Somebody really smart (was it Einstein?) said we can\u2019t solve the messes of today with the same thinking that made\u00a0them. We just make\u00a0bigger messes.
\nLike using deregulation (like cutting weekend pay loading) to create jobs, or using corporate self-regulation to tackle obesity, or criminalising drug use to stop drug addiction. You just get more poverty, more obesity, and swollen prison populations with more people more likely to use drugs when they\u2019re released.
\nThe evidence for this is \u2026all around us. If those answers worked, we\u2019d have solved poverty, obesity, and drug addiction DECADES ago.
\nTo solve these big problems, and little problems too, we need thinking that didn\u2019t create them, thinking that\u2019s not boxed in by the conventional wisdom.
\nAs facilitators our job is to create safe spaces for that thinking to happen. It should be a core competency. We give people crowbars, or explosives, to help people break out of the box of safe answers.
\nNormal facilitation doesn\u2019t cut it: it so often just reinforces the echo box. We need techniques that create safe bubbles for wacky thinking to flourish, where it feels OK to say something that\u2019s unsafe, or nuts, and let it blink in the light of day to see if it transforms into something really useful. Remember that what makes an idea nuts isn\u2019t the idea itself, it\u2019s the conventional wisdom that surrounds it.
\nLet\u2019s call this \u201cfacilitating a wacky bubble\u201d. Our job is to make ways for people to feel safe to sprout seemingly crazy ideas, like free houses for the homeless, public lounge rooms for smokers, or injecting rooms for ice addicts.
\nBut just telling participants that \u201cAny idea is OK\u201d, or \u201cPlease be wacky\u201d doesn\u2019t cut it. A good facilitator \u201cdraws innovation out of thin air\u201d with\u00a0techniques that do\u00a0require a little\u00a0bit of art.
\nIn Engagement Lab <\/a>we\u2019ll use these techniques for a relatively humble purpose \u2013 to increase community engagement in our community projects, or workplace projects, or anytime we want people to \u2018come and play\u2019 with us. But exactly the same techniques work for big problems as well.
\nHere are the dates:
\nBRISBANE: 4 May 2017
\nMELBOURNE: 11 May 2017
\nSYDNEY: 26 May 2017
\nDetails here: http:\/\/www.enablingchange.com.au\/engagement_plus.php<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Somebody really smart (was it Einstein?) said we can\u2019t solve the messes of today with the same thinking that made\u00a0them. We just make\u00a0bigger messes. Like using deregulation (like cutting weekend pay loading) to create jobs, or using corporate self-regulation to tackle obesity, or criminalising drug use to stop drug addiction. You just get more poverty, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-facilitation-2","has-post-thumbnail","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pac6ss-ut","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enablingchange.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enablingchange.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enablingchange.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enablingchange.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enablingchange.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.enablingchange.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1889\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enablingchange.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enablingchange.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enablingchange.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}