The value of small circles in an era obsessed with scale

Public servants also need spaces for intimacy and learning.

Source: apolitical Published: Feb. 12, 2020 (This article is written by Kelly Ann McKercher, Design Lead at NSW Health Pathology and founder of Beyond Sticky Notes)

In public sector innovation and reform, we often set our sights big and wide. Short of changing the world, we want to change the system. When I began my career as a public servant, I also started out thinking big.

That changed when I met disability advocate turned Buddhist monk, ThayThich Truc Thong Phap late last year and had a chance to talk to him about his work, which is focused at the intersection of social justice and Buddhism. He shared the following quote from Quaker Mystic Rufus Jones (1863 - 1948):

“I pin my hopes to quiet processes and small circles, in which vital and transforming events take place.” 

After a decade of work in community, organisational and systems change, I also pin my hopes there. I see improvements in the quality of outputs (e.g. service design, policy, practice) and outcomes (e.g. reducing social isolation, improving access to healthcare for vulnerable groups) through strengthening relationships between colleagues, levels of hierarchy within agencies, across agencies, and importantly, between public servants and citizens. How might we pursue ambitious change while also tending to a deep change in relationships, power differentials and mindsets?

Experience tells me small circles, such as shared meals, communities of practice and co-design groups are one of the few reliable places where change happens, and small circles are influential in creating larger circles. While the small can seem the very antithesis to what our world needs, where so many people talk about scaling impact, I want to share some practical suggestions for how to make it happen and other points of inspiration that I have picked up over the years.

Read more here.