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September 19, 2008
Charles Leadbeater addressed a well-attended CSI seminar on radical new approaches to social innovation in Melbourne on September 16.
Leadbeater, a senior advisor to government and business who writes regularly for the Financial Times described as former British Prime Minister Tony Blair's favourite corporate thinker, said new social challenges demanded radical new approaches to public service delivery.
The public service was not designed for emerging social problems such as chronic disease, ageing and climate change, he explained. These demanded transformational social innovation which meant reframing the challenges. "If you frame the challenge in terms of improving/adapting existing services, then you will get innovative innovation at best. To get radical innovation you need to frame challenges from below and above the service".
The problem of diabetes or other chronic disease, for example, is reframed from one of treating a condition to managing a lifestyle. The "patient" becomes a participant, and emphasis in the delivery model shifts from providing an ameliorative service to aiding prevention and self management.
When recipients of programs are regarded as principals, they are able to promote their own solutions to social problems. With relationships and social networks at the centre of social innovation, outcomes are vastly improved. In this model, according to Leadbeater, the public sector's role is one of orchestrating collaborative innovation and behavioural change.
For more on these ideas, read Leadbeater's speaking notes.