The ‘results’ we think we want aren’t the ones we need…

We’re in a mess right? All around us things are changing really fast and all at once.

Technology is developing faster than we can think, the natural world is convulsing, economies are writhing in uncertainty and societies are polarising into fragments while politics simply can’t keep up.

There’s too much information and opinion.

We simply can’t take it all in, or work out what’s important or accurate and what’s not.

This is our world today, and we see it. We know things aren’t right and we want to change it. We also know there are better ways of doing things, and we know many of them work.

So how come as a whole, humans are accelerating away from where we want and need to be?

We have all these brilliant collaborative platforms now, but they’re not very well connected. It can feel like we’re just upping the production of information and opinion while creating new kinds of silos.

The big problem

…is that we’re trying to see how things work, without paying attention to the way we’re looking at things. So having a platform to bring people together doesn’t help much unless we find ways of bridging different perspectives, tackling thought patterns that polarise, and exploring the dependencies of systems .

These are all ‘structural drivers of systems’ – the underground roots of things that have a high impact in the way things turn out, but which are very hard to measure. The catch of course, is that if the outcomes and results aren’t clear (because we can only see above ground), it’s hard to win backing to support the necessary work.

All of which brings me to a really good report from the Schwab Foundation and World Economic Forum. It’s about the work of ‘cross-sector leaders who lead, orchestrate, or facilitate groups or networks of organizations tackling challenges that are too large for individual organizations’.

The Future Is Collective

The report is sub headed ‘Advancing Collective Social Innovation to address Society’s biggest challenges’, and it paints as clear a picture as I’ve seen about the features of well structured transformative change work. I think the insights should be helpful for those waving people into collaborative platforms. Or for that matter, anyone building communities of change.

One of the most important points of the report is that work on the structural drivers of human systems is work on the way we think and what we believe – and that takes time. It’s hard to be patient when there’s a desperate sense of urgency in the room, but without good alignment and trust, small bursts of progress are almost bound to fail.

My take on the key points from the report are below – you may find some too obvious, but if others need more explanation you can dive into the full report here. It’s based on conversations with people they call ‘Collective Social Innovators’ who work at the intersections between cultures, sectors and disciplines.

The report doesn’t solve the problem of measuring the impact of this critical work, but by highlighting the features so clearly, it does usefully show the kinds of things that need more support. Here are the common patterns and themes they identified.

Work first from values

These values are all important when dealing with complex inter-connected challenges

1. Value participation: Involve a wide range of stakeholders to cocreate solutions and actively seek constructive partnerships.
2. Value ambitious, systemic impact over short-term fixes: Commit to meaningful consultation (not full consensus) – it’s time consuming, but necessary to tackle root causes.
3. Value flexibility: Anticipate emergence and learning from failure with an open, creative and adaptable approach to plans
4. Value those directly affected: the stakeholder participants shouldnt just be ‘movers & shakers’
5. Value both people and nature: A regenerative economy requires ancient wisdom and modern science combined

Organise differently

1. Mobilise vast constituencies through networked grass-roots action with coordinating support
2. Develop collective pathways defining critical elements for collaboration (vision, principles, methods and practices).
3. Run amplifying activities such as building movements with shared narrative; strengthening data systems; Influencing institutions; hosting learning communities; and pooling funds for systemic solutions.
4. Create supportive structuresof governance, team culture, skills and tech

Create new relationships

This is the part where the report looks at impacts.

The current conventions of most government/authority stakeholders and funders were set in times when the complex reality of systems was less well understood. So until/unless these agencies adopt similar ways of working, this kind of innovation can meet challenging resistance.

Funders have traditionally been patrons rather than partners or stakeholders, and they like to know their money has produced results. So the shift to more trust-based funding practices, greater flexibility, and longer time horizons isn’t easy to do.

Great Collective Social Innovators work to help funders build the ‘critical ecosystems’ that allow many organisations to flourish.

The challenge here is that even if funders agree to invest in the infrastructure to make learning/skills and tools for change more likely to come about, it’s hard to show it’s the cause. It’s like the problem of not being able to prove what didn’t happen thanks to preventative measures – results may look encouraging, but it’s almost impossible to know.

Government stakeholders are used to traditional legal forms. They may have got more used to partnership structures, but public services in democratic societies are sensitive to criticism and so often risk-averse. It becomes challenging when advisors without grounding in systems or social innovation work come across agreements that spread responsibilities and accountabilities across legal boundaries. They have to find a comfortable balance between the loss of control and the spread of the risk.

But government/authority stakeholders can gain a lot by using their convening power. They can tap the knowledge and expertise of otherwise passive constituencies and communities, link up public sector services can link up to improve community outcomes and support the best initiatives to scale-up to population levels.

And finally

Over to you.

Do you see yourself as a Collective Social Innovator?

If you work in these kinds of ways, where are you doing your work and what’s working well?

Do you think this report helps make a case for the kind of work you do?

The work of brokering ambitious constructive partnerships with whole systems in mind can be hard, and often (because it’s often so ‘behind the scenes’) relatively thankless work. But for me personally? It’s the most worthwhile kind of work there is.

My parting tip for those of you passionately committed to changing things for the better. Never forget to include yourself.

The report I’ve just summarised has 30 references to learning – mostly about delivering or sharing it. The risk is that people passionate about helping others are often so busy looking out for others, that they forget to see themselves. So reserve some patience for your own reflections and pay attention to the things influencing you and the ways your presence affects things. You count.

My own journey in learning to ‘Be the change you want to see in the world’ started over 30 years ago and it’s not over yet. There’s a world of difference between an intellectual grasp of ideas, and inhabitingthem.

On a good day, I feel like a clear channel for the universe, but complex systems are messy, and so am I. All I can do is pay attention, and keep fine tuning my channel to try and keep it clear.