Citizens continue to demand government leadership on problems that are complex, multifaceted, and not solely within government jurisdiction: healthcare, the environment, poverty, transportation and crime, just to name a few. These are ongoing, intractable system-level problems that are complex: there is no procedure, no method, no approach, that can reliably, predictably, and repeatedly make progress on these areas.
These complex problems are beyond the scope of any one actor — individual, community, company, or government—to solve. Collaboration on cross-sector solutions is necessary, but far from straightforward. Provincial and federal governments, in particular, face an identity crisis. The traits that served them well historically, and form the core of their approach—stable, reliable, consistent… in a word, bureaucratic — are now factors constraining their ability to adapt, collaborate and innovate on complex challenges that do not substantively respond to traditional approaches.
Government needs to be able to innovate, which requires taking risk, something that runs contrary to an organization designed to reliably produce predicted outcomes and responsibly manage the public purse. This is especially true in a time of austerity, with a hyper-reactive media ready to jump on any mistake, and a distrusting public. Evolving to a new governance model is going to require a bridge.
Change labs refer to a wide range of social technologies that allow parties to experiment and share risk in a new way. Labs are a place where multiple parties come together around a common problem, in a “space”, which temporarily disrupts existing power structures. Actors work together to expand their understanding of a problem, identify points of intervention, and prototype and iterate solutions in a safe, supportive environment where participants co-develop and share the risk associated with those solutions. This has the potential to unlock new pathways on problems, by creating space for government to partner with others in a different way.
2. TEAM /
Derek Alton . alton.derek@gmail.com
Lisa Joy Trick . lisajoytrick@gmail.com
Jonathan Glencross . jonathan.glencross@gmail.com
Mike Klassen . mike.dw.klassen@gmail.com
6. How can Canadian governments
retain the strengths of traditional,
risk-averse, consistent
institutions...
...innovative, collaborative,
and dynamic, finding new
approaches to move the
needle on the complex, system
level problems we face?
while becoming...
7. "I understand you're concerned about risk.
There’s a giant Mack truck coming your way.
It’s a big risk if you keep standing here. I have a
tool, that will tell you which side of the fucking
street to run to."
8.
9. accountability / fairness / rules / due process
What is the structure & culture that holds a civil servant in place when they want to move?
12. That senior decision makers are willing to invest a little bit of money... and time...
is a symptom that they recognize the current governance model is not good
enough. It can be improved, reinvented.
Public managers need an ongoing process of questioning problems and
approaches that’s not just about radical new ideas, but about questioning the
current limits to implementing innovation.
challenging the status quo...
synthesis from our interview with Christian Bason
...with labs
13. current state future state
bureaucratic
organizational
silos
porous
networked
labs / public labs
/ social labs /
social innovation
labs / studios /
institutes / r&d
/ idea factories /
innovation units
/ a third space /
do tanks /
14. WHAT IS A LAB?
think > do
“The lab is an experimental place where traditional
thinking, intolerance to risk, silos and resource flows
are deliberately interrupted, encouraging
participants to look at problems in new ways.”
- Policy Horizons Canada,
Innovation Labs: Bridging Think Tanks and Do Tanks (2012)
15. Processes
WHAT IS A CHANGE LAB?
think > do
Whole System Products & Services
Design Science
16. convene >>> develop >>> prototype >>> iterate >>> scale impact
Lab Sequencing
WHAT IS A LAB?
think > do
research in, research out >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
17. A lab ecology
collaborative social
innovation
open
source &
diy culture Peer 2 Peer
economy
collective
impact
civic
tech
In-Gov Labs &
department
level labs
open
data / big
data
Public Service
Innovation Labs
#PSILabs
citizen-led labs
public service renewal
#policyinnovation
#innovationpolitique
lab facilitators
process designers
Design Labs
User-centred
#servicedesign
Open Source
democracy
#opengov
city +
educational
institution = lab
behavioral insights
#nudgeunit
maker or fab labs
open-source
manufacturing
18. who we talked to… over 40 informants
Joeri van den Steenhoven / Jeff Barnum / Jason Bade
Eduardo Staszowski / Stefaan Verhulst / Noella Steinhauer /
Zaid Hassan / Sean Geobey / Alex Himelfarb / Stephen Huddart
/ Allyson Hewitt / Christian Bason / Molly Harrington / Sunil
Johal / Tim Draimin / Blair McMurren / Whitney Borowko / Mark
Cabaj / Laura & Meagan / Don Booth / Jean Kunz / Frances
Westley / Nicholas Charney / Monica Pohlmann / Suzanne Stein
/
Saralyn Hodgkin / InWithForward + more...
lab founders… civic servants & field builders
19. who we read… over 30 docs & books
Authors included: Christian Bason / Zaid Hassan / Geoff Mulgan
Sarah Schulman / Lisa Torjman (Mars) / Stephen Huddart & Anil
Patel / DESIS / Knight Foundation / Frances Westley / S Goebey &
K Robinson / Public Policy Forum / Mars Solutions Lab / Roger L.
Martin / Mowat Centre / Deloitte / Policy Horizons / Al Etmanski
20. Opportunity Context
What is enabling labs in Canada?
SIG Thought Leader tours
Policy Horizon’s reports
DM Committee
on Innovation
Austerity
Blueprint 2020
Governor General
innovation tour
Destination 2020
Internal Champions
21. Niche Experimentation
Alberta
Canadian Lab initiatives
Ottawa
Nova Scotia
CG Design (in Gov, cross
departments)
ESDC Change Lab
Engage NS
NS Gov Change Lab
United Way Lab,
Leading Boldly
Toronto
Mars Solutions Lab
OCAD Lab Corridor
Sustainability Transition Labs
British Columbia
InWithForward
Burnaby
27. Acting
Design
Implementation
PRODUCT 3:
Decision Making Aid
What kind of
partnerships,
funding models
and methods
should I employ?
