There is no system change without inner transformation. When we aim to change things on a grand scale, we are required to change on a small scale too; the stories we tell ourselves, the way we organise ourselves, the tools we use, the ideas we rely on.

The Festival of Fearlessness is a course funded by the Active Communities programme to guide civic and community leaders in courageous and empathetic system leadership. The participatory learning journey was designed to create a safe and trusting space, where people can feel heard, share ideas and test out new ways of thinking and being for a changing world.

The Festival of Fearlessness invites participants to step out of their everyday, to see system change from a bird’s eye view. In doing so, participants reflect on their role within complex systems and experiment with how they can can behave the way they want the system to.

One way the Festival of Fearlessness supports systems transformation is to share useful practices. A practice can be described as a repeated activity. Social practices can set the intention for how partners relate to one another. Practices included meditating, finding the ‘no’ through deep democracy, listening deeply with Time to Think tools, letting go through ritual.

Navigating the obstacles and challenges of changing systems is hard. Reflecting together can help practitioners weather this change. Learning in small groups enables participants to practice using the tools we learnt from deep listening, to imagination, to grounding in nature. The relationships and trust people developed in these groups enables them to experiment safely and without judgement, whilst laying foundations for future collaboration.

111 people have been on their own learning journey with the Festival of Fearlessness. Participants come from across the UK and many different fields. Here are our stories about what we will carry with us.