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…
Think about a year in the life of your organization or the people connected to the problem you are trying to solve. There are probably certain events that occur every year or on some other kind of regular schedule. Chances are people make plans around these events using established forms, procedures, and protocols. It’s usually hard to imagine these regular events not happening. What events play this role for the people connected to the problem you are trying to solve? How would they react if they didn’t happen? What assumptions does this reveal about the way they think and plan?
Benjamin Franklin said that “in this world, nothing is certain but death and taxes.” But in practice, many of us add a few extra items to the list. We structure our plans around accreditation evaluations, performance reviews, and the release of influential rankings or publications. Such events also structure our cultural and civic life. No matter how many months you skip forward on your Google calendar, you’ll see it populated with Christmas and the Fourth of July. Most people probably feel pretty confident that 2040 will be a presidential election year and that we’ll be watching the Olympics in the summer.
These regular events offer us many opportunities to analyze behavior and find opportunities for innovation. You can use them as chances to explore organizations’ long-term plans and values. You can compare a range of reactions to the event by various individuals and groups across the time.
But the real fun starts happening when you ask what would happen if the event stopped regularly occurring. Would there be chaos? Would everything go on as usual? What feelings or reactions might it inspire? Searching among those responses can give you new ways of looking at your problem.
HOW TO DO IT
You have to start by picking an event that fits the criteria. It should occur regularly and have certain predictable characteristics that everyone has gotten used to. Most of the time, the event has been happening for a long time and people have gotten better and better at responding to it. Don’t think you’ve got an event that fits the criteria? Use the beginning of a new calendar year — it works for almost everyone.
Next, describe how people react to the event. Start with yourself or your team, simply remembering how you responded to the event the last time it happened. Then consider changes in your response to the event over time — not just in the past, but in the future. If you can, compare your responses to that of other organizations or groups. Ideally you can characterize ways in which many different groups connected to your problem react to this event.
Now it’s time for a little analysis. What patterns do you see among the various ways people respond to the regular event? Consider similarities and differences. What significance does this event seem to have for people tied to your problem?
Let’s imagine for a moment that next time, the event does not occur. How would people react? Would some groups have an advantage over others? Would new behaviors emerge, or would everybody keep on doing the same thing? Try to envision an array of responses. You can push yourself even further by imagining what would happen if the event never happens again (instead of just one time).
All of the exercises published in this newsletter are meant to generate new options for you and your team. Looking over the various lenses through which you viewed the reoccurring event, which one seems most promising as a source of new options? Are you more excited about responding to the event differently next time… or perhaps ignoring it altogether?
CAN YOU GIVE ME AN EXAMPLE?
Several times, I have used this question with great effect with educational institutions. One group of leaders was hoping to design a new program for their local high school. They were so focused on graduations rates and college placements that I asked them to briefly imagine a year where none of the graduates went to college. At first this seemed like a disaster! But once they started using their imaginations, the team designed an ambitious new way to turn their high school graduates into local civic leaders, which eventually led to the design of a real fellowship program.
COOL, SO WHAT MAKES THIS WORK?
This question is an example of how to jump-start creative thinking about your problem using the future 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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