LocalMotion Torbay: A Year of Deepening Roots and Expanding Vision
As we reflect on the past year, it’s clear that LocalMotion Torbay has entered a new phase of maturity and momentum. Together, we’ve made bold decisions, embraced complexity, and deepened our commitment to place-based systems change. Here’s a look at what we’ve achieved and where we’re heading.
Investing in Continuity and Depth
One of our most significant decisions this year was to fund the continuation of Phase One work. This investment wasn’t just about sustaining activity it was about not recreating funding cycles that become barriers, but to believe in the in the value of the relationships, insights, and groundwork laid so far. By supporting this phase with dedicated systems thinking, we’ve begun to surface deeper patterns and possibilities for change.
Progressing Phase One: Seeds Taking Root
Several of the Phase One initiatives have not only continued, they’ve grown. Some have independently secured additional funding, a testament to their relevance, resilience, and the trust they’ve built. The work is ever evolving, and contributing to the wider learning and momentum of LocalMotion in Torbay and beyond
This progression reflects one of our core hopes: that community-led work, once nurtured, can thrive beyond initial support, anchored in local energy, relationships, and purpose.
Evolving Our Coordination Group
We’ve restructured our coordination group to include more voices from the community. This hasn’t been easy. With more perspectives around the table, decision-making has sometimes felt slower and less clear. But this stretch has been part of the work, learning to hold difference, to listen more deeply, and to build shared understanding. It’s been a good journey, and one that’s beginning to bear fruit.
Introducing Systems Change Models
To sharpen our shared understanding of what we’re trying to achieve, we’ve introduced systems change models that help us see the bigger picture. These tools are helping us name the dynamics we’re working with and navigate them with greater intention.
Co-Creating a Learning Framework
In collaboration with LocalMotion’s central team, we’ve helped shape a new learning framework that honours local nuance while connecting us to a wider movement. This framework is already helping us reflect more deeply, share more openly, and learn more strategically across places.
September Learning Visit: Imagining 2040 Together
In September, we hosted a learning visit that invited the community to imagine an optimistic vision for LocalMotion in 2040. What might our place look like if systems thinking were truly embedded and if community-led change were not the exception, but the norm?
Through creative workshops, reflective dialogue, and shared storytelling, we explored what it means to regenerate Torbay from the inside out. The energy and imagination in the room (marquee) reminded us that the future isn’t something we wait for it’s something we create.
Learning in Motion: What’s Working, What’s Not
At the heart of LocalMotion Torbay is a commitment to learning, not just about systems, but about ourselves, our relationships, and our ways of working. This year, we’ve leaned into that ethos more deeply than ever.
We’ve tried new approaches, tested ideas, and held space for honest reflection. Some things have worked beautifully: embedding systems thinking has helped us see connections we hadn’t noticed before, and our September learning visit sparked powerful visions of a community-led future.
And some things haven’t worked as well. We’ve faced moments where communication faltered, where roles felt unclear, or where the pace of change outstripped our capacity to hold it. But rather than gloss over these challenges, we’ve treated them opportunities to learn adapt, refine, and grow.
This is what systems change looks like in practice: not a straight line, but a living process. We’re learning how to balance structure with emergence, clarity with curiosity, and ambition with care.
Practising Deep Democracy: Tools for Listening, Leading, and Letting Go
This year, we also hosted a Deep Democracy training for community members a powerful step in building the skills and confidence needed to navigate complexity together.
Deep Democracy offers practical tools for surfacing hidden voices, working with tension, and making decisions that honour difference rather than suppress it. Over two days, participants explored how to listen more deeply, speak more honestly, and stay with discomfort long enough for something new to emerge.
For many, it was a transformative experience, one that helped shift how we show up in groups, how we hold power, and how we move through conflict. It’s already influencing how we facilitate meetings, resolve tensions, and invite participation across LocalMotion.
Holding Space for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
Throughout the year, we’ve also engaged in important conversations around Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, recognising that systems change must be rooted in justice, not just innovation.
In a world that can feel increasingly polarised, this work matters more than ever.
This work is ongoing, and we’re committed to staying with it, with humility, courage, and a willingness to be changed by what we hear.
Systems Change Learning Journey: Growing Capacity, Shifting Roles
This year, a group of community members have embarked on a dedicated systems change learning journey, an immersive experience designed to build confidence, insight, and practical tools for navigating complexity.
Through workshops, peer learning, and reflective practice, participants are exploring how systems behave, how change happens, and what it means to lead from within. This journey is resourcing people to play different roles in the system: as connectors, challengers, storytellers, and stewards.
It’s not just about learning new concepts, it’s about seeing ourselves differently. Recognising that change doesn’t always come from formal authority, but from relational influence, lived experience, and the courage to ask better questions.