Horse, Meet Water…A Story of Changing Culture
Author’s Note: I let the traditional Monday deadline pass me by this week. Wanted to scribble thoughts that were full of emotion and wonderings…and then let it settle for a few days to make sure that the design opportunity here is with clear intention…and I think this iteration meets that requirement. Thanks for waiting while this writer reflects before pressing “publish”.
It just doesn’t make sense. Why wouldn’t a horse want to drink cool refreshing water after a long, sweaty ride ? Why overlook an opportunity for something that will answer the obvious need? For that matter, why wouldn’t reasonable people want to change the way they approach work when every bit of data says that what we’re doing just isn’t working? Leading and living in the creative space is hard, hard work. For the creative, it can become a battle of the “will nots” rather than a place to watch ideas and opportunities flourish. What’s a ReDesign team to do?
What’s the DEFAULT?
Adam Grant offers a way to ReThink design in his book, Originals (seriously…if you don’t own this yet…get thee to Amazon!). Here, Grant gives a clue in what is going on when a design “horse” isn’t interested…
The hallmark of originality is rejecting the default and exploring whether a better option exists. I’ve spent more than a decade studying this, and it turns out to be far less difficult than I expected. The starting point is curiosity: pondering why the default exists in the first place. We’re driven to question defaults when we experience vuja de, the opposite of déjà vu. Déjà vu occurs when we encounter something new, but it feels as if we’ve seen it before. Vuja de is the reverse — we face something familiar, but we see it with a fresh perspective that enables us to gain new insights into old problems.”
Culture runs deep…déjà vu runs deeper. Default culture is the white noise that distracts the most rational and dedicated people to believe that there is status in the status quo. The pay off for maintaining predictable outcomes, no matter how frustrating, seems to exceed the trust and risk willingness that comes with creativity. Default Culture horses need to understand that the present tense, the current conditions, aren’t predetermined and set. Designing with Default Culture horses in mind begins with warming the water (so to speak)…developing cultural shifts (slight…inviting…start with language, move into concrete support moments that delight them and showcase their leadership and competence) that support their willingness to risk and provide small, incremental ways to make creative prototypes and experiences concrete.
“People who suffer the most from a given state of affairs are paradoxically the least likely to question, challenge, reject, or change it.” To explain this peculiar phenomenon, Jost’s team developed a theory of system justification. Its core idea is that people are motivated to rationalize the status quo as legitimate — even if it goes directly against their interests. In one study, they tracked Democratic and Republican voters before the 2000 U.S. presidential election. When George W. Bush gained in the polls, Republicans rated him as more desirable, but so did Democrats, who were already preparing justifications for the anticipated status quo. The same happened when Al Gore’s likelihood of success increased: Both Republicans and Democrats judged him more favorably. Regardless of political ideologies, when a candidate seemed destined to win, people liked him more. When his odds dropped, they liked him less. Justifying the default system serves a soothing function. It’s an emotional painkiller: If the world is supposed to be this way, we don’t need to be dissatisfied with it. But acquiescence also robs us of the moral outrage to stand against injustice and the creative will to consider alternative ways that the world could work.”
Designing for those who see (and refuse to let go of) the holes…the tatters…the missing buttons in the current way of thinking and doing can be crazy making if we lose our perspective and empathy. There is energy and enthusiasm and great care for the thing that needs change, and there is great risk in touching that favored garment of those who hate wearing it every single day. Designing with Justification horses offers the wonderful gift of compassion and empathy for the creative teams. How can we move a miserable and thirsty horse from where they are (on dry, sandy, waterless land) to solid and moisturizing ground? This user needs empathy and a way to find “gets” for the transition from known misery (“Better to stay with the devil you know…”) into unknown opportunities that can transform ways of being and working and learning.
Notes from the Watering Hole
As a design team, we are soaking in the ways of thinking. We are full and freely swimming in the waters of design. For us, it isn’t a “program” or “snake oil” guaranteed to make every student college-ready over night and every teacher designing engaging learning experiences for every single student every single day. For us, design is an ethos…a way of looking at the world and listening to users…an opportunity to connect and act as catalysts between needs and ideas and resources...a commitment to “yes, and” over “yeah, but” every time. We are willing to struggle in the ReDesign of our work together because we are already standing in cool, refreshing streams. Grant addresses this phenomenon as well,
“This explains why we often undercommunicate our ideas. They’re already so familiar to us that we underestimate how much exposure an audience needs to comprehend and buy into them.”
“The change agents don’t realize this, because they’re up to their ears in information about their vision.”
The seduction is to wade in the water and just make loud slurping sounds, hoping to entice those standing at the shore’s edge, then those who have bolted into the hot sun will eventually realize how this way of life will not only impact students, but will create a palpable shift in culture. They won’t. So our design is now focusing on:
Communication: “If we want people to accept our original ideas, we need to speak up about them, then rinse and repeat. ”
How can we communicate in multiple ways, authentic ways, concrete or research-based ways the benefits and impact of this mind set and culture shift? Turns out, every horse needs a different message….and a different number of messages.
Users: Every horse has a way they want to drink. Pulling…dragging…yelling…hitting just won’t work. AND we have to give energy to those who are eager, or at least interested, in trying on a new mindset, a new way of doing the work. Designers hit stone walls when we either get the user wrong or we make assumptions about the users we have in mind. The wise Design Team monitors each other and the conversation closely to ensure that we are human-centered, not solution focused.
Design Challenge…DON’T MISS THIS OPPORTUNITY!
CHALLENGE #1: How can we persevere in ReDesign? How do we engage the right users in the just right way?
CHALLENGE #2: How can we effectively communicate what’s happening to users in a very busy system? Any creative and effective ways that speak volumes to those who haven’t “come to the water” yet?
Send all ideas and prototypes to: lamarcellin@aps.k12.co.us
ReDesign Aurora is a place for educators, designers and future thinkers to learn more about our work as a department to transform student learning. As a Teaching and Learning team, we have committed to transform student learning and build leadership capacity by working in an authentic 21st Century space that features the guiding principles of design thinking. This will be a weekly collaborative communication for our team members and for educators who are committed to doing something different in service to our students. This space will feature a regular design opportunity for ideas…brainstorms…possibilities. We hope you’ll join the conversation!
