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Preconditions Phase

By • On • In 2 - Preconditions • 1 min read

The “preconditions” for a social lab include a number of pre-requisite ingredients that need to be present to allow for the possibility of success. When launching or building the foundation for a social lab, the beginning is of utmost importance. The ideas, people, power structures, institutions, and relationships that constitute the founding moment of a lab will often determine to a large extent the success or failure of the outcomes of the lab itself.

Preconditions are, if you like, a little like pulling together everything you need in order to start an expedition. Starting an expedition without each of these preconditions in place risks failure. Forgetting to take enough water or to take a readily available map represent a type of failure that can easily be avoided.

Finally, preconditions should not be confused for a “strategy” – they are literally preconditions for your strategy.

In a social lab, among the outputs of the preconditions phase are the following:

  • Challenge – can we clearly state what the challenge is that we want to address?
  • Do we have the necessary Resources to start work?
  • Do we have the right People (in terms of either skills or representation) on board?
  • Strategic Direction – our best guess as to what might address the challenge we wish to address? Preconditions represent a starting-point and not an end point.
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Grove Launch: The Kick-off and First Sprint

By • On • In 3 - Kick Off Workshop • 1 min read

The Kick-off workshop took place September 7-9, 2016, at The Rebuild Foundation’s Black Cinema House in Greater Grand Crossing, Chicago.

This was the first workshop with lab participants and constituted the official launch of the lab. The Kick-off introduced participants to the Lab process and each other. They engaged in systems thinking exercises to help them deepen their understanding of the social system and its issues, and self-organized into five prototyping teams that would carry them through the rest of the activities in the cycle.

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The Grove’s 2nd Studio Workshop

By • On • In 5 - Studio 2 • 1 min read

The Grove’s 2nd studio workshop was held November 15-16, 2016 at Gallery Guichard in Bronzeville. The workshop’s main goals were to enable the prototyping teams to reconnect as a whole, meet with a number of guests and allies in the community and to explore ways that their prototypes could be integrated into the broader system. They also sought to receive input and feedback from community members and friends, and share learnings across teams. There was also an structured opportunity for teams to decide whether to “pivot or persevere”, meaning  change direction drastically or continue with their current strategic direction. Teams also planned and shared next steps of their work in relation to their prototypes.

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The Grove’s 3rd Studio Workshop

By • On • In 6 - Studio 3 • 1 min read

The Grove’s 3rd studio workshop was held December 6-7, 2016, and was organized primarily as an opportunity for the prototyping teams to share their prototypes and learnings with the broader community in Bronzeville and Chicago as a whole. A wide variety of guests were invited to the studio to hear presentations, engage in discussion and watch videos documenting the teams’ work, with structured conversations for offering feedback and engaging in critical discussion.

 

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