Impact Trust • Working glossary
Coherence (complex systems)
When the same patterns, values, or operating principles repeat at every level of an organisation – like a tree where branch angles are similar from trunk to twig. Enables rapid learning transfer between parts of a system.
Details
Context introduced
Beth Sawin’s tree metaphor made this viscerally graspable. If ‘care for the carers’ works in Denmark but not Germany, that’s incoherence – but also an opportunity to scale by learning from each other. Powerful for IFRC’s federated structure.
Source
Complex systems, Beth Sawin / Multisolving Institute
Source / First Appears In
Multisolving TDT session
Authors
Impact Trust team
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