Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) has been developed beyond the understanding described by Prof Peter Checkland in his keynote address to the 1999 Wellington conference. Informed by using SSM in real world consulting assignments, and building on the impact of recent ideas, Dr Brian Wilson and his colleagues have improved their understanding of the relationship between systems ideas and systems thinking, and real world problems. They have devised practice based approaches to undertaking effective interventions in purposeful organisations, and communicating the results of systems thinking to the problem owners to improve organisational performance. This workshop provides a practical introduction to these methods.