In the world of social change, we all strive to make a real difference. But with limited resources and complex challenges, it can be difficult to know where to start. That’s why it’s important to adopt an experimental mindset.

Creating change is not always about coming up with one big, bold idea. Instead, it's often about creating a systematic approach to experimentation and learning.

From my experience, adopting an experimental mindset requires:

·       Imagination: the ability to create and imagine, to solve problems, and to combine knowledge of the existing world with possible versions of the future.

·       Curiosity: always starting by reflecting on previous learning and evidence, as well as collecting more where there are gaps, to truly understand the needs of the people and communities you are working with.  

·       Humility: Not claiming to have all the answers. Instead, it requires collaborating and experimenting with others to test how to address key challenges.

·       Flying many kites: for most social challenges, there is no single silver bullet. Instead it can be useful to run multiple projects or ‘experiments’ at the same time to learn how to address a particular challenge. Some will work, some won’t.

·       Iteration: finally, it is important to constantly reflect on what is and isn’t working, iterating based on new data and insight, and retiring experiments when they have been proven not to work or fulfilled their purpose. This latter point can often be the most difficult to implement for many social change organisations.

In addition to the above points, I’ve found the diagram below to be particularly helpful for thinking about how an experimental mindset is key to creating change.

Creating lasting change is not a straight line to goal (as much as many of us wish it was).