7 questions and a recommendation: Dorte Bukdahl
Dorte Bukdahl is co-author of the book Wild Problems and wrote the chapter "Solving wild problems locally". We talk to Bukdahl about the insights in her contribution to the book - and took the opportunity to ask for answers to a few questions about society's wild problems.
- You argue that wild problems should be solved locally - why?
Wild problems are characterized by being unpredictable. Just because something works in one context does not mean it will work in another. Context is crucial to problem solving, which is why there is a need to create learning processes together with local actors and citizens. Solutions must be adapted to the local culture and organization as well as the motivation and needs of individual citizens. It has to happen locally.
FACT: Dorte Bukdahl is a Partner in Mobilize Strategy Consultingwhere she works with tackling wild problems in the welfare society. She has previously been Head of Analysis at KL, Head of Office at the City of Copenhagen's Social Administration and Head of a knowledge center for social economy.
- When working with wild problems, you prefer 'ingredients' and 'principles' - what's wrong with manuals?
Detailed manuals can be good enough when it comes to tame problems. For an appendectomy, following a manual is pretty good. But when it comes to wild problems, you need to be creative to find good local solutions. At the same time, giving employees, citizens and partners room for maneuver to creatively design their own local efforts is a powerful force in its own right. This creates ownership and commitment. The manuals also stand in the way of the professionals' creative room for maneuver in the meeting with the citizen.
But I'm not arguing for free play either. We need to stand on a foundation of research and the experience of others. Ingredients and principles are a middle ground. They are knowledge in a generalized form that needs to be translated locally. They provide room for creativity and judgment.
"My hope is that INVI can be a player that can contribute more wisdom - but it requires you to consistently reach out to practitioners with dirt under their nails," says Dorte Bukdahl
- What should you be aware of when trying to transfer the solution of one wild problem to the solution of another?
Here we can look for generalized ingredients that have the potential to create value for different target groups and in different contexts. An ingredient such as 'meaningful communities' is useful in primary schools, job centers and the elderly. Communities mean something different in the three places, but there can still be good inspiration across the board.
- How do you prevent local efforts from becoming fragmented and short-term?
Firstly, it is crucial that local development projects feed into a future transformation of the organization of which they are a part. Unfortunately, we see a lot of project-making - both in the public sector and in civil society - where funds are allocated to one-off initiatives for limited target groups for a limited period of time. Often the value creation here remains limited. Organizations must have a strategic ambition that projects will eventually transform the larger system - if they produce good results. This means that management needs to follow development projects closely and prioritize bringing them into play on a larger scale.
Secondly, it's about creating an infrastructure across organizations and sectors where good experiences are spread more systematically. There is also potential to mobilize practical knowledge across initiatives and organizations to become a common voice for systemic change. For example, there is potential for the municipalities, companies and civil society organizations that are furthest along in rethinking employment initiatives to join forces to influence a reform in this area.
- What's the toughest problem you've faced in your work? How did you tackle it?
In the City of Copenhagen's Social Services Department, I was head of a staff office and responsible for the "Citizen's Plan" project, which meant that there should be one overall plan for the citizen rather than many. It was a huge project, and it was also the CEO's signature project. There was a brief period of enthusiasm, but then it became difficult and there was a lot of resistance and skepticism in the organization.
After a few years, we slowly started to succeed. A key move was to shift responsibility from my staff office to the individual citizen center managers - in other words, to the line managers who could better hold their respective parts of the organization accountable. And time was a friend - we slowly created learning through iterative development processes. The management was also always clear that this was something we wanted in the administration.
It was a very educational process, but also a tough task where I was caught between an executive board and a large organization. I have subsequently used it as a form of therapy to write about my good and not so good experiences from my time in the municipality in the book "Gode løsninger på svære sociale problemer" (2021). Incidentally, it's also a book about wild problems.
- What wild problem are you particularly concerned with at the moment - and why?
Too many young people are not finding their way to jobs, education and communities. I spend part of my time in the secretariat of the partnership En Vej til Alle, which is concerned with this very challenge. It's part of my work, but it's also a problem I care deeply about as a person.
It's a big topic, and A Road for All is an ambitious and long-term project. We look 10 years into the future. We have mobilized 40 organizations in a Change Coalition. Right now, we are mobilizing a number of foundations to jointly prioritize the task, and we are forming a number of development platforms around some more specific themes/leading stars that the coalition members can rally around.
- What gives you hope and belief that we can solve society's wild problems?
It gives me hope that we are starting to have a conversation about the wild problems. There is a lower degree of management optimism than when I became head of the City of Copenhagen 12 years ago. At least in the municipalities. I have my doubts about how much the Danish Parliament and central administration have moved on. There are good signs in the government's ambitions for liberalization, but we have yet to see how it will unfold.
My hope is that INVI can be a player that can contribute more wisdom - but that requires you to consistently reach out to practitioners with dirt under their nails. Sigge has done that with the book. And you are also in the process of creating a practitioner panel. But maybe you should mix researchers and practitioners? And could you also contribute to a dialog between policy development and practice? I hope that you will prioritize the conversation with the people who experience the challenges of the welfare society up close - frontline employees, line managers, municipal directors, leaders and employees in civil society and the private sector, and not least young people and adults in vulnerable positions. Use them not as informants, but as co-creators of ways to tackle the wild problems.
And a recommendation...
- What inspires you at the moment that others working with wild issues could benefit from?
I collect "heroes" who are leading the way in creating a better welfare society. One person I'd like to highlight is Christoffer Hansen, who is the head of PLAY - a social economy company that works with innovative and sustainable social solutions for vulnerable children and young people. Christoffer and his colleagues are helping to rethink social pedagogy in Denmark, and they generously share their knowledge. Previously, Christoffer helped build the Sports Project in the City of Copenhagen, which continues to be a center for social entrepreneurship in the municipality. Another is Anna Fjeldsted, former Chief Psychologist at the Rockwool Foundation's Intervention Unit, who is now a consultant and partner at Inpraxis. She has been a great inspiration in the development of my understanding of working with principles and ingredients, including through her work with the NExTWORK initiative.
A book I return to again and again is Radical Help from 2018 by British social entrepreneur Hilary Cottam. Here she unfolds her experiences of developing 'relational welfare'. She sees relationships as the foundation of the good life. By focusing on relationships in the development of welfare, new opportunities are created, people are supported to learn and live healthy lives, and through relationships, life is created in communities. She writes from the perspective of British society, where welfare is different and more difficult than in Denmark, but her approach is also very meaningful in a Danish context. It is a book that has already inspired many social initiatives in Denmark.
Dorte Bukdahl's four tips for policy entrepreneurs
1.
Invent your own local initiatives - but build on a foundation of effective ingredients derived from both research and practical knowledge. Create initiatives in collaboration with local partners and involve citizens with experience in the process.
2.
Reduce control - and make room for local solutions. But do it in a balanced way - organizations still need a common direction, cross-functional collaboration and responsible financial management. Also, remember that much more can be done within the legal framework than many people think. Embrace local entrepreneurship. Ask for forgiveness if you go too far or make mistakes.
3.
Give power to citizens - initiatives work better when citizens are in the driver's seat of their own lives. Be ambitious - it's not just about involvement, but about a real shift of power to the citizens. But do it in a balanced way, so that research knowledge and professionals' experiences also come into play.
4.
Think of your efforts together with the efforts of others. Create a common voice that has the power to create structural change and spread what works. Create coalitions, networks, portfolios and communities where knowledge flows and cross-fertilization can take place across organizations and initiatives and between research and practice. Come together on ambitious joint missions to solve the big wild welfare challenges.