Recipes for Systemic Change - Helsinki Design Lab

Strategic Design47concentrate or the mood in a meeting subtly starting to turnsour. All of this requires observation and a fundamentalunderstanding of people, things and decisions as situated intime and space and therefore connected to and influenced bytheir context, environment and mental state of being. The differencebetween being aware of these issues and understandingthem well enough to respond amounts to a difference inattitude.Taking action informed by empathy and observation is adomain where only optimists may tread; optimism allows theexisting condition to be interpreted as status quorather than static fact. In contrast to the exampleof our event, the grand challenges to whichstrategic design is most applicable are characterizedby inconclusive, incomplete or unavailableinformation. Being comfortable with uncertaintymeans one has to be able to suspend disbelief and maintain atrajectory through situations involving doubt and, inevitably,risk.The combined effect of these traits is to enable balancedjudgement in selecting relevant problems and pursuing viablesolutions. By developing a team culture that fosters thesecharacteristics, one creates an environment that has theability to nurture a design process. It’s OK if every individualdoes not meet all of these criteria—and you would have adream team if they did—but everyone does need to share acommon goal. The ability of each member to work in a team,and their commitment to doing do so earnestly, is non-negotiable.Without a culture of teamwork and an attitude that isable to take advantage of collaboration, positive overlaps ofskill set, worldview and expertise are stifled. And it is preciselythose overlaps which help innovation flourish. 2Overcoming the roadblocks along the way was enabled byabilities in integration, visualisation and stewardship whichform the core of the strategic design skill set. In the appendixwe have provided an additional matrix of abilities* that welook for when seeking talented strategic designers, but herewe summarize the highlights.Skillful integration is what illuminates the complex webof relationships—between people, organizations and things—that is necessary to synthesize a point of view and ultimatelydeliver well-calibrated solutions. Understanding how thingsdo or might fit together is a key part of making sure the rightquestions are being asked, such as understanding the linkbetween fire safety, seating options and the concerns of theOptimism allows the existingcondition to be interpreted asstatus quo rather than static fact.2—Johnson, Steven. ‘Where Good Ideas ComeFrom’*—See also:Abilities of the StrategicDesigner > P326