How we work

everyday

people

policy makersprofessionals

... between wanting & saying

... between w anting &

doing ...between wanting, doing & saying

We mobilise & support teams

... between saying & doing

everyday

people


We mobilise &

support teams

... between

wanting &

saying

... between

saying & doing

everyday

people



... between wanting & saying


... between w anting &

doing ...between wanting, doing & saying

understanding

the gap between

saying & doing

challenge

Say-Want gap

We mobilise &

support teams

spending a day with Celiacoming along to church

Celia interacts with her social worker

everyday

people


understanding the gap between saying & doing

challenging what’s ‘good’ creating new reference points

generate ideas to close theWant-Do gap

contracting literaturecoming along to church

Celia interacts Celia interacts withv

everyday

people


trying new experiences

trying new experiences

trying out new roles

everyday people

policy makers

professionals


challenging what’s ‘good’ cre-ating new refer-


creating ideas for individuals & organizations

testing interactions that prompt change

From safety nets to trampolines

Unusual suspects not just usual stakeholders

No consultancy projects

Hunch 5 Our ethnographic field work and story writing is predi-cated on spending loads of time with people in their homes, neighborhoods, and workplaces. But spending loads of time with people is darn expensive. Particu-larly if you use a consultan-cy business model - where you bill by the hour or by the day. We’re going to try a different business mod-el. Where we sell the stories and tools from the fieldwork to multiple organizations. Along with apprenticeships to participate in the process.

Practically, this looks like….Changing how organiza-tions and agencies pay for this kind of work. Rather them paying for the process, they will pay to use what comes from the process. And rather than report to a single funder, we will try to have multiple buyers. We think this ensures that processes aren’t one-time events, but are made tangi-ble enough to be replicated.

We start with people, not systems.

Have a look here to read more Questions?

little book of hunches

version 1

Hunch 1 We will try framing our projects in terms of the

people left out, on the margins, or experiencing lousy

outcomes. That means, we will move away from

framing projects in terms of a broad social challenge

(like chronic disease) or in terms of an under-

performing institution (like failing schools). Instead,

we’ll focus on people in a particular place.

Practically, this looks like….

Naming a group of people, rather than an institution or issue.

So rather than look to improve our schools, we’d look to improve

outcomes of young people not showing up to particular school.

We’d relocate ourselves to that place. And spend a lot of time

with young people to understand the rub between them, their

families, services, and systems. By framing projects like this, we

don’t assume that the solution is the school. We leave open the

possibility that some of the solutions lie outside of the school.

Hunch 2 We won’t wait for fully funded projects. We’ll start

small, and invest our own resources in collecting

stories of people living tough as well as those living

surprisingly well (the positive deviants). Because

we think stories can surface gaps, be a source of

practical ideas, and build the momentum for making

those ideas real.


Us investing in ethnographic field work in the places and with

the people we find interesting. And publishing these stories, and

our annotated notes. With different lenses of interpretation. We

will monetize these sets of stories, and the learning experiences

around stories. The people behind the stories will get at least 10%.

By getting the stories out there, we hope to find enough partners

to move into full prototyping projects.

Hunch 3 We won’t stop with stories of people on-the-ground.

We’ll also try collecting stories of the people

inside services and systems. Using the same deep

ethnographic methods. Not just interviews or

workshops. So we can really contextualize what

professionals & policymakers do. Not just what they

say. We think this requires structuring our team

around different ‘user’ groups.


Identifying the range of actors that people on-the-ground

interact with - and spending time with those actors in their

contexts. We’ll look at these different actors as potential users of

whatever solutions we create. And differentiate roles on our team

by user group. So we might have team members with a focus on

young people as the user group. And those with a focus on social

workers and managers as the user group.

Hunch 4 We think a good story doesn’t just describe what is

happening now, but imagines what could be. The

challenge is people don’t always know what could be.

They can’t ask for things they don’t know exist. Or that

they don’t have words for. So during our field work,

we’re not just going to observe. We’re also going to

try creating experiences that expose people to new

reference points & alternatives.


Blending observation, conversation, and experience design. In the

past, during field work, we’d just observe people and talk to them.

We’d go away to analyze the data, and generate ideas. Then we’d

prototype. Now we want to prototype experiences with people

much earlier. Using stories, film, improvisation, and role play

techniques to help them see alternatives, and be able to ask for

different things.

Hunch 5 Our ethnographic field work and story writing is

predicated on spending loads of time with people in

their homes, neighborhoods, and workplaces. But

spending loads of time with people is darn expensive.

Particularly if you use a consultancy business

model - where you bill by the hour or by the day.

We’re going to try a different business model. Where

we sell the stories and tools from the fieldwork to

multiple organizations. Along with apprenticeships to

participate in the process.


Changing how organizations and agencies pay for this kind of

work. Rather them paying for the process, they will pay to use

what comes from the process. And rather than report to a single

funder, we will try to have multiple buyers. We think this ensures

that processes aren’t one-time events, but are made tangible

enough to be replicated.

everyday people


challenge Say-Want gap


Build & test ideas to close Want-Do gap


everyday

people


understand Do-Say gap




everyday

people





Build & test ideas to close Want-Do gap


need for change

shared

desired

outcome

staff

Neighborhood

networks

Social work practice & training

Language course

Immigration

& tax officeWerkplein rules & procedures

We’re here!

Here we’re looking for partners to take ideas

further!




test ideas to closeWant-Do gap

test ideas to closeWant-Do gap

How we work

Self Improvement

Transcript of How we work