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Peer Learning Marathon
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2019 - 2020 t m en ern v go
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Nesta Learning Marathon Manifesto 2019 -2020
To achieve our desired purpose, I should...
1. Be kind to myself.
2. Stay the path, embrace difficulties. 3. Actively connect.
4. Form mutually supportive relationships. 5. Stay purposeful. 6. Be brave. 7.
8. Take this seriously and have fun. 9.
Be authentic and vulnerable - keep it real.
Take time.
Contents Introduction
David Heinemann
Together, we create
Alex Glennie
Inclusive innovation experiments
Eszter Czibor
Relational rationality Living harmoniously Learning government The wobbly circle
Kuranda Morgan Anna Schlimm Marieke Goettsch Nathan Kably
“In our work and in our living, we must recognize that difference is a reason for celebration and growth, rather than a reason for destruction.” – Audre Lourde
Introduction Six colleagues with six questions. 18 weeks exploring. One shared curiosity: could we fruitfully blend personal and organisational learning? Before any of us knew an organisational overhaul (or a global pandemic!) was coming, six Nesta colleagues planted six seeds, in the form of ‘learning questions’ - self-led inquiries, emerging from passions, curiosities and challenges working at Nesta. We’ve since grown these seeds alongside one another. Through trusting in ourselves and each other, several different projects, contributions, and ways of being have emerged. As Audre Lorde said, it’s in noticing and celebrating our differences, sharing vulnerability, and facing our future together that we’ve truly grown. As our Learning Marathon draws to a close, we’re wondering if we might be able to help unfurl a new chapter at Nesta for celebrating difference, learning as peers, and growing together? – David Heinemann Peer Learning Marathon Host
Alex Glennie Email: alex.glennie@nesta.org.uk Twitter: @Alex_Glennie Question I leave with:
What can I do to support the development of a peer learning culture at Nesta?
Navigating our learning questions together
Question I came with: How might I enable us to tell more powerful stories about our work on inclusive innovation?
Singing in harmony Photo by Joshua Hanson
My Learning Marathon in 3 words:
Together, we create. “I love to hear a choir. I love the humanity to see the faces of real people devoting themselves to a piece of music. I like the teamwork. It makes me feel optimistic about the human race when I see them cooperating like that.” – Paul McCartney
A choir seems like an apt metaphor for our Learning Marathon - and the organisation we work for. In bringing our strengths and individual voices together, we created a powerful harmony, and showed what was possible when given the time, space and freedom to explore new ways of working together.
Name of my project/outcome:
A vision for peer learning and development In my five years at Nesta, I’ve had the opportunity to work with some amazing people. But I’ve often felt frustrated by the hierarchies, power dynamics and processes that have prevented me from collaborating in the way that suits me best - learning with and from others in an environment of trust and equality. I was therefore really excited when an opportunity came up within Nesta’s Research, Analysis and Policy team to explore different ways of promoting continuous learning and development. My research led me to Enrol Yourself, and the more I learned about their peer learning approach, the more I wanted to pilot something similar at Nesta. The enthusiastic support (personally and financially) of our Director of Research Operations made this possible. When I reached out to the research team it was clear there were others who shared my desire to collaborate in a different way. I had high expectations from the outset, but I can honestly say they’ve all been exceeded. I’ve been so inspired by the energy and commitment that everyone has brought to the Learning Marathon, even though it’s sometimes been a struggle to make time for weekly meetings or work independently on our Learning Questions. We dealt with those issues openly, and brought our authentic selves - hopes, fears, anxieties and emotions - into the
Exploring the stories I want to be living
process. We also had tons of fun, and spotted new opportunities to learn from the skills and experiences of others. My original Learning Question tied very closely to my ‘day job’. Even though I learned some valuable things about storytelling, I realised along the way that my real question related to how I could create space for more of this peer learning magic within Nesta. My question was ultimately much more connected to my own story and the one I want to create with others. I feel like the end of the formal marathon is only the start of my journey in this area, and am much more confident heading down this path knowing I have the support and counsel of my awesome fellow marathon runners. I’m looking for: Opportunities to share our experience as a peer learning group, and to take the learnings from our pilot forward into the development of our organisational model. I’d also love to learn more about other models and experiences of peer learning, and how to facilitate this kind of work.
