Complexity has invaded many different fields. We are now faced with rapidly changing circumstances almost wherever we look.

Social labs represent a powerful, innovative and strategic response to complex social challenges.

You are responsible for coming up with a strategic response to a challenge as complex as climate change, child poverty or any change where there needs to be a fundamental change of mind-set.

You may be working in the public, private or non-profit sector. You may be a civil servant or an entrepreneur or work in corporate social responsibility.

Over three days participants will deepen their understanding of both the strategic and the tactical aspects of setting up social labs. This will include framing the business case for labs, setting the challenge, the relationship of scale to the overall strategy of the lab, practical details on the design of social labs, what a “minimal viable social lab” looks like, and more.

At the end of three days, participants will leave with a clear idea of what it takes to design a social lab and how to go about this task. The course will consist of a combination of small group and plenary work, with many opportunities for peer learning. Participants will work in small groups to apply learning to their own challenges. This course is particularly suited to teams who are seeking a strategy for addressing a real-world problem that they are currently working on.

Register for How to Design a Social Lab

What will you learn?

• An in-depth explanation of what social labs are
• How to get a social lab off the ground
• How to make the business case for social labs
• How to put in place pre-conditions for success
• How to correctly frame the challenge you want to address
• How best to constitute a lab team
• What core capacities or "muscles" are required to run a Lab
• How to design a lab process
• What a “minimum viable” social lab looks like
• How to design labs for multiple scales (from mini-labs to mega-labs)
• How to create the right structures to support your lab 
• An understanding of the top ten most common errors in setting up labs

Details

Small org (1-10 Employees) registration - $1,149 per person
Large org (11+ Employees) - $1,649 per person

Room & Board NOT Included (this is not a residential course)

Please note, the course duration is 3 days, and price is per person.

Day 1 - 28th July: 0900 - 1730
Day 2 - 29th July: 0900 - 1730
Day 3 - TBD (Delivered via webinar)

Facilitated by Zaid Hassan in collaboration with .commUNITY

Zaid is a strategist, writer and facilitator.

Zaid is the co-founder of Reos Partners, where he served as Managing Partner of the Oxford office from 2007-2014. Reos Partners is a social innovation consultancy that addresses complex, high-stakes challenges around the world. Reos helps teams of stakeholders work together on their toughest challenges.

Zaid has over a decade of experience in developing strategic responses to complex social challenges, including community development, climate change, child malnutrition, employment, energy, financial systems, global food systems, and security issues. His clients have included organisations as diverse as The World Bank, The UN Foundation, various governments, as well as Oxfam, WWF and many more...