I had the pleasure of catching up with Sonda Sauers this month to hear about her experience with the Systems Thinking Academy. Read her full interview below to find out more about what she’s learned and how it’s help move her work forward. – Sarah Ann Shanahan, Community Manager

Sarah Ann Shanahan: Tell us a little bit about yourself and your role at DRC.

Sonda Sauers: I’m the Business and Membership Manager currently but started in March 2016 as a Clean Energy Organizer. About a year ago I transitioned into my current role. I’ve done a lot of work for our state table as well as member communications and databasing.

I’m from Mandan, ND originally and have  lived here off and on for most of my life. I started organizing here about ten years ago around environmental issues with 1Sky. I guess I’ve dug my heels in as I’ve seen so many good organizers leave our state for one with a less challenging political climate. If people who think like us keep leaving North Dakota, then wins will be even fewer and further between.

Sarah Ann Shanahan: Why did you apply to the 2016 RE-AMP Systems Thinking Academy?

Sonda Sauers: I have a degree in psychology and even though I didn’t fully understand what systems thinking was I found it interesting. It reminded me of some of the work I’ve done while pursuing my degree. You really need to look at the big picture. When you try to understand individual’s behavior you look at them, at their environment and their culture because all these big messy things play into an individual’s actions. I was drawn because it tied my background with the work that I’m doing now. I like to look for root causes that might not otherwise be apparent.

Sarah Ann Shanahan: How are you using the tools you’ve learned to help DRC?

Sonda Sauers: I’ve used some during meetings that we’ve had within our organization. It’s been able to help us get to root causes, saving time and frustration so we don’t have to have the same conversations over and over again. Sometimes we see things that we don’t initially see as related, but find out they actually are.

Sarah Ann Shanahan: I understand you’ve been part of a cohort to get additional systems thinking training. What was that cohort like?

Sonda Sauers: It was amazing! Coming out of the academy I felt like this was really interesting but I didn’t fully understand it. By working with the smaller cohort of people I was able to come to a deeper understanding and see the merit in our new tools. We were able to have conversations, hear different perspectives, and see how these tools can help everyone differently. It also gave me the opportunity to put it all to use practice, even more so than the Academy. Gail was an amazing teacher! She let me learn how I needed to learn. I think that played a big role in deepening my understanding.

Sarah Ann Shanahan: How are you giving back to the Network?

Sonda Sauers: I’m going to help with the Annual Meeting and work with Melissa on the open space sessions. There are some additional ideas for the future as well, like working on Kumu [network mapping software]. How can we use it? What metrics to track? What is the best modeling? My own organization is really interested in working on a systems analysis and eventually working toward one for our state table. I’d like to work with other member organizations to share out these tools to help in whatever way the organizations feel it will fit in them.

Sarah Ann Shanahan: Anything else you’d like to share?

Sonda Sauers: If you are a member but not engaged I highly recommend getting engaged! Over the last year, I’ve found the relationships, knowledge, and resources that I’ve partaken in to be invaluable. I’ve also seen our organization grow and build in ways that we may not have been able to otherwise because of our participation in the RE-AMP Network.