Eszter Czibor Email: eszter.czibor@nesta.org.uk Twitter: @ECzibor Question I leave with:
How can I use what I am good at to contribute to an issue I really care about?
Question I came with: How can randomised controlled trials (RCTs) improve our understanding of diversity and inclusion in innovation?
Photo by Sharon McCutcheon
My Learning Marathon in 3 words:
Inclusive innovation experiments. Me when I joined the peer learning marathon: “I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail.” (Abraham Maslow) Me now: “Instructions for living a life: Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.” (Mary Oliver) How did I get there? With the help of my learning marathon team. We built trust, shared stories, shared snacks, got inspired, got frustrated, got stuck, got unstuck, laughed, questioned, made time, showed up, evolved. We learned together.
Photo by Oxana V
I’m looking for:
People to talk to - people who do not feel like they can participate in innovation and whose needs are not met by new inventions, and people working to bring a change in this area. Photo by John Barkiple
Name of my project/outcome:
Experimenting for inclusive innovation why is it difficult, and what to do about it? I’d like to tell you about my “Aha!”moment. We were well into our Learning Marathon; by then, I’d come to realise that there were serious issues with my original Learning Question. The question was too broad: there are so many different ways we could take an equality, diversity and inclusion lens to the study of innovation! What is worse, it also sounded rather arrogant, suggesting that existing evidence was incomplete and my approach was the solution, even though I was new to the field of inclusive innovation. I also started to doubt whether RCTs were a useful tool at all to generate relevant evidence in this area. Maybe the focus on precise, quantifiable outcomes forces us to study narrow, incremental changes and only a few, easily measurable aspects of diversity? My natural instinct was to search for the answer in the academic literature, looking at related papers in
experimental economics. Luckily, my fellow learners tirelessly nudged me with their suggestions to go broader. What if you mapped the relevant stakeholders and interviewed some of them? Could you review existing resources to see if there are some gaps you could fill? How might you go beyond engaging policy makers and academics and involving more people who are currently excluded from and not served by innovation? Encouraged by their prompts, I finally reached out to experts in the field, both at Nesta, and among my team’s government partners. And then suddenly it clicked. It was so simple! In order to design and run RCTs that improve our understanding of inclusive innovation, I needed to talk to people. People who were active in this area, who understood the context, who were involved “on the ground” in specific activities and projects aimed at improving the inclusion and diversity of the innovation ecosystem. I needed to know what challenges they id, what solutions they found, and what specific questions they wanted help with - only then could I begin to consider if and how a trial could help answer their questions. Trivial? Totally. Did it still feel like a revelation? You bet!
A choir seems like an apt metaphor for our Learning Marathon - and the organisation we work for. In bringing our strengths and individual voices together, we created a powerful harmony, and showed what was possible when given the time, space and freedom to explore new ways of working together. – Alex Glennie
Kuranda Morgan Email: kuranda.morgan@nesta.org.uk Twitter: @KurandaMorgan
Question I leave with:
How can I be a conduit to inclusive and meaningful relationship building? Both personally and professionally; in the way I interact with myself, others, and my community; and within and across other actors who seek to do good in our world? Question I came with: How do we motivate Bureaucrats to use evidence?
The ambition: If I can Ginkgo anywhere, where to next?
My Learning Marathon in 2 words:
Relational Rationality.
that are more actionable for varying people and their priorities. Better incentivising both buy-in and collective action.
Policy papers are read* The global landscape** feels blue*** With evidence**** at its heart***** All dreams****** can come true*******
***How do you feel about the global landscape? What colour do you think best represents it?
*It’s not just about reading, but about strengthening our ability to share narratives. It’s not just about what programmes lead to what outcomes, but the mechanisms that enable those outcomes. It’s about how people and institutions can interact and be conduits for those mechanisms as needed in their own contexts.
*****How can we better link head, heart, and hands?
**There are ways of better understanding the landscape. Reframing it to break it down into smaller, more manageable pieces
****Evidence can mean many things to many different people. The right systems for promoting evidence use should be designed in a way that includes those multiple perspectives.
******What are your dreams? What are your neighbour’s dreams? *******As long as we’re inclusive about capturing diverse constructions of truth, and work to dismantle inherent power embedded within knowledge production and consumption systems.
