can systems thinking become “the way we do things?” comment on “what can policy-makers get out of systems thinking? policy partners’ experiences of a systems-focused research collaboration in preventive health

In “what can policy-makers get out of systems thinking? policy partners’ experiences of a systems-focused research collaboration in preventive health,” haynes et al glean two important insights from the policy-makers they interview. first: active promotion of systems thinking may work against its champions. haynes and colleagues’ findings support a backgrounding of systems thinking; more important for policy-makers than understanding the finer details of systems thinking is working in situations of mutual learning and shared expertise. second: co-production may be getting short shrift in prevention research. most participant comments were not about systems thinking, but about the benefits of working across sectors. operationalizing the ‘co’ in co-production is not easy, but it may be where the pay-off will be for prevention researchers, who must understand the critical success factors of co-production and its potential pitfalls, to capitalize on its significant opportunities