Brink

Evidence shows us that 1️⃣ Groups are better than individuals at solving complex problems; but 2️⃣ Free riders and social loafers will cause your group to fail. 𝗦𝗼 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗽? This course teaches you how to: ➡ Collectively imagine a tangible ‘better future’ and learn why thinking backwards is a hack for your brain that leads to more creative problem-solving ➡ Create a sense of belonging quickly and use approaches to get to richer possibilities through collective wisdom ➡ Develop tangible, testable ideas that you can use to learn what works and what doesn’t - and how to take care of group morale when things don’t go well (which will invariably happen!) ➡ Use incentives, defaults, biases and other behavioural science wisdom to create fun, maintain engagement and make progress, fast! 𝗦𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝘂𝗽 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 9 MAY 𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝟵𝟬% 𝗼𝗳𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗲𝗻𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁. https://lnkd.in/efMp54gS

At the beginning of this year we set ourselves the task of building a university. Our eventual ambition for Brink University is to be able to offer a wide-ranging set of courses based on the approaches we have been developing and refining alongside our partners for the past six years. And to deliver it with a world-class faculty drawn from amongst those partners. But we had to start somewhere, and that point was ‘Innovation Missions, Powered by Behavioural Sciences’, a six-week course, which completed last month. True to Brink’s ethos, that course was very much an experiment, a chance for us to really understand what it means for Brink to share and teach Behavioural Innovation to other practitioners. We were blown away by the calibre of the first cohort of learners and grateful to them for joining our experiment with their energy and smarts throughout, and their thoughtful feedback after. After celebrating with that first set of BrinkU graduates Abigail, Johannes and Kelley sat down and collated everything we’d learnt from the experience of designing, communicating and running the first BrinkU course. There was much to unpack and a lot of really valuable insight in there, so we’ve put it all into this one blog post to be available for anyone else out there looking to embark on a similar project: https://lnkd.in/eF6Uuw4E As always, let us know what you think and please share your own thoughts and tips for sharing knowledge and communicating methods.

“𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯 𝘰𝘧𝘧 𝘢 £50𝘮 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯 𝘰𝘧𝘧 𝘢 £50𝘬 𝘰𝘯𝘦.” You’d be surprised how many times we've heard something like this from those in government departments, NGOs, financial institutions and even the corporate sector. Multi-million projects have strategic roadmaps, KPIs, and feasibility checks. But the £50k project is likely to be a step into the unknown. They're experiments. And even though experiments are the things that lead to tranformative leaps forward, people are scared to embark on them. They're scared because: - Bureaucracy and entrenched ideas make it hard to get going. - There's a strong feeling that there's 'no time' for dedicated learning and experiment. - People are worried abut failure, squandering public money, or taking undue risks. In this article, Asad breaks down the innovation carve-out: how to curate a space to take bold risks and test scalable, transformative ideas: https://lnkd.in/e-yuGzpd

Time for our regular round up of the mind-changing articles/books/podcasts that have been shared on Brink’s Brain Food Slack channel over the past seven days. Thanks to Gita, Lil, Rob and Lea for this week’s cranium calories. If you’ve read, seen or listened to something this week that has changed your thinking or practice then let us know in the comments. 🗽𝐕𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰 There's a lot to be inspired by in how US Democratic party are campaigning right now. The speeches in particular (Tim Walz's inaugural speech for example https://lnkd.in/eZrWSwTN) are a case study in closing what Robb Willer and Matthew Feinberg call the empathy gap https://lnkd.in/eYXGiGyN 🌭 𝐒𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐲 We haven't picked up a copy of Julie Guthman's 'The Problem with Solutions: Why Silicon Valley Can't Hack the Future of Food' yet; but her call "to reject apolitical and self-gratifying techno-solutions and develop the capacity and willingness to respond to the root causes of these crises,” is something we're looking forward to digging into. https://lnkd.in/eta8Rg3A 👥 𝐓𝐲𝐩𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 This article by Britt Andreatta, PhD on how teammates from different countries can work together in smarter ways got us thinking about how we work with our partners, and how it's too easy sometimes to confuse coordinating with collaborating: https://lnkd.in/gjzywvaF 🍆 𝐋𝐞𝐭'𝐬 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐧 Here's a cheeky bit of storytelling from Global Action Plan that encourages less consumerism through a 'free, carbon-neutral activity'. https://lnkd.in/esxBX_nt

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐎𝐥𝐲𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐜 𝐬𝐤𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐛𝐨𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 There’s a lot of good reasons to watch the Olympic skateboarding. For example, this year’s youngest Olympian is the Chinese skater, Zheng Haohao, who is just 11 years old! But another reason to watch world-class backside flips is to remind yourself that baking in the ability for failure can drive people to even bigger successes. Earlier this week our Innovation manager Felicity (Flic) Burgess wrote this on one of our Slack channels after looking up the rules for the Olympic event: “𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘴𝘬𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘴. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘖𝘭𝘺𝘮𝘱𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦! 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘬𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 2/5 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘭 𝘛𝘏𝘙𝘌𝘌 𝘛𝘐𝘔𝘌𝘚 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘸𝘪𝘯 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥. 𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘨 (𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘭𝘥) 𝘢𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘬𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘣𝘰𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦.” That’s a great phrase, isn’t it? Normalising falling over. We’ve never put it in those words before, but that concept underpins so much of what we do at Brink, especially when we’re designing portfolios that allow teams of innovators to test new approaches or validate a fresh set of ideas. In those kinds of situations, repeated failure is a given. So, ‘normalising falling over’ is something that has to be baked into the environment in order to keep optimism and momentum alive and for people to be able identify the lessons that come from failures, and to turn them into valuable insights. Here's to falling over and getting back up again. 🛹

