Envisioning the Future(s) of Community Health
Stark County Health Summit – February 2019 Trene Hawkins – Program Officer, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Roadmap for the Day
INTRODUCTION About me
About RWJF
OUR CHALLENGE:
Envisioning the future and bridging to the present
HOW 2 Tools
Signals
Slow Hunches
Slow Hunch Jam
Round 1 – Jam, Report, Break
Round 2 – Jam, Reflect
SO WHAT?
WHAT’S NEXT
About me
Health nerd
AB Molecular Biology, MS Cell and Developmental Biology;
Clinical and academic laboratory science – sequencing, diagnostics, automation
Healthcare market research
Formally trained facilitator
Technology of Participation (ToP)
Liberating Structures
Sustained Dialogue
Foresight (Institute for the Future; Future Today Institute)
Student
Executive MBA (May 2020)
Grantmaker
Innovation and technology
Health equity
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Our aim: Improving the health and well-being
of all in America
What is a Culture of Health?
Our Home State: NJ
Our Home State: NJ
Now Future
Animation of Circuit Design browser game from https://www.freegameplanet.com/circuit-design-browser-game/
North Star vector: https://pixabay.com/vectors/belen-star-star-christmas-1837569/
Our Challenge: Filling the gap between now and the future
? measures and metrics community needs
and norms local resources
Pioneer: Looking to the future to build a Culture of Health
“A Culture of Health is a bold vision, demanding
equally bold ideas to help us bring this vision to
life.”
RWJF.org
Image credit: (clockwise from the top) markernurse.com; Pexels.com user -
rawpexel.com; dataandsociety.net
WHAT
HOW Cataloguing signals
Slow Hunches
So WHAT?
WHAT’s Next? RWJF grantmaking
Exciting trends
Featured grantees
3 criteria:
1. SPECIFIC – AI =/= AlphaGo beats world champion
2. CURRENT – (18 mos.)
3. COMPELLING – sparks emotion or reaction
Signals: a definition
“A signal is a small or local innovation with the
, or scale up in size
or geography. Foresight Toolkit – Institute for the Future
Signals: an non-example
Not a SIGNAL: voice assistants
Image credit: geeksfl.com
Signals: an example
Signals: an example
SIGNAL: “Alexa! Play ‘Baby Shark” WHAT? Toddler asks Alexa, Amazon’s voice assistant and home
device, over and over to play a hit song, frustrated that it can’t
understand.
SO WHAT? Children are interacting more with responsive
technologies during developmental years. This may influence their
social relationships and behaviors, long-term mindsets and beliefs
about technology and inanimate objects, and their speech
development.
SOURCE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzfBedGaIjU
(Oct 2018)
Slow Hunch: a definition
Slow Hunch: key points
Space fosters creativity and collaboration
Physical space
Figurative space
Transformative ideas don’t come in an “ah-ha” moment
Great ideas take time
Transformative ideas need collision and collaboration
Hunches need each other to become a full idea
Sharing signals hunches and signals are important for team building and sense-
making
Slow Hunch: key points
Space fosters creativity and collaboration
Physical space
Figurative space
Transformative ideas don’t come in an “ah-ha” moment
Great ideas take time
Transformative ideas need collision and collaboration
Hunches need each other to become a full idea
Sharing signals hunches and signals are important for team building and sense-
making
Slow Hunch: key points
Space fosters creativity and collaboration
Physical space
Figurative space
Transformative ideas don’t come in an “ah-ha” moment
Great ideas take time
Transformative ideas need collision and collaboration
Hunches need each other to become a full idea
Sharing signals hunches and signals are important for team building and sense-
making
Slow Hunch: The Jam
• React/add new info to “in play” signals
• Share a related signal
• Share a different signal
• React /add new info to “in play” signals
• Share a related signal
• Share a different signal
• React/add new info
• Share a related signal
• Share a different signal*
• Shares a signal
Person 1
Person 2
Person 3
Person 4
ROUND 2
ROUND 1
Practice seeking and
sharing signals
Strengthen signals
ID 1-2 compelling signals
Get good at hunching
Document “AH-HA”s
Note next steps
Slow Hunch Jam: Ground Rules
BE OPEN focus on possibilities not constraints
BE CURIOUS Ask questions, get clarification
TAKE NOTE(S) write down your “ah-ha”s, point to research
or follow-ups; take note of how you feel during the experience – is
this easy? hard? exciting? nerve-wracking?
HAVE FUN!
ROUND 2
ROUND 1
Practice seeking and
sharing signals
Strengthen signals
ID 1-2 compelling signals
Get good at hunching
Document “AH-HA”s
Note next steps
So WHAT?
WHAT’s Next?
HOW Cataloguing signals
Slow Hunches Jam
“Foresight is not about predicting the
future…Instead,
: positive futures, negative
futures, weird futures, and amazing futures.”
Foresight Toolkit Introduction – Institute for the Future
“[Understanding t]he requires
us to look at the .”
