Neighbors, have you ever replaced a kitchen faucet? It’s a journey. My husband and I recently undertook this journey, and I realized that faucet repair is a good analogy for systems change. Stay with me here.
What does “systems change” even mean?
Let’s start with a definition for “systems change” so we’re all on the same page. What I’ve been writing about on Notes from a Neighbor and advocating for in one way or another for over a decade is systems change, but it’s not a phrase I use often because it can be nebulous to define.
When I say systems change (my definition here is a non-comprehensive mixture of different things I’ve read over the last two years), I’m talking about intentional efforts to address societal problems by focusing on the deeper conditions that cause the problems. Systems change isn’t accomplished by a single person or organization or through a single event because the causes of the problems are complex and interconnected. Instead, it takes collective efforts over long periods and ultimately requires entrenched narratives, mindsets, and values to shift.
Systems change usually includes many small, incremental changes that build to structural changes that hopefully flow into transformational changes. Transformational means as a society, we start doing things in a new way and don’t go back to the old, harmful way.
Systems change is very, very fucking hard.
Okay, we’re on the same page now; let’s get into the faucet repair.
Step 1: Imagine Something Better
Our home was built 51 years ago, in 1973. As best I can tell, our kitchen sink is the original, and the faucet might have been replaced once before. Maybe in the ‘90s? It was leaking; sometimes, the button to turn on the sprayer function got stuck, and the metallic foil covering the flimsy plastic components underneath was chipping away.
But it was hard to imagine something better. The old faucet was technically still functioning, and it had been there a long, long time. It seemed like it was still an acceptable faucet for our particular home.
The first step in faucet repair and systems change is imagining something better. What if the faucet was of better quality, with all the parts working well and no random leaks to clean up constantly? That seemed sort of worth it, and surely, we could find a faucet that looked good and integrated with the older parts of our home that still work great and don’t need to be replaced.
Step 2: Schedule It
Here’s a cold, hard truth from a former coach: A to-do list is wishful thinking. If you don’t put those items into time slots on the calendar, they ain’t gettin’ done, Baby. In our house, we’ve found this especially true of home repairs.
We put a time slot on the calendar for replacing the faucet, but then we realized we also needed to set aside time to research which new faucet to purchase and learn the steps needed to install it. We added some time to our schedule for that, too.
In systems change, it’s similar. For example, let’s say your city or county is considering a ceasefire resolution for Gaza. You know the vote will be on Monday night, and you’d like to be present. You must block the time to attend the meeting on your calendar. Plus, maybe you need 30 minutes the week before to look up and read the proposed resolution or learn the steps you can engage in to let your elected officials know the view you want represented.
Faucets and systems don’t change themselves because we imagined it. We need to dedicate time to the process.
Step 3: Stay Flexible
At first, we scheduled our faucet repair for over Christmas break while my mom was visiting. My mom is her 60s, she’s been through several significant home renovations. She’s seen faucets come and go. I knew she’d happily hang out in the kitchen, offering us pointers while we replaced the faucet. Alas, other priorities arose, and we had to reschedule the faucet repair.
Shit happens. Sometimes, our best-laid faucet repair plans get derailed. Unforeseen disruptions are even more true in systems change because of the long timeline required. So, yes, schedule, but also stay flexible. Dedicated time slots help make it more likely that we’ll take action, but rigidity isn’t realistic.
Step 4: Group Effort
Replacing a kitchen faucet isn’t a solo endeavor. Even professional plumbers have other people who support them in some facet of the project. In faucet repair and systems change, you need to recruit or join encouraging partners and others who can provide the necessary resources.
My husband is 6’6”. Did I mention our home was built in 1973? The kitchens of 1973 were not expansive rooms created for elaborate food prep, “entertaining” (a word used way too frequently on HGTV), or filming your quirky YouTube cooking show. All of this is to emphasize that his fitting under our sink to do the repair was quite a feat. Once there, he needed me to get him a cushion for his back, hand him tools, read the instructions, and say things like, “You’re a faucet repair champion; keep going!”
We also didn’t have all the right tools. We had to call our friend, Michael, and see if we could borrow some of his tools. We ran over to his house mid-repair and got a box he’d labeled “plumbing shit” so we could complete the job. Thanks, Buddy!
Systems change is the same. It requires a group (collective) effort. The hyper-individualism we’re indoctrinated into in the United States is an enormous obstacle to systems change. It’s not on you alone to be the hero who resolves some big societal problem.