I moved to the UK 3 years ago to feed my academic passion. I wanted to further my understanding of social policy and improve my ability to support integral government systems. As I entered into new personal and professional frontiers, I carried with me the understanding that relationships are at the heart of movements towards more inclusive, affirming, and equitable decisionmaking environments - yet I wasn’t yet sure how to capture and leverage that learning along my own path of becoming.
The problem: How can we connect our kingdoms, slay our dragons, and climb the mountains that divide us, together?
Name of my project/outcome:
A model for participatory action research workshops that captureh and feedback evidence frames, needs, and capabilities within decisionmaking bodies. I’m looking for:
People to talk to - people who do not feel like they can participate in innovation and whose needs are not met by new inventions, and people working to bring a change in this area.
My Learning Marathon was tailored academically. I sought to write a research proposal to better understand why people and organisations don’t always behave in their best interests, or in ways that maximise public benefit, through the lens of evidence-informed decision making as an important solution to these problems. However, I found that the questions I was asking of myself were more than academic, and cut across other realms of my life and broader environment: how can I help foster and be part of a community where we are working towards collective goals we can all believe in? I have shifted my ambitions and goals away from box ticking around academic qualifications, and towards my own positionality working towards
ends about which I’m passionate. Whilst those ends have not changed - I still keenly want to support governments to use evidence to facilitate good changes in the world - I realise my itchy feet and drive were because of the means I thought could help get us there. I wanted to improve relationships, and the quality of the relationships that I saw manifest around me, rather than just myself.
the time needed to dig beneath our siloed understandings, we’ll find shared values, humanity, and purpose.
My Learning Marathon peers have helped me see the power of what relationships can do, and how we might be able to listen and leverage our voices better for the common good. They’ve been my own reflection in a moving river: one that has helped me see my own framing and frame of mind, while also stretching my perspectives to look at problems and questions from new angles.
I came in knowing I had a great path ahead of me, seeking the exact coordinates on the map where that path would lead.
I’ve learnt about the power of equitable voice - how all can contribute to the understanding of a broader landscape or problem, bringing unique perspectives and experiences to help bolster and enable each other and our questions.
I’ve learned about my own value and have not only been supported through different transitions in my professional, academic, and personal life, but affirmed, challenged, loved, and lifted along my own path of discovery.
I leave instead basking in the unknown - with compass in hand and a good pair of walking boots - ready to climb my mountains, eager to marvel at the foliage and get muddy along the way. Let’s climb together. I’d love to see from your point of view. With love, Kuranda
I’ve learned that the sum is only greater than its parts if those parts are able to link and exchange perspectives, together. I’ve learned about how powerful inclusive conceptualisations of ‘evidence’ can be - that if we spend
The solution: It’s all about relationships!
Photo by Harley Weir
Anna Schlimm Email: anna@schlimms.com Web: www.loophole.lol Question I leave with:
How to live without being complicit in perpetuating our own demise?
Question I came with: How can I uncover and/or design practices and strategies for resistance and dissent so as to be less complicit in perpetuating the structures that are harmful to people and planet?
My Learning Marathon peers have helped me to see the power of what relationships can do, and how we might be able to listen and leverage our voices better for the common good. They’ve been my own reflection in a moving river: one that has helped stretch my perspectives to look at problems and questions from new angles. – Kuranda Morgan
Marieke Goettsch Email: marieke.goettsch@nesta.org.uk Twitter: @MariekeGoettsch
Question I leave with:
Culture change is such a complex process, even more so in a huge bureaucracy like the government.
What’s the most promising way to get government buy-in for policy experimentation? How to target the individual policymaker while also changing the system around him or her? Question I came with: How can I build a project around things that I’m personally really interested in (like motivations, learning, culture change) and make whatever comes out of it relevant for my job?
My Learning Marathon in 2 words:
Learning government. My main motivation for developing a guide as the answer to my Learning Question was to have a resource to show policymakers the importance of learning through experimentation in a practical and interactive way. I want to help them understand: (i) at which stage of the “continuum of experimentation” they are, (ii) what type of questions they should be asking themselves, and (iii) how they can get to practical answers by using different methods of experimentation.