Futures Workshop (Dec 2017) – Future Today Institute
Future Future Future Future
SEE MANY FUTURES instead of focuses on one (or none)
Foresight and the future
DEFINE YOUR PREFERRED FUTURE in imaginative but grounded ways
PLAN AND TAKE ACTION together
Now Preferred Future
Signals tune your brain to the future
Signals tune your brain to the future
The Case for Signals
Signals help overcome
cognitive and psychological
biases and limitations
Source: slate.com, Apr 2017 - Photo by tommasolizzul/Thinkstock.
Signals tune your brain to the future
The Case for Signals
Signals help overcome
cognitive and psychological
biases and limitations
Source: The Atlantic, Nov 2017 - Olivia ZZ / Getty Images
Signals tune your brain to the future
The Case for Signals
Signals help overcome
cognitive and psychological
biases and limitations
Signals help overcome the
Paradox of the Present
CURTISS “AUTOPLANE” 1917
Image: Wikimedia Commons
Signals tune your brain to the future
The Case for Signals
Signals help overcome
cognitive and psychological
biases and limitations
Signals help overcome the
Paradox of the Present
JESS DIXON in his flying automobile c1940
Image: flickr user floridamemory
Signals tune your brain to the future
The Case for Signals
Signals help overcome
cognitive and psychological
biases and limitations
Signals help overcome the
Paradox of the Present
TAYLOR AEROCAR 1954
Image: smithsoniaN.com (originally listed on hemmings.com)
Signals tune your brain to the future
The Case for Signals
Signals help overcome
cognitive and psychological
biases and limitations
Signals help overcome the
Paradox of the Present
UNCREDITED 1973
Image: Future Today Institute Foresight Workshop Presentation, Dec 2017
Signals tune your brain to the future
The Case for Signals
Signals help overcome
cognitive and psychological
biases and limitations
Signals help overcome the
Paradox of the Present
PAL-V LIBERTY 2018
Image: Wikimedia Commons
Signals tune your brain to the future
The Case for Signals
Signals help overcome
cognitive and psychological
biases and limitations
Signals help overcome the
Paradox of the Present
Image: Wikipedia
Signals tune your brain to the future
The Case for Signals
Signals help overcome
cognitive and psychological
biases and limitations
Signals help overcome the
Paradox of the Present
Source: theverge.com
Ignoring signals can be our downfall
The Case for Signals
Signals help overcome
cognitive and psychological
biases and limitations
Signals help overcome the
Paradox of the Present
Capture emerging
phenomena before a trend
is obvious
Provide grounded detail
about novel information
Help us assess
broader patterns
Take action more quickly
Source: theverge.com
Now Future
Better manage and understand current information
Help overcome tunnel vision; seek and organize new information without overwhelm
Signals can reveal gaps in current knowledge, suggesting key next steps
Illuminate possible futures
Overcome brain-based barriers
Evidence of the future in the present
Signals: tackling key challenges at the ends of the spectrum
Future
?
Future Future Future Future
Using foresight to chart the course
Now Preferred Future
opportunities and challenges on the path
gaps in evidence
immediate next steps
clarity
imagine many possibilities
What’s Next?
START CATALOGUING SIGNALS individually and in
teams
What’s Next?
START CATALOGUING SIGNALS individually and in
teams
44
Moving signals into action
What’s Next?
START CATALOGUING SIGNALS individually and in
teams
HAVE A SLOW HUNCH JAM put your heads together to
incubate partial ideas and make sense of new information
What’s Next?
What’s Next?
START CATALOGUING SIGNALS individually and in
teams
HAVE A SLOW HUNCH JAM put your heads together to
incubate partial ideas and make sense of new information
“PAINT” A VIVID PICTURE OF YOUR FUTURE COMMUNITY define who and what are there. Consider other
possible parallel futures.
Thank You!
The Future of Work A Case Study in Slow Hunching and Signal Watching
source: Intuit Contingent Workforce Forecast 2015
LEADERSHIP FOR
BETTER HEALTH
THE ROLE OF BUSINESS IN
WORKER HEALTH
HEALTHY CHILDREN
AND FAMILIES
CHILD CARE
TRANSFORMING
HEALTH SYSTEMS
HEALTH BENEFITS AND
ACCESS TO CARE
Well-being in the Gig Economy
source: pixabay user mohamed_hassan
“I’ve been in situations where I went
to the person’s house, text, called,
rung the bell…nobody responded.
I still have to wait in the rain, sleet,
snow for 30 minutes…
…it’s uncomfortable because I am
black and I do be in a lot of rich areas
and I stand out, so I don’t like to be
in that situation…
…I do tell Handy like ‘listen, I don’t
feel comfortable staying in this area’,
and I will leave. Sometimes I don’t get
paid for that and I don’t think that is
fair.”
Well-being in and the Future of Work
Resources
• Foresight and Futurism
• Institute for the Future (IFTF)
• Future Today Institute*
• For finding signals
• Data & Society Research Institute’s Points blog
• Fast Company
• NYTimes
• WIRED
• Medium
• For a baseline
• RWJF County Health Rankings Report