Impact Up's Origins – Philosophical Background

An impact never stands alone in the world. It interacts with the world – just like other impacts do. Impact is our way into the work, close to the people and the projects; we want to improve the interplay between impacts. We want to network and bring together more, and look more towards possible cooperations for the transformations within systems. And we want to do this systemically – trusting that the greatest resources for it lie with you, too.

Why Impact Up

Thinking onward from impact.

In the standard impact logic, impact is the top step – the point where a piece of work demonstrably has an effect on society. The impact staircase, shaped above all by PHINEO, ends here. Our name is: Impact Up. We want to think onward from impact. When societal impact is reached, what happens there?

There, a network opens up: many impacts meet each other, and between them arises what we work with – coherence of impacts, complementarity of impacts, systemic analysis in search of the next meaningful impact. Impacts can also run counter to each other; that is exactly when it pays to clarify concerns together, to seek cooperation and to pursue solutions in community.

The initial idea

When many impacts interlock.

That needs an image of its own: the single staircase becomes a field. The view shifts from the step to the connection – from the height of one initiative to what arises between many.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Output no effect yet Outcome effect on the target group Impact societal effect this is where the standard impact logic ends Impact staircase · PHINEO Impact field · Field effect

The single impact staircase becomes a field of many impacts: each peak stays recognisable, but the connections create a coherent pattern that no staircase alone produces.

Linear impact logic. The impact staircase thinks of impact as a chain: input leads to output, output to outcome, outcome to impact. That makes the performance of a single initiative traceable and plannable. Its limit lies in staying bound to the single initiative and treating impact as a controllable sequence – in complex fields, where many actors act on one another, this image falls short.

Field effect. Many impacts become a shared impact once they turn coherent, complementary, and compatible with one another – once what moves some connects to what others do. This is not another step above impact. It is a different question: how a resilient field emerges from many individual peaks.

Why an institute

Theory and practice.

Our work has an epistemological core: how we describe the world shapes what we can see and what becomes available to us as action. We share this constructivist premise with systemic consulting. Ruth Seliger (Systemische Beratung der Gesellschaft, 2022) sets out consistently what a systemic consulting of society can look like: how the polycrisis exists across three areas – ecology, economy and democracy – and how we can work on it. Society can then be changed from within, by organising societal action within organisations and working systemically towards solutions.

That is why we call our theory pages constructs: deliberately built thinking tools that make shared work on impact possible and that we examine and develop further together with you. For us, a construct is good when it opens up action. Methodologically, we work with what carries the question at hand: systemic organisational development in the Milan/Heidelberg tradition with circular questioning, hypothesis-building, reflecting teams and constellations work; causal loop diagrams and impact models from the systems dynamics line; Nonviolent Communication, co-creation or action research; but also a broad methodological repertoire from peace work such as dialogue, conflict transformation and dealing with the past. Which tool, on the basis of which theory, can support the work in practice is decided by the subject at hand.

Theory and practice need each other – there is nothing more practical than a good theory. We bring theory into practice and practice into theory, undogmatically and open in many directions. We call ourselves an institute because that is where theory and practice come together as equals. What matters is what we want together – the methods follow. In this sense, beyond consulting, we also understand ourselves as an organising actor in the system, one that builds networks and takes part.

Where we start

Listening, trust, networking.

Things in the network only come together once people know each other, exchange, and find shared spaces to think in. That's why we start with the basics: listening, letting resonance emerge, letting trust grow between people – and building networks, around the topics and between the topics.

By now, several theories hold that this listening, this resonance, is the most important thing for our societies. This relational level is our central approach as well. We consult in relationship.

We bring this stance from various sources: from civil peace service in other societal contexts, where building relationships is the basis of the work – listening is always the starting point there, trust and networking build on it. In systemic organisational development it is similar: it understands systems through their patterns and interactions. Here too it takes trust and listening to be able to work on the patterns and interactions. We always work in a conflict-sensitive and participatory way.

We listen to you before we look together with you at your impact. Only once trust carries us do we accompany you with your impact in the room – we orient ourselves here and seek space for your impact, ideally networked across the whole system.

Where this leads

From the idea onward, towards practice.

We want to connect impact with impact, transform society through cooperation, contribute as an institute through theory and practice, and start this ambitious path through listening, trust and networking. We don't believe that we will manage it on our own, but that with a growing We it can succeed nonetheless. We want to try to become clearer about how we can contribute – with systemic impact orientation.

→ Systemic impact orientation → Systems Change

Sources

  • PHINEO: Kursbuch Wirkung (Wirkungstreppe / impact staircase). phineo.org
  • Seliger, R.: Systemische Beratung der Gesellschaft. Carl-Auer, 2022.
  • Rohr, J.: Die große Kokreation. Murmann, 2023.
  • Rayner, C. & Bonnici, F.: The Systems Work of Social Change. Oxford University Press, 2021.
  • Freinacht, H.: The Listening Society. Metamoderna, 2017.
  • Rosa, H.: Resonanz. Eine Soziologie der Weltbeziehung. Suhrkamp, 2016.

Further foundations – such as Developmental Evaluation – are documented on the page on systemic impact orientation.