Shift Lab 1.0 to Shift Lab 2.0

SHIFT LAB 1.0 TO SHIFT LAB 2.0: HOW THE LAB EVOLVED

There is no single way to design and lead a social innovation lab. A lab for us is less about beakers and Bunsen burners, and more about creating an experimental safe zone — a space to dig deep, build trust, remove fear, be bold, and find meaningful pathways forward as a collective. As there are many approaches, lab design and methodologies need to be tailored to the context of the particular lab. We drew on the following key approaches and practices.

Incorporating Indigenous epistemologies: land-based practices, ceremony, deep listening, asking elders for guidance, storytelling, relationship-building practices

Design thinking process: employing a “scrappy” humancentred design process to co-create solutions with community

Inspirations from other lab practitioners and gratitude towards them

Ethnography: searning and listening to people affected by the issue by hanging out with them in context, deep canvassing, capturing the environment with audio and visual tools

Behaviour-change Science: relying on best practices and research across fields

Whole-systems thinking: bridging experiences across public + private + non-profit + communitybased sectors

The story of Shift Lab is one of evolution. In Shift Lab 1.0 we learned early on that we had a tension around scope. The intersection of racism and poverty is massively complex, and within the context of Edmonton it manifests differently depending on culture, on neighbourhood, on what government happens to be in power, and a hundred other factors. A requirement of an effective social innovation lab is a decently focussed problem area that can be worked with. However, early community consultations in Shift Lab 1.0 told us that the focus couldn’t be developed by a diverse Stewardship team alone — it had to come from the community.

We listened and acted on that feedback. Once we recruited our first Core Team of diverse community members, their first task was to pick a focus area. Through a variety of methods, the Shift Lab 1.0 core team landed on housing as the intervention point to tackle racism. Some promising prototypes emerged — one of which is currently being piloted. After Shift Lab 1.0 was completed, the Stewardship team began reflecting on feedback, tensions and what had been learned.

A theme that emerged was the challenge around scope. This led to our first big “A-Ha!” moment that helped shape version 2.0. We realized that we needed to simplify and drop the intersecting part of the problem (in this case, poverty) and focus on addressing racism more specifically. To sharpen the focus and discover where there was demand for hard work around addressing racism, we initiated a research discovery phase that lasted about eight months.

Terms: Anti-Racist, White Fragility

The Edmonton Shift Lab does not use one term to describe its design efforts to combat racism. While “anti-racism” is an appropriate term, it is also one associated with a specific school of thought, best epitomized by Ibram X Kendi’s How To Be An AntiRacist. Similarly, while we use “white fragility” we are not directly referring to the book White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo. We consider “anti-racism” and “white fragility” as umbrella terms that are not limited to the way they are used in these and other books.

Terms: Lab Sprints

This term describes a practice in the work. Five weekend workshops with all Core Teams and Stewards were what we referred to as ‘sprints’. The sprints were where everyone from Shift Lab 2.0 got together, learned, built relationships and applied Indigenous, design- and systems-thinking approaches to tackling racism together.

Check out the tools section for more of the processes and tools we used in Shift Lab 1.0 and 2.0 https://www.edmontonshiftlab.ca/tools/

Read our Shift Lab 1.0 report here www.edmontonshiftlab.ca/learning-from-our-f irst-year/

SHIFT LAB 2.0 TIMELINE

2017

November December

2018

January February

Steward retreat:

Evaluating feedback and Shift Lab 2.0 planning

March April May

Expert Literature Review Indigenous Research Methods, Worldviews,

and Praxis: Naheyawin Behavioural Insights: Gladys Rowe Anti-Racism Initiatives: Edmonton Centre for Race and Culture

2019

January

LAB SEASON

In Shift Lab 2.0, the Core Lab team came together as a group over the course of four intensive weekend sprints and concluded with a Prototype Showcase. Individual prototype teams met between sprints to work on their projects.

Ethnographic research

Ethnographic research deep dive

Prototype development

February March April May June July

Core Lab team recruitment Interviews with community members and anti-racism and social innovation experts

Sprint 1 March 1 – 3 ECF/ Action Lab

Opening feast. Building relationships and group agreements. Orientation to Shift Lab. Ethnographic research preparation.

Sprint 2 April 5 – 7 Action Lab

Speaker Panel about Treaty, whiteness, and hate crimes. Ethnographic research share back. The shadow side of innovation.

Sprint 3: May 31 – June 2 Action Lab

Elder circle. Behaviour- change theory. Ideation. Developmental evaluation. Prototype pitches.

Sprint 4: July 12 – 14 Yorath House

Sharing circle. Learning from the land. Power, privilege, and antiracism insights. Perfecting the pitch.

June July August

Research synthesis. Development of principles, focus area, and guiding question Design, design, design

September 27

Shelley Tochluk

“Witnessing Whiteness: The Need to Talk about Race and How to Do It.”

September October November December

October 17

Daryl Davis

“Klan We Talk?” November 27:

Trevor Phillips

“Equality & Integration: Why We Can’t Afford to Fail.”

August September October November December

Prototype refinement and testing

Prototype Showcase October 25 Norquest College

Shared latest stages of prototypes with community and celebrated our journey.

A Shift Lab Special Presentation: October 7 Antionette D. Carroll

“The Future of Leadership: The Roles of Identity, Power & Equity.”

October 8 Creative Reaction Lab

“Leaders for Community Action & Equity” workshop.

2020

Hire three Prototype Managers to steward the further development and testing of the four prototypes.

Evaluation.

Continue to develop new tools, relationships, and insights.