this by Jennifer Pahlka, if you are grappling with how to secure medium-term, systems-shifting outcomes (sustainability, innovation in government+++) is wonderful. She describes (e.g.,) how public-sector recruitment has become: "...a prescribed set of procedures that are meant to appear objective but have become intricate, convoluted and at times nonsensical....only candidates with inside knowledge...can successfully navigate this highly specialized system." It's dead on, not just because it's an accurate critique, but because it captures the positive intent behind these efforts, and the reality of complex systems/wicked problems - where it's very hard to overcome the stabilizing effect of the system because there are many, non-malign, feedback loops that constrain what mechanistic interventions can accomplish. Anne White, Jason Pearman and I were talking yesterday about linking foresight-informed objectives (not this-years tomatoes, but a home-grown mix of vegetables in a garden) to the short-term (till the soil today, so that you can start to learn what grows where) - but also about why you need to push on the smaller problems to learn about how those stabilizer effects work, so that you can learn how to achieve the bigger goals. In public sector innovation, you can't wish away the systems. You have to operate them - because that's what exists - but without clarity on that objective (home-grown vegetables) you lose sight of the fact that you are experimenting and innovating (tilling, this years crop) mostly to learn - not to find the....Death Star tomato. Great stuff. Thanks Jennifer Pahlka (and always, Giulio Quaggiotto for keeping us informed!) #innovation #systemschange #publicsectorinnovation #
Terrific post by Jennifer Pahlka, slaughtering the sacred cows of "evidence based policy", magic bullets and "quick wins" all at once https://lnkd.in/dHz_s7UN