A few weeks ago we celebrated with the pioneering group of beta testers who made up the first cohort to graduate from our 'Innovation missions, powered by behavioural science' course. This was the first time we had delivered this 6-week programme, and it was incredibly gratifying for us to bring changemakers from across the world to reflect on how to drive and lead, mission-led change and tackle complex challenges in society. We are very excited to see what impact this group will go on to make with all they’ve learned. We also need to say a huge thank you to BrinkU faculty members Boneventure Brian Kawere, Pippa Ranger, Ridwan Sorunke, and Heather Pearl, whose insights and wisdom added so much to the experience. Below you can read testimonials from some of those who took this journey with us in June. If you, like them, would like to learn the approaches that will allow you to turn your programme work into an innovation mission, then you can join us for our next cohort starting in November: https://lnkd.in/efMp54gS We would love to have you onboard ⛵️

Q: How frequently does a woman die from pregnancy or childbirth, globally? A: Every 2 minutes (source, WHO. Link in comments) This is just one of the challenges surrounding Sexual and Reproductive Health worldwide. There is much to be done to accelerate better outcomes. For the last 10 months Brink has been the implementing partner of the Hanga, Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) programme for Sub-Saharan Africa, a programme aiming to do exactly that: accelerate better outcomes in SRH, by supporting tech-enabled ventures. This means we've been working with our energetic partners Three Stones International, LLC (Joanna Nicholas), and alongside passionate and talented innovators on scaling their ideas like: 💛 Dr Claude Smith NSABIMANA connecting girls and young women to facilities for accessing friendly, legal safe abortion services without delays or discrimination via AASAP 📚 Dr.Jerome Nshimiyimana,MD increasing access to sexual health education for adolescents with disabilities via JoCare 🤰 Muzalema Mwanza founder of the Safe Motherhood Alliance providing healthcare to pregnant women in low-income communities and rural areas for positive health outcomes for both mother and newborn. Join us on Hanga PitchFest as we share more details on the programme’s journey and share inspiring stories of growth and impact from the Hanga, SRH ventures 👇👇👇👇 The Hanga PitchFest SRH programme is supported by Rwanda's Ministry of ICT and Innovation (MINICT), and the. Rwanda Development Board (RDB)

It's brainfood time, and this week we have Alice, Abigail, Bryony and Felicity to thank for sharing these gresat, mind-expanding links in the Brink slack channel. Let's dive in.... 🧑🎨️ 𝐘𝐨𝐮'𝐯𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 We've been talking to some our partners redently about how we might push the boundaries in the ways research is shared. One of the examples that came up was the work of PositiveNegative who create incredible visual stories to bring academic research to life. So much great stuff in here: https://lnkd.in/gZfMj6w 📖 𝐋𝐞𝐭 𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 Sticking with storytelling for a second; University of the Arts London’s Storytelling Institute recently released this report on the ecosystem, evidence and possible futures for what they call ‘impact storytelling’. It delves into theory of change (including a case study from the Archers) and has a pretty audacious systems-level approach to creating change with stories: https://lnkd.in/eEwv9bUK 💻 𝐇𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐭 Earlier this week, Jon Alexander of the New Citizen Project wrote about Audrey Tang, who is leading the charge in how to do open, participatory government. Tang was part of the g0v.tw. hacker movement which began building parallel websites in 2012, to show how government services could be. By 2016, Audrey was Taiwan’s Minister of Digital Affairs, and many of the ideas and systems had been incorporated into government! https://lnkd.in/eVKjbYJJ ♀️𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐚𝐩 Finally this week, this podcast from The Flip looks at gender lens funds, and specifically at The Mastercard Foundation Africa Growth Fund, which has made five investments so far in different investment vehicles (all African) to address the gender funding gap. https://lnkd.in/ers8HQbm

𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘳𝘦. This is the spirit of Ubuntu, an African philosophy, and one of our core values at Brink. It’s also why,  once a year, we make sure we’re all able to come together to explore, play and learn. This year we chose the magnificent Fforest Farm (https://lnkd.in/eZgVAM4U) in West Wales as our location for our annual retreat. It’s a beautiful spot, surrounded by woods, lakes and nature trails (and home to the Bwthyn, its very own pub), and the perfect place for for us all to get away from our screens and be who we all are. Our goals for these four days were simple. We wanted to produce impactful in-person work, delve deeper into Brink's mission, forge strong connections amongst ourselves, and to create the kind of space in which we could be fully present with one another. But out of those simple goals came some extraordinary moments, brilliant insights, energising ideas, and a renewed sense of connection and togetherness. Thanks to everyone at Fforest Farm for being amazing hosts and thank you to the amazing Louise and Alice for your combined organisational genius and making this the best Brink retreat yet. ✌️

Secure your space for our free, 90-minute discussion on how to create innovation-friendly environments: https://lnkd.in/ewJUy3tE If you want to future proof your organisation, face complex challenges and deliver real world impact, then it's crucial that you can create space for exploration, collaboration and experimentation. But bureaucracy and entrenched ideas means it's often tough for teams to test new ideas; and nobody feels like they have the time or the permission for play, discovery and learning. It's even trickier if your budget is made up of public money and failure is not a concept people feel comfortable with. Brink has spent the last six years making innovation happen across governments, NGOs, philanthropists and donors. These kinds of organisations not only have hugely complex challenges ahead of them, they often come with hard-to-shift mental models and budgets made up of tax-payers’ money that cannot be wasted. Joining us for a deep dive into the mechanisms that make carve-outs work, the incentives that encourage innovation, and the mindsets required to experiment in the face of complex challenges will be Clio Dintilhac from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Steven Hunt of FCDO Services and Suha Tutunji of Jusoor.