That kind of thinking is overwhelming and prevents you taking any step because it feels impossible to do it all yourself. Like, what if to repair our kitchen faucet, we had to buy a faucet and all those tools we borrowed from Michael? He’s been a homeowner longer and has slowly added to his “plumbing shit” box. It would have been very expensive to buy everything at once, and we’d probably have gotten stuck.
Also, there might be times when you take on a particularly important role in overall systems change, but it’s more likely that you’ll play a supporting cast role, funneling efforts toward an outcome you might not even get credit for helping with. The outcome is what is important. My husband was the critical figure in our kitchen faucet repair; he needed my partnership and encouragement, but for both of us, the outcome was the central factor, not who got the credit.
Step 5: Removal Is Hard
Turns out that the hardest part of faucet replacement is the removal of the old faucet. Dang. Getting that crappy, old faucet out was a major pain in the ass. It had been there for at least 30 years and maybe over 50 years. A much bigger chunk of the project was dedicated to this step than anticipated. That faucet was entrenched!
Getting rid of old ways of thinking and operating that have become harmful and scrapping policies or structures that are ineffective and problematic is the hardest part. It will almost always take much, much longer than we want it to.
Remember how in Step 4, I said that getting credit for our role needs to take a backseat to the outcome? The same is true about how long it may take to remove the causes of our societal problems. How long it takes needs to take a backseat to the value of the outcome.
Resolve to contribute to systems change with the tenacious hope that it will occur in your lifetime, but the “good ancestor” mindset of planting a tree whose shade you won’t sit in.
We kept at that dumb, leaky old kitchen faucet because we knew the extra hours getting it out would be worth it in the long run.
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Step 6: Don’t Let Perfect Be the Enemy of Good
The first faucet my husband and I bought was our ideal. Sleek, modern . . . expensive (sigh). We thought it was going to be the perfect upgrade for our kitchen. And you could tell how elite it was because the instructions that came with it were so specific and detailed. This faucet was meant for a well-to-do household, where people expect a certain level of service.
The fancy faucet instructions went like this:
Put on your cashmere sweater, light a $300 “leather and cardamon” candle, tell Alexa to play smooth jazz, and pour yourself a glass of Cabernet.
Call a professional plumber to do this task for you.
Apply vanilla-scented hand lotion. Dialing the plumber was hard on you.
LOL. That faucet did not fit on our sink. Aspirationally or physically. We had to return it.
The one we found that fit the specifications of our (51-year-old) sink was less expensive, which was good but also meant less fancy. The instructions that came with it required scanning a QR code that led to generic steps, some of which didn’t apply to our faucet model. There was ad-libbing involved. They were the “non-elite, normal households” instructions.
In faucet repair and systems change, you may need to compromise. Our first choice, the most ideal solution, may not work or may not work at this specific point in time or might not meet the needs of enough people or be unworkable in some other way. It’s important not to give up and revert to the broken faucet or the old, harmful way. Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.
Remember that systems change is usually incremental, structural, and, finally, transformational. I’d love to have $50k to completely reno my whole kitchen. Then I could also get a brand-new sink with the specifications to fit the fancy faucet, but the new faucet is a big step in the right direction, and it is serving us so much better than the faucet that came before it.
Systems change is very, very fucking hard. I hope the faucet repair analogy helps it feel more concrete and more possible. Keep going, Neighbors!
High five on the successful job! Great analogy. I will say, one big "systems" change I have close personal experience with is when I changed my eating to AIP for a while. The group effort was made easier because I had your help(!) Another was when our daughter disclosed she was transgender - it may not align exactly but it was basically a system change for our family to reprogram some things to support her, and it required quite a bit of what you listed (again you and Dave were part of that Step 4 with us). ❤️ It's motivating to get a reminder that while significant changes require so much, they are the things that give us the deepest sense of satisfaction.
I love this! The faucet lives in the system of your house and your life, so it requires attention to lots of interrelated pieces to successfully change it. Thank you for this!
I first started asking systems thinking questions in earnest when I worked at a food pantry. In the surface/ in the short term we were doing a good thing, but I we were plugging holes in a food system that was failing to feed people (insufficient SNAP and other supports, low wages), creating waste, and perpetuating injustice and environmental harm (Q: why do we have all these kinds beans no one wants? A: the world of USDA subsidies is a trip!). We were giving out food, but allowing people to nourish themselves with dignity means giving out food *and* transforming wider ways of doing things.