Featured Article

Innovation as if the World Matters: Creating Action on 21st Century Issues with Multi-Stakeholder Groups

by Mia Eisenstadt

In this article, I argue that the time is right to innovate as if the world is at stake. We are at the point where we know where we want to go, whether it’s building a green economy, creating a massive number of jobs, or decreasing global carbon emissions. Now we need to move beyond bringing groups together to discuss vision, or the potential of collaboration and begin implementing action, one step at a time.

Where we lack the know-how to get to where we want to go, we need to experiment and create prototypes until we reach our desired outcomes. The process of technological innovation is well developed and globalised, from space travel to mobile phones. Now the time is ripe to prototype social, environmental, and economic solutions to put sustainable development into practice and aspire to make holistic actions where change is most critically needed.

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From Our Toolkit

Sharing Stories of Connection

by LeAnne Grillo

Bringing diverse stakeholders together in a way that enables them to work effectively on their “stuck” issues is essential to what we do. While group members may be committed to the convening question, they may not agree on what the actual issue is, what is causing it, or what should be done about it.

As facilitators, we need to create a safe and nurturing space for people to begin to find common ground, build trust and respect, and develop relationships, not only at a professional but at a personal level. One way to begin this process is by helping people share their stories about why they care about the issue.

Connecting at a “heart level” moves people from the advocating and debating space to a more empathetic and compassionate place. While this exercise appears simple, it actually takes careful preparation and caretaking of the group to be successful.

Download the complete facilitator's notes for Sharing Stories of Connection.

Rapid Project Development with the U-Process

The Creative Process of Entrepreneurship: Reos at the Emerge Conference

by Mia Eisenstadt and Zaid Hassan

On October 29, we facilitated a session called "The Creative Process of Entrepreneurship", held at the Emerge Conference at the Said Business School in Oxford, England (see www.theemergeconference.org). One hundred and twenty participants attended the mini-workshop. The purpose of the session was to introduce them to an experience of the U-Process and for them to create physical models of their ideas of social enterprises.

After a brief taste of the U-Process, participants began prototyping. We supported them in forming teams around interest in collaboration or in a shared topic. They created physical models and then “pitched” them to the wider group. Teams came up with ideas ranging from prisoners learning skills so they can pay back the cost of their prison fees to a business plan competition for African university students. Dell also provided funding so that teams who were committed to their ideas could develop them and then later in the day propose them for start-up financing.

Participants said that they “loved the session” and that it “set the tone for the rest of the event”. We were pleased to hear that the groups that formed during this program in October are still collaborating on their projects in December. This staying power demonstrates that even a few hours of prototyping can produce lasting relationships, ideas, and capacities!