Intersecting Design Thinking and The Social Sector

Activism October 29, 2013 / By Ben Weinlick

SYNOPSIS

Exploring the creative problem solving processes a team of social innovators have been experimenting with to improve the quality of social sector services.

Launching Think Jar Collective in 2011 was based on the notion that diverse disciplines and people need ways to bump into each other’s work in order to rattle assumptions and spark new thinking and action. If we take the time to reflect, hear ideas from others and try to learn something from other fields we’re not used to, then over time relevant innovations and better quality work can emerge. Like innovation writer Steven Johnson says, often breakthrough ideas come about not from eureka moments, but from slow hunches bumping into other people’s slow hunches. I find it fascinating to see how people link and intersect unlikely fields in new ways and hope that you also find ideas you can use when you look outside silos you may be accustomed to.

The intersection I’ve been working on over the last 5 years has been taking processes from the design and creative problem solving worlds and bashing those together with ways that social services are designed.

In the video below, some social innovators and I share the creative problem solving processes we’ve been experimenting with in order to enhance the inclusion and citizenship experience of people with disabilities. Always learning and tweaking the process as we find what is working and not working, think tank explorers are breaking new ground around how to think differently about better supporting marginalized populations in our communities. Some great successes and better quality of life outcomes have come about as a result of the over 90 think tanks.

Citizen Think Tanks: Supporting Relevant Creativity In The Social Sector from project citizenship on Vimeo.

For examples of what has emerged from the Citizen Think Tanks check out Project Citizenship

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Author

Ben Weinlick

Ben Weinlick, MA is the founder of Think Jar Collective, a website and a group of people from diverse disciplines bringing together unique perspectives on creative thinking and innovation. Before Ben entered the community development and disability services field over 13 years ago, he thought he was going to spend his life terrorizing the experimental music and art scene. Always an idealist, Ben thought he was making a less egotistical choice by giving up art to work in a field more actively engaged in social justice issues. He soon discovered otherwise… Ben reminisced of this period, “I found I could be just as much of an ass (egotistical) in human services as the art world and began to see it was not about the domain one works in that matters in how you benefit others, but what kind of view one brings to whatever one does.” Eventually seeing the value of a creative approach in human services led Ben to complete a master's thesis which focused on enhancing creative thinking in human service design and delivery. Currently, Ben is leading think tank teams in the implementation of the research recommendations at SKILLS Society in Canada. Within Canada, Ben has been seen as a leader and innovator who is passionate about improving the quality of support services for people with disabilities. Currently, Ben is the Senior Leader of Research and Organizational Learning at SKILLS Society, part time faculty at Macewan University, a keynote speaker on creativity in human services and consults throughout Canada.... He also stills makes weird experimental music in his spare time. Of Ben’s passion he says, “People in disability services are often asking for innovation and creativity, I’m interested in how we can get our minds unstuck from status quo assumptions and see with fresh, creative eyes. If we can do a little more of that, we will set the stage for creativity and relevant innovations to emerge. I am very passionate about leading organizations to develop cultures where creativity thrives and yields better quality support services.”

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