{"id":3672,"date":"2026-01-27T09:28:22","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T17:28:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/?p=3672"},"modified":"2026-01-30T11:38:40","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T19:38:40","slug":"system-levers-toolkit-tools-for-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/system-levers-toolkit-tools-for-change\/","title":{"rendered":"System Levers Toolkit: Tools For Change"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The System Lever Toolkit: Tools for Change includes two tools for leaders: a SWOT Analysis<\/strong> and a Living Leadership for System Transformation Activity<\/strong>. These activities help system-level leaders recognize opportunities in their organizations and leverage their strengths to move their systems toward positive change. This toolkit is the third of four companion resources to the publication Transforming Educational Systems Toward Continuous Improvement: A Reflection Guide for K-12 Executive Leaders<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Tools for Change in this toolkit help leaders understand an organization\u2019s current state related to continuous improvement, identify promising levers of change, and integrate different elements of leadership to drive targeted change in their systems. The toolkit is grounded in the elements of leadership \u2013 key dispositions, core practices, and system levers \u2013 introduced in\u00a0Transforming Educational Systems Toward Continuous Improvement: A Reflection Guide for K-12 Executive Leaders<\/em><\/a>. While the two tools in this toolkit are most powerful when used together, they are still effective when implemented separately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The SWOT analysis<\/strong> is best completed as a team in order to ensure building a robust picture of the organization from multiple sources of input. The analysis tool prompts system-level leaders and their teams to answer the question: What are the organization\u2019s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats related to its evolution toward a system that is capable of continuously improving? <\/em> Leaders and their teams can identify levers of change that emerge from the analysis and align their practice and decision making to advance their organization\u2019s capacity for improvement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Living Leadership for System Transformation Activity <\/strong>enables individual leaders to practice applying an integrated approach to enacting change in their systems.  This tool walks leaders through a process to identify key dispositions and select core practices to focus on in order to strengthen a specific system lever in their own context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watch the video clip below of Mike Hanson, former Superintendent of Fresno Unified School District and Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Foundation,  as he gives an example of the integrated nature of the dispositions, practices and system levers in living the work of system transformation toward continuous improvement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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