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To bring a broader perspective to communities undergoing change and the people in them, we collect, analyse and share the wisdom from people’s stories about how they live though change and overcome the inevitable challenges they face along the way.

LifeMapping helps people find the best path forward

Like Google Maps, LifeMapping has a simple user-interface with sophisticated analytics in the background.

People share their stories of change in writing, through answering questions and providing pictures of significant moments or states of mind. 

We make ‘maps’ of peoples' experiences, relationships and actions to find out what really makes a difference
at significant points of change in all our lives.

People can find those who have experienced a similar situation, stand in their shoes, learn from their experience and find the best way forward.

LifeMapping helps you explore your situation, gain insight and be clear about the actions to take.                        

LifeMapping helps community leaders take the actions that will have most impact

LifeMapping can be used by communities, charities, NGOs, government and local agencies and special interest groups to manage change more effectively.

In the face of continuous and challenging change it can be hard to maintain community cohesion and values.
We support hard-working community leaders by helping them gain a deeper understanding of the needs of their people – what really matters and why.

Everyone has their own ‘mental maps and models’ about what is important and what needs to be done. The decisions of even the most experienced leaders can be based on assumptions, hunches and intuition making it difficult to maintain strong culture and values in their communities in the face of change. 

Our analysis of change stories from across a community can reveal the ‘invisible’ impact that peoples' feelings, values and behaviours have on achieving their goals. These ‘intangible’ patterns of cause and effect between individual factors, support from family and friends and community interactions are too complex for even the most dedicated community leader to identify easily.

Our research separates fact from fiction about how change really takes place in communities. We work with informal and formal community leaders, gatekeepers and support workers to help take action where it is needed. We help communities to develop effective strategies, target interventions and allocate resources to have the most impact on social and financial outcomes.

The benefits of successful change are felt by people throughout a whole community. LifeMapping engages entire communities in a positive way; focusing energy and effort on the factors that really make a difference and helping to build a strong, sustainable culture. 

Why LifeMapping works 

• Built on shared stories  of change so that people can stand in the shoes of others and draw on the wisdom of a much wider world than would otherwise be available.         
• Provides a common language to talk about the complex issues of change in an easy way and for people to share knowledge and experience.
• Helps people see where they are and what they can do to make a difference, taking responsibility for their actions.
• Analytics enabled by digital means people and groups can quickly evaluate options based on quantifiable evidence and research.
• Helps people make better decisions and react to change more quickly based on wider experience.
• Helps communities to build strong cultures that support and sustain social and financial outcomes.

The Science behind LifeMapping 

We use a range of linear and non-linear analytics to ‘discover, mirror and reflect’ the patterns in people’s interactions and relationships that they might not otherwise be able to see. 

• Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis is used to build reliability into our LifeMap factor model. Regression analysis is used to quantify the relationships between variables of interest – identifying important drivers. Regression trees (CART) are used to handle non-linearity in the data as change does not always follow in a straight line! Structural equation modelling (SEM) allows us to establish causality (and not merely correlation) between certain variables.
• Text analysis is used to discover the deeper meaning behind the words in people's stories - to gain insights into how they really think and feel, their mental maps and models and what guides their actions.
• Changes in life are often described as a 'journey.' But up to now, accurate maps showing the complex interactions between changes, actions, resources and the outcomes people achieve have not been available. We build multi-dimensional maps from people’s experiences to help them more effectively navigate change. The application of advanced non-linear methods such as Self-Organising Maps (SOMs) to ‘people-change’ data is innovative and breaks new ground.

LifeMap Research has research collaborations with research partners, universities, government science groups and global consulting companies.