social change

Signals and Actions

June 9, 2020June 9, 2020 Cameron D. Norman 793 Views behaviour change, evaluation, intention, psychology, racism, social change

Signals of intent can be misleading indicators of future action and may lead away from our desired change. They are

behaviour change complexity education & learning emergence evaluation strategic foresight systems thinking

Here to There: Navigating Through the Unknown

February 14, 2020February 14, 2020 Cameron D. Norman 746 Views change, developmental design, developmental evaluation, innovation, learning, mental models, principle-focused evaluation, social change, systems thinking, visionary evaluation

VIsionary evaluation is about putting data to our principles and actions and seeing where we’ve come from and where we’re going at the same time. This article explores what it is and what we need to do.

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Change and Trust

February 7, 2020February 7, 2020 Cameron D. Norman 1431 Views behaviour change, behavioural science, community psychology, design, habit, minimum viable product, neuroscience, psychology, social change, social innovation, social media, social psychology

Big change might come from small actions and the trust-building that comes from making those actions visible. Here’s how to make a big difference as one person.

behaviour change social innovation

Social Innovation on Big Issues

December 6, 2019 Cameron D. Norman 688 Views behaviour change, design thinking, men, social change, social innovation, violence against women, women

Some problems have deep roots, seem intractable and resist change. Our first social innovation might be understanding that change is

strategic foresight

Foresight, Growth and the J-shaped Curve

May 2, 2019June 12, 2019 Cameron D. Norman 721 Views economics, exponential change, Pareto distribution, social change, statistics, systems change, systems thinking, technology

The business of futures is to see what possibilities lay ahead to better anticipate how to meet them when or

psychology systems thinking

Smart goals or better systems?

July 19, 2017December 1, 2019 Cameron D. Norman 1201 Views adaptive strategy, creativity, decision making, evaluation, goals, impact, innovation, measurement, organizational design, organizational development, performance measurement, program evaluation, social change, systems thinking

If you’re working toward some sort of collective goals — as an organization, network or even as an individual —

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Confusing change-making with actual change

May 3, 2016May 3, 2016 Cameron D. Norman 498 Views complexity, design, developmental evaluation, discovery, evaluation, health, innovation, New York Times, obesity, psychology, research, social change, social innovation, systems thinking

Change-making is the process of transformation and not to be confused with the transformed outcome that results from such a

innovation social innovation

The Finger Pointing to the Moon

July 14, 2014July 14, 2014 Cameron D. Norman 448 Views Adam Kahane, behaviour change, Brenda Zimmerman, complexity, developmental evaluation, evaluation, Frances Westley, Geoff Mulgan, Michael Quinn Patton, Nesta, social change, social innovation, systems change, systems thinking, theory of change

In social innovation we are at risk of confusing our stories of success for real, genuine impact. Without theories, implementation

behaviour change complexity design thinking innovation social systems systems science systems thinking

Mythmaking about speed and scale in social innovation

July 18, 2013September 4, 2013 Cameron D. Norman 496 Views Arab Spring, bureaucracy, complexity, contagion, epidemiology, innovation, Jenna Cullinane, Matthew Good, McKinsey & Company, patriarchy, Peter Block, Peter Drucker, scale, social change, social innovation, social systems, Stanford Social Innovation Review, Steve Davis

Yes, but does it scale? – Question asked at nearly every presentation on a social innovation ever made* It is

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The PR Problem for Design, Evaluation,and Complexity

January 29, 2012February 20, 2012 Cameron D. Norman 273 Views complexity, design, design thinking, evaluation, George Miller, language, psychology, public relations, social change

The same might be true of design, evaluation and complexity if we let it. It’s not a surprise that these three concepts are intimately tied together, as those training to apply design thinking and strategic foresight learn. Perhaps its time to start giving these ideas away, but to do so we first need to rehab their image and apply some design thinking and brand development strategy to all three ideas. As practitioners in any or all of these fields, giving away what we do by educating, reinforcing, and ensuring that the work we do is of the highest quality is a way to lead by example. None of us is likely to change things by ourselves, but together we can do wonders.

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