Social Innovation By Design

I am using product design methodology in my work with clients to re-design public services. I was introduced to this way of working whilst studying Appreciative Inquiry in America. 

There was a great example of how design thinking can be used to transform delivery of services featured in The Telegraph Magazine on Saturday, 16th July.

It describes how a design team went into Southwark and listened carefully to what older people said they wanted and needed. They then designed a social network cum concierge service which is having a positive impact on the lives of older residents. People do not feel patronised or 'done good to'. They can be contributors and receivers.

To read the article see http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/8637156/Full-circle-the-social-network-for-older-people.html

An Antidote to the NOTW Scandal

Something tells me that we won't be seeing News International being featured in the global inquiry 'Business as an Agent of World Benefit!


This global appreciative inquiry is collecting stories of where business is both 'doing well' i.e. making a profit, and 'doing good', benefiting humankind.  It is run by The Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.


As part of my studies into positive business and society change there in 2009, I had to submit a case study to BAWB. I chose 'The Co-operative' trading group.  The Co-operative Bank story is featured on the BAWB at: 

http://worldinquiry.case.edu/bankInnovationView.cfm?idArchive=311

In the early days of the inquiry, David Cooperrider, co-originator of appreciative inquiry, interviewed the management guru, Peter Drucker about BAWB. Cooperrider wrote:


'In the interview Drucker discussed how management needs to operate as a profession with a Hippocratic oath of “doing no harm” and how every social and global challenge of our day could be turned into business opportunity given the right mix of innovation, organizational competence, pragmatism, and business social entrepreneurship.'


'Do no harm' - News International might like to learn from the businesses featured at BAWB that you can make profits without resorting to dirty tactics and illegality.

Back of the Mind, Bottom of the Heart, Coolest Scenarios

The Louisiana band 'Givers' are about to perform for the first time in the UK. In an interview with 'The Observer' yesterday the reporter was bowled over by their joy and positivity. 


This band clearly don't need to attend any lectures on positive psychology or workshops about creating their own futures, they are just living it. Some quotes to give you a flavour:


'We are just regular people who were told growing up that we should get a degree and prepare for the worst.' Instead 'they imagined the best.'


'Everybody has their own coolest scenario-possible in the back of their minds and the bottom of their hearts - we focused on it as if it could be reality'.


'To tour with (Dirty Projectors) was a testament to all that bullshit I was just talking about - imagine the coolest scenario possible and just keep imagining it until it happens.'


Being able to picture what we want to achieve for the future affects our actions today - whether that is learning to play instruments, setting up as a band and doing whatever gigs you can wherever, as Givers did. 


What is your back of the mind, bottom of the heart, coolest scenario for the future?


To read the full article go to: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/jul/03/givers-interview-in-light-hoby#start-of-comments

A Touch of Magic in Hard Times

What have positive approaches to change management got to offer when times are hard and cuts are being made?

Yesterday I was in the East of England working in just this way with a newly constructed team in a large local authority. In the room were thirty plus people who had previously been part of four other teams. They had seen valued colleagues lose their jobs and found themselves reshuffled to make up a new team that will serve the organisation in a different way.

So where did the magic come in? It came in as:

- people shared something of themselves - their mood, their hopes, the things that spark their energy and creativity at work;

- they honoured the legacy of former colleagues by sharing stories of their former team's very best work;

- they uncovered from their histories all the times when they had joined new teams and been part of successful teams, identifying what had made the experiences so good;

-  from their stories, they drew out all that these had to tell them about what makes for success;

- they used these findings and their ideas for 'what else' to develop a picture of the future they want to create for the new team;

- they determined the actions they could take immediately to move towards their vision.

And through the day the energy levels rose and rose - energy that is essential for change to happen. I had made some wands for them to use to grant their wishes for the new team. I had even brought some fairy dust. None of it was needed. 

They had created the necessary magic all by themselves!

Springsteen and Deviant Success

 Re-organisation, reconfiguration, call it what you will, there is a lot of it about. This week I am off to work with a team in the East of England. They are a new team, formed from four separate teams, as a result of public sector re-organisation.

Over the week-end I went back to re-read Kim Cameron’s book ‘Positive Leadership – strategies for extraordinary performance’. It summarises research and teases out the elements of positive leadership that help to create teams that dramatically succeed beyond the norm.

It is an easy read - I first read it whilst waiting for Bruce Springsteen to play in Hyde Park in 2009. The book provides assessment tools to help you gauge your style and impact and strategies to implement.

In summary the four elements for success are:

 A Positive Climate – encouraging acts of compassion,  collective forgiveness,  and expressions of gratitude.

Positive Relationships -  enabling people to give and receive support; fostering positive energy and effectively managing people who are energisers in the organisation; helping people to become aware of and capitalise on their strengths.

Positive Communication- communicate a ratio of five positive messages for every negative message; provide employees with ‘best self’ feedback; distribute notes and cards complimenting performance; provide negative feedback in a supportive way.

Positive Meaning- All human beings search for positive meaning in their lives. Where work is meaningful and has positive outcomes it has a powerful effect on individuals and the quality of their work.  Leaders can capitalise on this by highlighting the value connected to the organisations’ outcomes which go beyond personal benefit of individual employees.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Positive-Leadership-Strategies-Extraordinary-Performance/dp/1576756025/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1309164371&sr=1-1

Tether your camel

An excellent example at a workshop I was running of why it is important to engage the right side of the brain as well as the left when trying to find innovative solutions. 

The task was to imagine it was 2020 and we had succeeded in reducing the number of people with diabetes who suffer sight loss. In 2011 people from the particular community we were thinking about, told us that they don't really understand prevention in relation to some health issues. 

The participants were asked to draw a picture to illustrate what would be happening to enable this success. One participant came up the Q'ranic verse 'Trust Allah but tether your camel' i.e. God needs us to take action as well. This provided the group with a great visual image.

That image and the text of the verse might well provide us with a prevention campaign that will engage people heart, mind, body and soul.

Imagining the future

Human beings are always imagining the future. Abraham Lincoln said: ' The best way to predict your future is to create it'. 

Here is a great example from the comedian, Sarah Bernhard speaking in 'The Observer Magazine' :

'As a five year old I would lie in bed fantasising about performing on stage in big musical comedies. You could say I knew what I wanted from a young age.'

If we cannot imagine a positive future, we cannot create it. The way in which we imagine the future (our own or that of the organisation we work for) affects what we do today. 

Here is what a Bradford child in the documentary 'Poor Kids' (broadcast by the BBC on 7th June 2011) has to say about her future (as reported in 'The Guardian Weekend'):

'I think my future is gonna have loads of bad things in it. And then a few good things. I'tll just get everything my mum got except for bedrooms that have ripped wallpaper. I've just got to wait for my future to come.' Courtney (Bradford)'.

What both Sarah's and Courtney's quotes tell us is that if we want people's life chances to improve we need to be working on the dreams of our children.