How much will it
cost?
What kind of
accountability
and authority
frameworks
should be
employed?
29. 1. Create Knowledge Products
2. Test products with key people & ask for suggestions for the
final form (PDF, website, slide deck, open source, etc)
3. Revise products based on feedback
4. Strategically deliver them to the right people, at the right time
NEXT STEPS
IMPLEMENTATIO
N
30. CHANGE LABS / Taking Bold Risks, but not Alone
THANK YOU
Notas do Editor
JON
JON
Presenter: JON
- be open, what does it do for you?
Adam K. Power & Love - ”what do we do with this?”
Presenter: ERICA
Presenter: ERICA
Presenter: ERICA
later...
Lisa: insert horns graphic
finesse it, make it easier
Presenter: ERICA
Presenter: ERICA
problems: Climate change; aging population (health, pension, hospice); housing/transit
Illustration of mack truck and bureaucrat in the cement… but it’s not just gonna hit you… it’s going to hit everyone
truck graphic - not solving wicked problems
can’t flex the budget, adapt,
Don Booth quote
1) Civic Servants - Stuck in the cement.... accountability, fairness, following rules and process… hard to be flexible. Structure and culture hold you in place even when you want to get outta the way
built for situation vehicle
Presenter: ERICA
arrows/bridges animate in
This is the bridge
- casting a large net
shifting the form of government
Presenter: MIKE
arrows/bridges animate in
bridges: clusters of innovations
shifting the form of government ...alternative innovations/options we considered.
Two driving criteria: do they brdige us towards a new form of governance? do they address roots of complex/wicked problems?
a lab process is built for a specific situation or challenge, helping you move forward on complex problems.
Presenter: MIKE
This is the bridge
- casting a large net
KEY POINT: if we are talking about an experimental space where tradiational thinking, silos, are deliberately interrupted - it can take many different forms! And everyone has a different name for it; and they are all unique.
“A lab by any other name would smell as sweet”
Pink: paradigms
Blue: applications
Traditional social technologies fail utterly on complex problems. How is a workshop going to influence climate change?
Labs use a suite of carefully sequenced processes, to lead groups of people through a journey that changes their thinking… examples of some of the
Convene: bring together stakeholders from different sectors, include end users.
Develop: use design thinking, user journeys to deeply understand what is being experienced
Prototype: be willing to take a half-formed idea, and test it before investing large resources
Iteration: try, fail, change, repeat.
KEY POINT: labs can very significantly in which phases they include - sometimes because of the expertise of their team/organization; sometimes because of the nature of the problem they are trying to solve.
Quote from Joeri… trying to fiddle with the wires that drive/underly wicked problems.
Presenter: MIKE
Clean it up - make “labs” highlighed
- adjacent possibles
- interconnectivity, overlapping “doorways” - stepping stones, Our place: “we’re just here observing what’s happening”
- Supply of skills
- The potential for “social labs” increases with couple with other new fields - with the new generation of maker labs - creating an ecology
Presenter: MIKE
So what did we actually do? We asked the system “what’s going on here, and how can we enable/help?”
First set: talk to the directors of labs themselves: Joeri, Jeff, Eduardo, Stefaan, Zaid, Christian… start to understand how they differ, how they work, why they are the way they are.
Next set: talk to the ‘field builders’ within Canada - people like Frances, Allyson, Tim Draiman, Stephen Huddart - to get a pulse on where there is possibility in Canada.
Third, most exciting set: ‘internal champions within government’ who are actively pursuing labs in their departments or ministries.
Who we’ve talked to and how we’ve come to the understanding
Checking knowledge gap, iterated
Presenter: MIKE
Who we’ve talked to and how we’ve come to the understanding
Inteview
Presenter: MIKE
pink > clear opportunities (fractal image of allison replicated)
blue > ?? opportunities (they are being framed that way at least)
NOW: This is the TIME: the field is exploding, good timing, word is being co-opted?
its a good time to create an interventions
_ _ _
note for later:
Our exploration of the labs space, a 2 (3 including field builders) pronged approach. Our assumptions about what we might learn/discover were ‘talk to experts and learn about what they’re doing’… but as we went we found out… ‘right here, right now there is major momentum in Canada’
Presenter: JON
Presenter: JON
Products connect information - making it salient, framing it.
* discuss the strategy to distribute these to the right people at the right time in the right way
Presenter: JON
Spectrum of Users/Audience - how
Current stuff is long (books and LONG reports)
Need brief, visual, updated - easily customized to their purposes (open source, multiple forms)
Product #3: Typology + Fitness of labs
A practical tool that helps people in government clarify their thinking and decisions about labs. It will focus on the kinds of questions civil servants are already asking. It will speak to the spectrum of awareness from those who are just starting to think about labs (I have heard about labs--what are they? Are they right for me? How would I know?) all the way through to those ready to implement (I am ready to implement a lab--how do I do it? What kind of people do I need? Will it work at my scale? What factors do I need to consider?) It will provide concise information to aid decision-making, as well as hyperlinks to resources for those seeking more detail.Phase 1: Awareness
What is a lab? (various definitions that people are currently working with)
What kinds of labs are there?
How are they different from other social technologies?
Phase 2: Applicability
How do labs work?
How do they relate to my work?
Who do they involve?
What types of situations or problems are they meant to address?
Phase 3: Design
What kind of lab is right for me?
What domain or problem should the lab focus on?
What kind of partnerships, funding models and methods should I employ?
How much will it cost?
How much staff does it require?
Phase 4: Implementation
How will it fit with existing institutional policy and decision making landscape?
What kind of accountability and authority frameworks should be employed?