How are the colours where you are? Have the leaves started changing yet? Or, if you’re in the South, are things getting greener? Autumn is a season when change is everywhere - a good metaphor for our times.
Welcome readers to the latest Censemaking Innovation Newsletter. You may have noticed that we’ve been adapting the format lately and want to welcome you to the new home of the newsletter. The aim, as always, is to be of service and make things fresh and exciting by helping you learn the art and science of change-making in the time it takes to have a coffee break.
Just like the seasons, change is afoot.
Thanks for coming along with me. - Cameron
Coffee Talk
This week’s coffee talk is about technology. Not the new iPhone, Elon Musk’s latest thing, or EVs, but tools for creating and connecting. Specifically, Substack: Censemaking’s new home. Why did I make the switch?
It is designed for writers and readers. A means to provide valuable tools and content in creative ways tailored to your needs.
More opportunities for readers to comment, share and learn from others (not just me). It connects to an ecosystem of learning - creators, content, and artists.
Enhanced accessibility. The web, apps, audio, and podcasts are all tools — they improve usefulness and usability. It will also provide a far better archive. Your privacy continues to be protected.
Substack allows me to engage with you in different ways, providing more value in meeting your learning needs and offering you options (with your consent, of course - no spamming or unwanted feature-adding.)
The Substack brand uses the same colours as Censemaking 😃 (just kidding, although that is a nice coincidence).
Censemaking has always strived to be like a coffeehouse for innovation; this shift is the latest iteration (add ice coffees, expand tea selections, and offer oat milk with the usual beverages you love). You don’t need to do anything. The newsletter will continue to come straight to your inbox and is now back to a regular publishing schedule.
Thanks for spending your coffee break with me and Censemaking.
Now, let’s get things brewing.
"What goes best with a cup of coffee? Another cup." - Henry Rollins
Change By Design: Making and Creating
The London Design Festival just wrapped up, and one of the highlights was the Green Grads program. This initiative connects new designers to causes and opportunities to showcase innovative ways to enhance sustainability.
Speaking of the UK, the Design Council UK is hosting its 2023 Design for Planet Festival from 17–18 October at the University of East Anglia. It’s available online and in-person, bringing sustainability, circular design, and innovation together.
The remarkable Samuel Salzer from Habit Weekly has compiled a list of the best online courses on Behavioural Design, including courses in Behavioural Economics, Behavioural Science, Gamification, and Digital Psychology.
Environmental pop. Coca-Cola is one of the largest distributors of plastic containers, so when it starts looking at making bio-plastics, it can have a big deal. Design Week profiles how the makers of Coke are looking to reduce their reliance on plastic.
"Coffee first. Schemes later." - Leanna Renee Hieber
Behavioural Science & Change|Making
The latest issue of the Behavioural Economics Guide has been published, looking at the newest research and methods for change design.
I’m enjoying Brad Stulberg’s newest book, Master of Change. It’s a different take on a topic explored widely but often not well.
In the book, Stulberg speaks to how we use the concept of homeostasis to reflect change when really allostasis is more relevant. I look at allostatic change and why it matters in a recent Censemaking blog post.
Adam Grant has a new book, too. It’s called Hidden Potential and looks at how growth is not about the genius you possess but the character you develop. His latest Substack post looks at how our language supports (or hinders) growth with children.
The ADKAR framework (Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, Reinforcement) is widely used in change management. If you want to lead using this framework, Al Lee-Bourke has ten tips for leaders to help integrate this approach into practice.
"Life happens, coffee helps." - Unknown
Impact and Value
Censemaking (the Website) is starting up a new methods series that begins with looking at the foundation of understanding our impact: evaluative thinking.
Corey Newhouse, founder of Public Profit, explores the intersection of values and evaluation in the nonprofit sector. With host Alexandra Mannerings, they delve into the role of values in shaping evaluation questions and data collection methods.
Michael Scriven passed away in August at the age of 95. He was one of the greatest advocates and impactful scholars in the field of Evaluation. Michael Quinn Patton offers a touching, informative video tribute to Scriven’s life and work.
Chris Lysy has been leading the field in how to do evaluation reporting better and do it with better design, humour, and clarity. His latest blog post offers a place to start.
The Design Loft was an experimental, innovative feature of the annual in-person American Evaluation Association conferences. Now? It’s a course and design resource that comes to your inbox.
"Coffee: because it's difficult to start a revolution on an empty stomach." - Unknown
Look and Listen: Podcasts & Videos
Geoff Wilson’s path-breaking, mind-expanding podcast series The Parables of is returning for another season. Just as he has with plant medicine, Geoff is going deep into the power of breathwork as a vehicle for change. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts or link here.
Are you an educator, systems thinker, or home-schooler and concerned about how we create a future we want? Matt Keene has a newsletter and a video series dedicated to exploring ways to use evaluative thinking, complexity science, and progressive and innovative education methods to grow learning opportunities.
Thanks for reading! Until our next coffee break or tea time…