Policymakers love a framework. At its best, it provides helpful prompts to work out a problem in a way that codifies lessons learned by others. At worst, though, it creates the illusion of being able to structure reality the way that policymakers want.
Policymakers can suffer from biases as much as any other profession. Frameworks can also feel impersonal to residents and disconnect them from their daily lives.
Culture over theory
Ultimately, theories of change often focus on trying to change other people, be it a council trying to change behaviours of organisations, commissions or charities of people who use their services. They focus excessively on the importance of developing their theory of change as the system leader and try to fix the root causes rather than acknowledge the messiness of system change and people’s everyday lives.
It can be tempting to try and tackle everything, or at least make sense of each dependency, to feel confident in fully understanding the context. But you can never know a context that ultimately changes. Equally, you don’t want to know much more than others; otherwise, they won’t be able to relate to what you’re saying, and you lose momentum if you don’t act on a situation when people are starting to pull together around common causes. It would be best to consider what you want to focus on, what leverage points you wish to use, and what distinctive contribution you or your organisation can make.
Creating a culture of working with residents and partners, testing things out together, learning together and shifting together is more important than a single theory of change. Better to:
- More than a single theory, what truly unites and aligns us is a collective sense of purpose. This shared goal can guide our actions and decisions, helping us to navigate the complexities of change.
- Distribute power rather than put your organisation at the centre.
- Be comfortable with uncertainty and be willing to experiment.
- Be happy with being challenged and debating.
- Start with people’s lived experience.
- Question your assumptions as well as others.
