Sites of Shaping: Systems Change Starts in the Body

As part of my Trauma-Informed Collaboration course, we explored Staci Haines’ work in The Politics of Trauma—and her framing of the sites of shaping: the layers that form who we are and how we move through the world.

Her framework aligns with Kholo’s own focus on transformation at three levels: individual, group, and environment.

Understanding the Sites of Shaping

Staci describes six interlocking layers:

• Individual: What do you “come in with”? How do you tend your own energy and constitution?
• Family & Intimate Networks: What did you learn early about safety, belonging, and dignity?
• Community: Who are your people? What have you absorbed about inclusion and difference?
• Institutions: How have schools, companies, or faith systems shaped what feels possible?
• Social Norms & Historical Forces: Who gets to belong, and who doesn’t?
• Spirit & Landscape: What grounds you in something larger than yourself?

These layers shape how we show up at work—how we build trust, make decisions, and sense safety.

Yet most organisations intervene at only one or two levels—skills, structure, incentives—when true systems changerequires awareness across all of them.

Safety, Dignity, and Belonging: The Core Needs of Healthy Systems

In Haines’ framing, three human needs sit at the heart of every thriving system:

Safety — material, emotional, and relational security
Dignity — a sense of worth and contribution
Belonging — connection to people, culture, and purpose

Many workplaces unconsciously trade one for another:

• Belonging often comes at the cost of dignity through overwork and underpay.
• Safety is sacrificed for performance.
• In startups, belonging thrives early, but erodes as growth accelerates.

The deeper question is:
What would it look like to design organisations that balance all three—for every nervous system inside them?

Systems Change Is a Somatic Process

These aren’t abstract ideals—they’re somatic realities.
Our bodies recognise when they’re respected, connected, and safe.

As Stephen Porges describes:

• Neuroception automatically scans for safety or danger.
• Interoception senses internal signals.
• Proprioception anchors us in space and relationship.

When workplaces honour these biological systems, they move from reactivity to creativity—making trust a felt experience, not a policy.

What Regulated Workplaces Could Look Like

Imagine organisations designed for regulated nervous systems:

Quieter. Slower. More rhythmic.
Less performance theatre, more genuine presence.
Fewer fear responses, more creative flow.

That’s where systems change begins—not in the next re-org, but in how our bodies feel safe enough to imagine something new.

Kholo’s Perspective

At Kholo, we bridge somatics and systems design to help leaders build cultures grounded in safety, dignity, and belonging.

Because transformation doesn’t start in a strategy deck.
It starts in the body.

Learn more about our approach.

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