The support along the way: feedback from the group
I’m looking for: At this stage of the project I have a first, very general compilation of some of the Nesta resources, but I am sure that there are many others I could add. Any suggestions for other Nesta content will be most welcome. I’ll also be putting together a list of “musthaves” from other organisations. So if you have any ideas - please send them my way :)
My starting point: The need for a culture of learning in government
The idea: A practical guide to promote experiments for policy learning
Name of my project/outcome:
A little guide for advising policymakers on how to experiment for more agile and impactful innovation policies With our Learning Marathon now coming to an end, one thing is more than clear to me. While it was a great experience to have time to build a project around a topic I care about, the journey we went on as a group was just as, if not even more, transformative. When I received the invite to participate in the programme it said something about experimenting with new ways of peer learning at Nesta and making the most of the broad range of skills and perspectives within the organisation. Our weekly meetings became so much more than that. We turned them into a beautiful space to actively listen, connect, and empathise. I left every session inspired by all the thoughtful comments and feedback we gave each other. Before the first session, we had to reflect on what awesome support looks like for each of us. My response was “empathy and constructive feedback”. Our group
was the living example of what this looks like in practice. Even when I arrived rushed, with way too many things on my to-do list, the energy of the group grounded me in no time. Every single time I left with a smile and gratitude for having shared the last few hours with a wonderful group of people. This journey has also made me realise again how rich and diverse the work is that we produce as an organisation. When my Learning Question started to take the form of a toolkit, I spent quite a bit of time on the web, researching what’s already out there. Again and again I would end up back on the Nesta website, finding another interesting report, blog post, or field guide already published by us. This is why, even though this is possibly only a first step, I decided to make the final outcome of my journey a compilation of internal resources that are somehow linked to my Learning Question.
Nathan Kably Email: nathan.kably@nesta.org.uk Question I leave with:
How do I continuously and profoundly learn?
Step one: There are and have been plenty of locations to learn.
Question I came with: How do I find out about my voice and what I have to offer professionally?
Step two: Peers are on my journey.
My Learning Marathon in 3 words:
Name of my project/outcome:
The wobbly circle.
Circling, wiring and rewiring - The wobbly circle project
My Learning Marathon started with trying to understand my career. Now I have set myself the objective to profoundly learn. My peers helped me make sense of what I had done, and interrogate different careers. I went on short adventures to put myself in someone else’s shoes. My project grew to focus on a deeper inquiry. I want to get to practice more things.
I started with questions: what I worked on, what I was working on, and what I wanted to work on? Through exercises and discussions, I made sense of what I had done. Overall, my past jobs have been fairly similar in topic and sector. I have not purposefully built continuity but something has linked them up. It is more contingent than chosen, even if clear choices were always made. Computer-based, on weekdays, in discussion with friends
and colleagues with similar paths to mine, these are only but a few of what ties up my career. So far my professional experience has been fairly consistent and I have not broken away from a considerably linear path. I interrogated different careers. I tried to understand their feel: what their daily tasks were, where they would be executed, when and how. I am lucky to have diversity around me and from it I got a deeper feel. I tried to practice deeper empathy, imagining what my career would be if I were to work like they do. My project grew to focus on a deeper inquiry. I want to get to practice more things. I spent every Saturday for two months creating hundreds of designs. I felt
more closely where I was bounded and where I needed to learn. That brought more clarity. I need more of these adventures to grow, testing my own grounds. Now I set myself the objective to profoundly learn. For this project, I have needed to be lucid. There are places where I will never flourish, and that is both ok and not ok. I need to bring enduring courage. I don’t only need or want a nook to fill. I also need to convince myself there are platforms I am allowed and capable to stand on. I’m looking for: More lucidity, time to rebuild courage and both a nook and platform on which to flourish.
Step three: I’m taking forward a deeper inquiry.
Enrol Yourself is an award-winning social business, redesigning lifelong learning by harnessing the power of peer groups to multiply individual and collective development. The Learning Marathon is a flexible structure for peer-led learning. It’s designed to support a peer group to multiply their development by pooling skills, resources, and perspectives.
WEB: enrolyourself.com BLOG: medium.com/enrol-yourself TWITTER: @EnrolYourself INSTAGRAM: @enrol_yourself EMAIL: hello@enrolyourself.com