Every system has limits: points where steady pressure suddenly becomes rapid change. Think of a tipping canoe. For a while it leans and you can shift your weight to right it. Then it reaches a point where it flips, and there's nothing you can do. That point is called a threshold.
Thresholds exist in all kinds of systems. Landscapes, infrastructure, finances and relationships all have tipping points. Part of building resilience is recognising these points and acting early, before a threshold is crossed and change becomes difficult to reverse.
A practical starting point is identifying the buffers that absorb shocks before tipping points are reached. Buffers are margins for error. They give time and space to adapt before a threshold is crossed. They can be physical reserves, spare capacity, trusted relationships, or simply time to think. Without them, a small shock can quickly escalate as a threshold is crossed with little room to respond.
Threshold awareness means watching for early signals that the canoe is starting to lean. Are tensions rising? Is maintenance being deferred? Are people finding workarounds because systems aren't working? Are flood levels creeping higher? Each can signal that buffers are eroding.
Building resilience means paying attention to early signs of strain, maintaining buffers where they matter, and thinking through what to do if limits are reached. Understanding thresholds helps you spot when small actions can prevent bigger shifts, and when it's time to create room for adaptation.
Something to chew on:
What early signals might tell you a threshold is approaching? What buffers could you strengthen now to create more room to adapt?
Resilience Bites offers weekly insights from the Australian Resilience Centre, drawn from decades of work alongside communities across Australia and internationally. Each Bite explores an aspect of resilience and closes with a reflective question to chew on.
Across the series we'll explore themes that shape resilience in practice, including place, patterns, networks, leadership, learning, feedbacks, thresholds and the deeper work of change.
This series is for people working in communities, landscapes, systems and change. It will help you explore key resilience concepts, apply them in practice and build our collective capacity to create resilient futures.
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