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What is futures thinking, and how can it help us to reimagine government?

At the Centre for Public Impact, our vision is to reimagine government so it works better for everyone. Much of our work as a learning partner in Australia supports governments trying to think more systematically, work more relationally, and embrace the challenges of the complexity they work within. But, as with any vision, it’s sometimes necessary to step back and make space to take in the bigger picture. We must stay curious about why things are the way they are and expand our sense of possibility around what we hope government could become.

To help us and our Community of Practice engage in the more future-oriented aspects of reimagining government, we were lucky to be hosted by Amanda Reeves, a consulting Futurist and facilitator, as she took us through ‘ridiculous at first futures.’ This lunchtime activity was a guided journey out of the safe harbour of what seems probable, and an invitation into the more wild waters of futures that seem preposterous… at first.

What we think is true about governments today

In our session, Amanda took us through an activity based on the game “100 ways anything could be different in the future” by Jane McGonigal. Amanda invited us to write down a list of 100 things that are true today about how governments work (or don’t work) across our different regions, which spanned Australia, New Zealand, and the US.

The list of what participants wrote down as true included empirically evident things like the government being funded by taxes, elected through voting, and having standard work hours. But it wasn’t surprising that many of the truths shared were based heavily on values. They saw government as slow, centralised, top-down, holding power and control, hierarchical, and siloed. Many even described it as outdated, based on flawed models, and unfit for purpose.

The groups observed that taxpayers weren’t involved as much as lobbyists, business interests were put above community needs, and people within governments didn’t represent the diversity of the communities they were meant to serve. Additionally, governments were described as opaque and complex. While they have heaps of responsibility, they are short on skills and staff and rely heavily on contractors and consultants.

Themes about the negative effects of political pressures, election cycles, the news media, and growing distrust were common. But the biggest theme was the lack of innovation and an abundance of risk aversion, inertia, and inaction.

Flipping the facts

None of these answers were shocking or new, but seeing so many disillusioned takes on the current state of government was disheartening. However, grappling with these truths was the first step in a more ambitious and imaginative adventure: we then had to flip the facts. For each thing we had written down, we now had to offer an alternative that was the opposite of that – even if it seemed ridiculous.

Suddenly, we were discussing a government that used no money and what a world with less government, no governments, and even flat governments would look like. We considered how decision-making might change if leaders were randomly selected and everyone had a turn to serve. The conversation asked how the government might become kind, creative, and worthy of being celebrated by an engaged, informed, and active citizenry. We even questioned how to share responsibility and control, wondered what the opposite of a colonial system might be, and sat with the emerging paradoxes and tensions in a playful and expansive way.

In contrast with the heaviness of the first list, this second list felt fun but almost impossible. Some felt easy to dismiss, like a moneyless government, wholly privatised education, and a few proposals drifting towards anarchy. Others felt too far from the current reality. A kind government? Universal basic income? Transparent services with prompt replies, proactive staff, and digital platforms that are cyber secure and agile? Dream on!

Finding the weak signals

The final part of our session was an investigative task, using the internet to see if we could find examples of the flipped facts. It turns out these seemingly preposterous ideas weren’t just dreams. As Amanda had foreshadowed, there are already ways in which alternate and radically different future possibilities are already present; all we have to do is look for them. Here are some examples we found:

Diversity in government

Honouring feminine ways of knowing and being may sound like a big ask, and a government made predominantly out of women and marginalised people could currently seem preposterous. But, one group found heaps of weak signals about:

Kindness

The disillusionment and antagonistic vibe of politics today emerged in our discussion, prompting an exploration into what a more kind government might entail. We found:

Decentralisation

What would a less defined and unstructured government look like? We found examples and discussions about:

Governing for good

Looking at the diverse ways government might work resulted in a discussion about participatory democracy and changing accountabilities. We found resources around:

Misinformation

A common theme was mistrust, and one of the flipped facts prompted an investigation into what a more informed and critical citizenry looks like. We found:

Future forwards

By the end of the session, the list of ‘truths’ from the beginning only felt like part of the story. There is so much more innovation, curiosity, efforts toward equity, and future-focused policy efforts than we initially presumed.

Along with this more optimistic view of our present state came the realisation that futures that felt unachievable and preposterous are, in small ways, already becoming possible. With enough energy and effort, who knows how many of these incredible examples could be things we list as ‘taken-for-granted truths’ in another few years?

So, the next time you’re feeling stuck or want to push yourself creatively to think about the future, we’d encourage you to:

    1. Recount what you think you know

    1. Flip the facts and come up with the most preposterous futures you can imagine

    1. Look out for weak signals and ways to help welcome the futures you want to be part of.

If you’re interested in exploring the possible and improbable futures around your areas of interest, you can learn more about Amanda’s work and training at Wabi Sabi Futures

We’d like to thank everyone from the Community of Practice who joined and helped to flip the facts and find weak signals of a reimagined government.