Steering Beyond Silos: David Jácome Polit on How STEER Turns Systems Thinking into Better Policy
To mark the launch of STEER, we spoke with David Jácome Polit, Head of the Resilient Development Program at ICLEI and former Metropolitan Director of Resilience for Quito. Drawing on his practice and policymaking experience, David explains how STEER gives policymakers and technicians a blueprint to practice systems thinking, build the organizational muscle to break silos, and avoid maladaptation—leading to more effective, multi-benefit decisions.
1) What challenge did you explore when using STEER?
The fundamental challenge I wanted to explore with STEER was how the tool could help connect across boundaries—linking different dimensions, skills, governance systems, and even power dynamics within a single whole system. Those factors largely determine how a system behaves and whether it can be steered.
Thinking of my time as Metropolitan Director of Resilience, Quito, as a policymaker, in practice, as you try to understand a system, these components surface on their own. The hardest part is that we typically tend to work in silos and use a reductionist lens. That can be useful sometimes, but in an interconnected world you really need a systems lens. I used both the Systemic Risk Assessment (SRA) and Systemic Risk Response (SRR) functionalities and together I can see how STEER encourages a systems approach.
2) Did STEER surface any unexpected insights?
Absolutely. One big one: you want as many perspectives as possible on the system. STEER’s guidance points you in that direction, and it’s right to do so. But when you bring in multiple groups with different perceptions, as we did in Quito as part of our resilient food systems work, you get both richer understanding and contradictions. You need to navigate those inconsistencies — especially when you’re incorporating not just quantitative data but people’s experiences and perceptions. Subjectivities will appear, and that’s a core part of the work.
It also underscores how participation is a must: engaging neighborhood leaders, co-creating solutions, and then connecting those insights with policymakers. Doing this well means being intentional about who facilitates and how—because power imbalances (gender, religion, social status, colonial legacies, etc.) show up differently by context. The tool prompts help to surface some of this and support this thinking, but nuance is local and you have to adapt process and facilitation to the setting.
3) What are the policy implications of what you’ve learned?
Most fundamentally, it builds capacity for systems thinking as a skill. STEER helps you develop that skill while also applying it to real systems, because it structures your inquiry. Critically, you want not only technical staff but also policymakers—and ideally decision-makers—to think in systems. Practically, it helps them to anticipate poor outcomes (e.g., maladaptation) and design multi-solving responses—actions that advance several aims at once. It also strengthens the case for action in political decision spaces: by showing interconnected benefits beyond a narrow, reductionist view, you reduce the risk of wrong outcomes (environmental harm, diminished wellbeing, for example) and offer arguments that resonate with multiple stakeholders.
4) If you had one insight to share with a peer – say, another city resilience director – what would you say about STEER?
Systems thinking isn’t just useful; it’s an imperative. STEER can help you build that capacity, learn faster, and apply it to real problems so we can steer systems that are currently taking us in the wrong direction.
5) Anything else?
Systems thinking does not equal easy solutions. The best solutions aren’t always the easiest to implement. Participation is a must. To gather diverse perspectives, make the process as participatory as possible. Some technicians may see it as a burden or a checkbox, but if you do it well, it’s both valuable and rewarding. In Quito, some of my favorite work was sitting with neighborhood leaders, discussing problems, co-creating solutions, and then connecting those insights with other policymakers.
