By John Smith, NS GovLab Fellow
Using social innovation to find solutions is new process to me. Being employed in the public, corporate and community sector for over 60 years required planning, being concise, and writing everything out. This process of rapid prototyping and building with crafts and story boards does not come easy to me. However, the principle of human-centered design has forced me to rethink many assumptions.
I do have a vested interest in aging, and as a late-octogenarian I am very conscious of ageism. Recently at our church I ran a weekly session regarding the effects of aging. Questions often included:
1. How do you live well while aging?
2. How are you preparing for aging?
3. How do you see life unfolding at 75+?
I sense recently retired seniors are often in denial about aging and don’t think about their lives when they are 75+. Many people retire around the age of 55 with the most freedom and money they’ve ever had. They travel, spend time in the sun, and live in the moment with little consideration of the inevitable years when they may not be physically or mentally able as they are now.
Coming into this process, we formed a 6 person team based on topics that sparked our interest. Initially, it can be difficult creating a relationship with strangers and build their trust while simultaneously trying to come up with an innovative idea. Since you barely know your team members, you are unsure of how they will react to what you say, and everyone often holds back their true feelings. Creating a safe place for people to feel comfortable is the key to fostering creativity. People are often vulnerable and take time to peel back their layers and open up.
Once you get over the hump of getting to know your group and team members, you attempt to learn the art of thinking in a socially innovative way. It isn’t easy to think of creative ideas in a few hours. You often must dig deeper. Without the time, people often produce superficial ideas and rehash old initiatives.
During brainstorming in my career, I would often tell employees to think of the craziest ideas first. It doesn’t matter how far out or the probability of the idea being used. They could be ideas that hold a lot of risk, but often hold innovative kernels that could be developed into workable new solutions.
The pace of the lab is something that took time to adjust to. I haven’t quite figured out how to overcome it but I’m working on it. Primarily we are limited in time spent with our team only to the time during the group sessions. We cannot often get together as a team because of other commitments and several of us live hours apart, but we try to overcome this by using Google Drive and emailing one another regularly. NS GovLab is a volunteer experience but we all prioritize this and put a lot of effort into it.
I believe NS GovLab is addressing important issues respecting aging. We do need some fundamental changes in thinking. This is a new process for me and I am excited to be a part of it.
John is heavily-involved in the aging community and believes NS GovLab a great experience for anyone looking to make a change for the aging community in Nova Scotia. He is personally challenging his traditional approach to thinking and working towards being a socially innovative thinker.