Cutting ties
What if your problem didn’t have to be associated with another one?
This is Andrew Benedict-Nelson, social change strategist and innovation educator. Each week, I share a question that you and your organization can use to find a new perspective on the toughest problems you face. Reply to the e-mail or comment on the site and we can talk about them together!
NOW FOR THIS WEEK’S QUESTION…
Chances are that in the public imagination, the problem you are working on is associated with one or more other problems. If you could make one of those associations disappear, which one would you make vanish? Why?
In talking with people working on hundreds of different social problems over the years, almost everyone has a story like this.
In conversations with funders or casual acquaintances or the general public, they are trying to explain the issue they are working on all day, and the other person keeps thinking they are talking about something else. The association might make sense because the issues have common origins, stakeholders, or social dynamics. Or it might be a complete error in public understanding that drives experts nuts.
In either case, sometimes you just want to scream at people, “No, that’s not the problem I’m trying to solve at all! Can you just forget about that other thing?” Well, here’s your chance to make your wish come true. By imagining how conversations about your problem would change without this particular association, you can discover new insights and solutions. Let’s try it:
HOW TO DO IT
Obviously, you’ve got to start by picking a problem everyone associates with the one you’re working on. For many people, one will immediately come to mind. But let’s say that’s not the case. Call up a friend who doesn't work on your problem and explain it to them for a few minutes. Then ask them to list a few other problems they are aware of that sound like what you’ve described. This is also a great way to repeat this exercise to get even more results.
Your problem may be associated with several others in the public imagination. This exercise works best if you focus on just one. I generally recommend you focus on the one that bothers you the most to start, then try the exercise again by focusing on other associations.
Start by tapping into your feelings of frustration and use them to list the disadvantages of these two problems being tied together. Then stop to consider if there might be any advantages to the association. Do your best to come up with a few examples for both sides of the ledger, even if it feels like a stretch.
Next, imagine how you might approach your problem differently if you no longer faced this mix of disadvantages and advantages. How would public perceptions change? What friction in sharing you message might disappear? What new programs or initiatives could you launch? Remember to take the advantages of the association seriously too — think about how you might make up for them if they disappeared.
Finally, step back and look at the overall effect of your problem being tied to another one. What does this make you see about your problem that you could not see before? Are there ideas you came up with in the exercise that you might be able to try in real life, even if not everyone will understand what you are doing? Is it possible that the association with this other problem is not as vexing as you originally thought?
CAN YOU GIVE ME AN EXAMPLE?
Of course. I have helped several students, clients, and friends who are working on the problem of Black maternal health in the United States. In brief, Black women are three times more likely to die in childbirth than White women. This disparity exists even after accounting for differences in income, education, geography, etc.
However, when this problem is discussed, some people almost immediately turn away from the topic of race. Instead, they are more comfortable talking about related problems like insurance access or transit. There is a kind of cognitive disconnect where people ignore the fact that Black women experience worse outcomes independent of all these other factors.
Informed by these frustrations, I’ve watched as students develop approaches that focus more explicitly on racism within the system, raising people’s awareness of this specific issue by consciously detaching it from the usual sanitized language of public health. How might you effect a similar shift for your problem and how it’s discussed?
COOL, SO WHAT MAKES THIS WORK?
This question is an example of how to jump-start creative thinking about your problem using the parthood dynamic. It’s one of six innovation dynamics I help people master to improve their critical thinking and build strategies for social change. Reply to this e-mail with your answer to the question and I’ll let you know what I think! Or learn more by visiting http://www.teachingsocialchange.com.
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The question itself is a great life question!