Think tanking in the new normal
organised by the Think Tank Lab, facilitated by Weronika Perlinski (DGAP)
The Think Tank Lab is a project of the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) and the Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS). Kindly supported by Stiftung Mercator and Robert Bosch Stiftung.
What has changed for and in think tanks due to the pandemic? In a facilitated discussion, we will explore how the pandemic has changed the context (political processes, funding structures, etc.) of think tanks around the world and how they have responded with new products, changed work practices, and by developing new competencies. Participants will create a snapshot of what think tanking in the new normal means.
From the chat box
Attendees were asked to share the following in the chat box: Their name and location, and what was their key learning in the last year? (personal and/or professional)
Responses
Joining from Berlin, my key learning was how to bring an organisation online that had previously not had any online convening formats and worked from our office.
From Brighton, UK. Key learning? Writing children’s stories is more fun than working.
From Berlin, flexibility is needed on all levels.
From Bengaluru, India. My key learning, be open for ideas and be ready to learn.
I am currently in my living-room-turned-office in Berlin. In the last year, I learned that remote conferencing is really useful for people on maternity leave.
From Charlotte, NC (USA). My primary learning over the last year is to continuously network with others.
From the Economic Research Forum, Cairo, Egypt, Key learning: reflection on what really matters, what we are doing, how we are doing it and most importantly, why….
Hi from Mongolia. Regarding the key learning, deconstructing things is much easier than building. Such a cliche, but has been felt really/forced upon us due to the pandemic rupture.
From the Institute for Economic Justice. Cape Town but HO in Johannesburg. A pandemic changes everything, and organisations need to be able to adapt to this new reality.
Hello, I’m joining from Berlin. I would say my key learning in the last year would be to be open to new formats and not to shy from experimenting (and sometimes also failing) with new things.
Hi everyone! live in Munich, Germany. Key learning is that the crisis enabled us to focus on our people and that has made all the difference in our org culture.
I’m currently in Manila, Philippines. Key learning in the last year: The remote setup is great for being able to join conferences, etc. around the world. I wish that moving forward all conferences would be available online too 🙂.
From Brussels. Key learnings 1/ the pandemic has made us more like a global family 2/ as organisations one of our key role is to make sure all staff feels needed!
COVID-19 has changed face to face interaction and expanded the need to establish networks beyond conferences. I have also had to gain knowledge of technology topics that I did not fully utilize like AI.
We have to actively create the organisational identity for people to feel connected and ‘part of something’ even though they are physically apart.
We try to make our publications quite interactive — including lots of links to related content on annual reports and brochures, which we could not do before as they were mainly used in printed format.
I hope we can stay as flexible in our minds + hearts and believe in ourselves — we have all shown it’s possible throughout the pandemic!
One thing I want to take from the current situation into the future is the courage to try new things and also to fail sometimes.
Resources and references
Think tanks in times of crisis: Promote, prepare, prod, promote, pitch, produce
Here is a link to the IIED piece on 7 things learned from going online, by Juliette Tunstall
What came next at the OTT Conference 2021?
Parallel session 1: Changing think tanks
with Julia Pomares (CIPPEC, Argentina) and Karin von Hippel (RUSI, UK)
Parallel session 2: Think tanks and democratic transitions
with Sonja Stojanovic Gajic (former director BCSP, Serbia) and Ignacio Irarrázaval (Centro de Políticas Públicas UC, Chile)
More on think tanks and change
From think tank to change hub
Keynote by Anne-Marie Slaughter, CEO of New America
How do think tanks react to or foster change?
Read the OTT Annual Review 2020–2021
