Appendix A: Mindsets for Innovation & Curiosity
Mindsests.
Dominant culture habits show up in our work to block creativity and undermine collaboration. Trying on innovation mindsets gives us an opportunity to replace harmful habits with intentional practice. The invitation is to try on some of these mindsets this week and beyond for your own youth work practice, and in community.
Adapted from Resonance Network Lab 2018
Curiosity
Dominant culture rewards having more answers than questions. When we practice curiosity, we have an openness to new ideas, solutions, and ways of thinking. We are unafraid to ask a lot of questions, deeply listen for answers, and be in the process of “answering” rather than having a single answer.
Bias to Action
When we have a bias to action, our solutions move from theoretical to tangible and actionable.
Fail Fast to Learn Fast
Dominant culture thrives on individual heroes finding singular solutions to solve problems. When we fail fast to learn fast, we don’t shy away from trying something out because we fear failure; we resist dominant culture’s demand for perfectionism and know that the faster we find out what won’t work, the faster we contribute to our learning and growth.
Generative
When we’re in a generative mindset, we build off of other’s ideas and offer ideas that generate more, knowing that the twentieth unexpected idea we have may be the most highly innovative and do-able. We hold an expansive, imaginative space as sacred, knowing there will be time to narrow and fine-tune ideas later.
Generous
When we are in a generous mindset, we are resisting scarcity culture because we now we have enough: enough time, enough resources, enough brilliance – when we work collectively towards our liberation.
Lean Into Risk
When we lean into risk, we acknowledge that liberation calls for strategic risk taking. As we try on ways to manifest change, we don’t always know exactly what the result will be. We will help each other find and take strategic risks that serve liberation.