Some initial thoughts:

In ‘Black Box Thinking’ (pg 18): “Making mistakes is considered to demonstrate ineptness. The very idea of failing is threatening.”

When charities are being bashed daily, failing when trying something new — rather than the tried and tested — comes with a risk of more bashing and loss of reputation, donors and volunteers. The fear of failure can hamper fresh thinking.

It can also be difficult to think differently in our usual settings, with our usual day-to-day challenges and pressures. Maybe we need to get together more, and in completely different locations, to develop fresh thinking. Again, referring to ‘Black Box Thinking’, Matthew Syed talks about more creativity happening when there are contradictions (pg 213). Maybe this is something corporate partners can offer the charity sector — the space to meet somewhere completely outside of the usual place in order to help generate new ways of doing things.