What do we mean by collaborative innovation?
Creating change with organisations, not just for them.
As an organisation, we are led by a simple belief:
When given the opportunity, people can and want to work together to shape the world we live in.
Therefore, we see our role as equipping organisations of all kinds to involve people as Citizens, not just treat them as Consumers. Consumers, by default, have only one role — to buy stuff from you. By contrast, when we think of people as Citizens, we begin to ask what it is we can all participate in and contribute to — indeed, how we can all shape the things that matter.
We do this in lots of ways. For example, our Citizen Quest equips people to take these ideas back into their own organisations to create change, while our bespoke consultancy sees us work closely with organisations to create participatory strategies, cultures and projects that invite people to step into their power as citizens. Our collaborative innovation projects bring together the best of these approaches, with the aim of making sector-wide change.
What is collaborative innovation?
While all of our consultancy work takes a collaborative approach, drawing on methodologies like appreciative enquiry, co-creation and inspiration from different sectors, collaborative innovation takes it to another level.
Collaborative innovation is a process which brings organisations together around a shared question, creating the space to explore how thinking of people differently might strengthen both organisations and their sectors as a whole.
Each process starts with an inquiry question, such as:
How can we create more value in the food system by shifting from a consumer to a citizen mindset?
How can we involve people as participants in shaping our cultural heritage?
How can we maximise the participation of members in our organisations and in the world, by shifting from a Consumer to a Citizen mindset?
Framing shared challenges like this does two things. First, it immediately suggests that whatever we’re trying to do is possible. Second, it prompts organisations to invite people — members, customers, supporters — to be part of shaping the possible ways forward, not just to “consume” the eventual solution.
How does it work in practice?
Over 6–12 months we bring together 4–6 organisations to explore a shared question; experimenting with and articulating new ways of working, and rapidly creating and testing ideas in a safe and supported way. While the overall process is guided by a single shared question, participants also generate their own questions based on their context and what they’re trying to achieve. For example:
How can we nourish people’s relationships with food and each other, not just sell them food?
How can we, together with our communities, contribute to and celebrate the identities of Brighton and Hove?
How can we give more of our members a sense of belonging?
We at New Citizenship Project design and guide the process to provide structure to the journey, but also allowing it to flex where needed, responding to the lessons learned and questions that arise.
Collaborative innovation processes have some common features:
1. Workshops
Our whole-day sessions give participants the chance to focus deeply on this work, away from the pull of “business-as-usual”. We carefully craft activities and exercises to help unlock new thinking, while sharing inspiring case studies and examples to show what’s possible. Workshops also offer a chance to connect with and learn from other members of the cohort, and to reflect on the journey towards the end of the project.
2. Coaching
Between workshops, we arrange one-to-one meetings with each organisation to work through their specific challenges, and support them to put the learnings from the workshops into practice.
3. Peer support & Co-mentoring
As well as learning from us, participants often find it just as helpful to connect with other members of the cohort. We often pair up participating organisations to share learnings with each other, and build confidence and collaboration across the group.
The end is only the beginning
Wherever organisations have got to through the journey, there’s usually lots more to be done. Collaborative innovation sets people and organisations up to continue that work well after the project ends, by equipping them with the knowledge, skills and confidence to do so.
But it doesn’t end with the organisations involved.
We know that system-level change will only happen if enough people and organisations adopt new approaches and mindsets, which is why we publish our work for others to use, share and adapt.
Research
We publish our research findings as reports to help influence and inspire other organisations in the sector. For example, our Future of Membership and Food Citizenship reports have been cited by a range of organisations and academics who are interested in how participatory approaches can solve organisational and societal challenges.
Tools and toolkits
We also create resources based on what participants find helpful and what might help people in other organisations and sectors take on the ideas. Our 7 Modes of Everyday Participation (from our collaborative innovation project with the co-operative sector) continues to be a powerful idea generation tool in our work, and our Participatory Strategy Map (from our work in cultural heritage) has become a template for theories of change that involve people as citizens.
Get involved
Collaborative innovation reflects what we are all about: working together with people around a shared question, creating space and connections, and building tools that help more people in more organisations to involve people as citizens, not just treat them as consumers.
Our current and upcoming collaborative innovation processes are explained below. If anything catches your interest, please get in touch. And if you’re a sector leader with an idea for a new collaborative innovation project, let us know — we’d love to chat.
Current Collaborative Innovations
Our most recent collaborative innovation project is exploring how we can change the day-to-day culture at local councils to make relationships with residents and communities more open, collaborative and “Citizen”, and less transactional, paternalistic and “Consumer”. Through this project, we’re testing a new tool for culture change, so if you’re interested in that work, find out more in our Council Culture blog series, coming soon.
We’re just coming to the end of a collaborative innovation project in the health and care system, exploring what it takes to get started working with people and communities. We’ll be sharing the learnings from that soon, which will include a training offer for the NHS and other health and care organisations.
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The New Citizenship Project is a team of participation strategists and innovators. We believe that, given the right opportunity, people can and will shape the things that matter to them for the better. Interested in finding out more? Get in touch at info@newcitizenship.org.uk
