzHarvest wanted to develop an impactful food waste campaign to reduce household food waste.

They approached BehaviourWorks Australia to help understand this complex issue and conduct new research into which behaviours matter the most. The findings from the research informed the Use It Up campaign, launched on International Food Loss and Waste Day 2021.

The MSDI behavioural change framework was applied to help identify behaviours that reduce the amount of food Australians throw away. The process involved a review of Australian and international literature and workshops with food waste experts to collate a long list of behaviours to reduce food waste.

OzHarvest’s Sustainability Strategist, Annika Stott says, “Food waste is complex. At OzHarvest, we want to make it easy for people to take action on food waste in their homes. The research made it clear which behaviours we should target. It gave us confidence in developing our campaign and avoided us making assumptions. The matrix helped us design the Use It Up campaign and we intend to continue to use it to inform future campaigns.”

To prioritise the most appropriate behaviours, BehaviourWorks Australia conducted surveys with national and international food waste experts to rank the behaviours based on their perceived impact. Then 1600 Australian households completed surveys to determine their current participation in these behaviours and their likelihood of adopting the behaviours.

The insights were then plotted on an impact-likelihood matrix, which provides a visual decision making tool for different behaviours to target, based on their impact, likelihood of uptake and their current adoption rates.

Armed with these insights, OzHarvest developed the campaign Use It Up targeting the most impactful behaviours, including having a Use-It-Up shelf, and cooking a weekly Use-It-Up meal. To get the nation on board and inspire behavioural change, OzHarvest designed a new product to make it easy for people to waste less at home. The Use It Up tape helps people see what food needs using up by marking out a shelf or space in the fridge, freezer or pantry, or using as stickers on food or containers.

To help build long-term behavioural change OzHarvest is planning further elements for campaign amplification over the next 12 months. BehaviourWorks Australia will be assisting in running surveys to capture the food waste and behavioural impact of the Use It Up tape.

You can find out more about the research on the OzHarvest website and check out Use It Up.

MSDI Capability: Understand and influence behaviour by developing tools and frameworks to diagnose problems and guide action.