“Talking is always a good idea. There’s no harm in keeping the lines of communication open.”
I love to talk (shocker) - I do it a lot and I will talk to absolutely anyone. I even had an imaginary friend when I was growing up, so it appears that 'anyone' also includes those that are not real.....
For me, talking things out is a great way to generate ideas, learn and deepen understanding. Technology has made it possible to take these conversations global and social media has helped to create new communities and opened up channels of communication like never before. Whilst this is all really positive, there is an overwhelming nagging feeling that remains - we are in danger of just talking to like-minded individuals and actually reinforcing silo thinking through creating echo chambers.
In the Lab, we talk a lot about 'wicked problems'. What we mean by this are those issues our customers are facing that cross over into all facets of society where there is no simple solution. All too often, we hear of housing 'professionals' who claim to have the answer, but simply, the answer is to admit we can't do this alone. When I say alone though, I don't mean just talking to other #ukhousing individuals. We should be talking to people in education, health, technology, anyone but most importantly, customers, to inspire the outcomes we so desperately need.
If we keep talking to each other, we are just going to get more of the same.
We thought this would make a great topic for this months #blabchat and maybe, just maybe, we might be able to get some of these cross sector conversations started! Here are the questions....
Remember, label your answers A1, A2, A3, etc and most importantly, don't forget to use #blabchat in any response, even if its just replying to someone else's thoughts. Have a scan of potential other hashtags to use in conversation too (and don't be afraid to share!), we know this is a subject that will draw many different viewpoints and we want to hear as many of them as possible.
So come and join us Thursday 7th June from 8pm - like Tupac once said, we may not change the world, but we may well spark the brain of the person who does!