Rethinking Policy: Harnessing Creative Approaches
Author: Daphnée Nostrome
TL;DR:
What is Creativity? We can interact in countless ways with people, systems, actors, and problems. And in those interactions, our willingness to deeply engage with each other, change our perspective and let go of almost canonical beliefs can lead to more dynamic approaches to policymaking. No one owns creativity, but it’s a living process that thrives when we let go, and allow ourselves to expand our vantage point so we can be more inventive.
Merging Fragmented Approaches
How do we move away from siloed thinking to embrace holistic approaches in service delivery and policymaking? How can we reimagine our relationships with each other and the planet? What are creative ways of involving society in shaping policies that shift power equitably?
In settler society, things are sliced in units and isolated and managed and dealt with from a singular point. Life is transactional. This approach can lead to siloed service delivery: one team handles licensing, another processes grants, and yet another deals with tax filings. All this fragmentation saddles people with bureaucratic overwhelm.
The price we pay for taking this piecemeal approach is a kind of myopia that makes us blind to the interconnectedness of life. To truly serve people, we need to develop policies, services and systems that address people’s needs holistically. That’s not easy to do, of course. That’s why we must be creative in reorienting the machinery of policymaking to serve people holistically, not in fragments.
Image Description: A row of pink and white flowers, surrounding a streetlight, against a blue sky.
What Holds Us Back?
Privilege. When we talk about policymaking we have to talk about power. Because with power comes privilege. Who gets to shape policies? When we frame issues from the perspective of whoever holds more power, we risk getting stuck. You have to challenge power and privilege to broaden your perspective and consider multiple viewpoints. Otherwise, you give up mental mobility; which also means, you shrink your creative capacity.
Decolonial thinking asks us to move beyond binaries and recognize the relational nature of all things, where one entity can embody multiple roles and connections. If we became more relational in our approaches, we’d find a constellation of belonging; meaning, we would discover the many ways we relate to things and people. Take a plant, for example. It’s many things – shelter, poison, food and shade – a universe in its own right.
Image Description: A succulent blooms in the sun
The Essence of Creativity
Creativity involves considering multiple perspectives, exploring unconventional paths, embracing curiosity, and connecting diverse ideas, approaches and people. It requires us to step back from our predefined roles and positions to imagine all the ways we relate to others differently. It demands relinquishing control, embracing uncertainty, and committing to a process. There is vulnerability and maybe even fear because there are no guarantees. Yet, this tension is where true creativity lies.
It’s important to remember that creativity is not appropriation. It’s not the same as assuming we can take on any perspective or speak for someone else.
Some may think it’s the stuff of fluff, but creativity is an important discipline. And like any discipline, you have to constantly practice your craft, regularly challenge yourself and push your limits to explore new ideas; even when – and especially when things don’t pan out. Like honing any skill, you need persistent engagement and a willingness to learn from both successes and failures. Whether you use Virgil Abloh’s 3% creativity rule or the 80-20 rule, the key thing to remember is that creativity is a technical exercise.
In policymaking, we want to find creative ways to reach outcomes, and that requires us to apply the right techniques. The right techniques/expertise can help us identify the 3%, the small shifts that will yield big results, or even just help us find the right problems to solve. To get at those techniques, though, we need to experiment a bit. But experimentation only works well if we open up our minds.
Imbalances can happen when some people have expertise and others don't. In policymaking, whose expertise drives the process? And at whose expense? To be effective, we need to find ways to:
tap into creative capacity (individual + organizational) by switching from a transactional/siloed approach to a relational one
figure out what creative technique or what creative theory of change we want to apply
learn from our experiments
Letting Go of Orthodoxies
Letting go of orthodoxies allows us to lead with curiosity, so we can embrace diverse approaches and techniques. As we stretch our policymaking muscle, however, there’s bound to be some disillusionment and resistance.
It’s tempting to think that, because we’ve always done something a certain way, it’s the best way to go about it. But if we admit that policymaking, like any other process, is inventive, then we can accept that errors, inconsistencies and unpredictability are inherent parts of that work. We can accept that bias shapes how things happen. This isn’t a condemnation but an opportunity to unpack what works and what doesn’t so we can evolve approaches to meet outcomes.
Effective policymaking requires acknowledging power dynamics and taking steps to address imbalances.
To achieve that, we’ll need to find more reciprocal ways to, for example, connect with people who have been over-engaged yet chronically under-served. Learning how to let go of power and be transparent, how to foster shared decision-making, can help policymakers tap into a broader range of expertise. This can enable more generative processes that ultimately result in relevant policies that effectively address the complex challenges of society.
Image Description: A building with “needs” painted on the windows. The window containing the letter S is partly open.
Creativity is not a luxury, but a necessity
We face unprecedented problems that require us to stretch our imagination so we can relate to issues and each other differently. To me, it means we need to engage our ingenuity to identify solutions.
Art exemplifies this creative process. Starting with a blank canvas, a painter engages in a methodical exploration, a focused inquiry that turns into a final product. But of course, policymakers don’t always have a proverbial blank canvas to work on. In fact, they need to work within constraints and compliance-driven settings. And it’s easy to think that there isn’t room for creativity. Exploring alternative interpretations of regulations, finding new ways to meet requirements, and getting permission to experiment within defined boundaries are all creative pursuits. Whether it’s thinking laterally, tweaking processes and fostering a culture that values collaboration; there are ways to be creative. The key is to keep an open mind.
So if we are going to develop policies that will help us meet the challenges we face, we have to be creative. We have to be willing to break down the rules. We have to be willing to shatter the mirror and look at the pieces and completely change our vantage point. We have to relate to things and each other and problems very differently. It is urgent that we do that. We cannot afford not to be creative.I would even say that our way forward is through creativity.
Daphnée Nostrome is a change leader who is passionate about building equitable services. She has worked to advance digital practices and improve service design and delivery in government for over 20 years. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daphneenostrome/