Building Shared Values
Building bridges and connections outside the academic ivory tower.
Inspired by the Civic Laboratory for Environmental Action Research’s 'CLEAR Lab Book' - a manual for working well within collaborative research projects - the After the Single Use team came together to explore our personal values and expectations for our project and to map our shared project values together.
With each of these discussion topics representing worthwhile but potentially knotty spaces for exploration, we reached for the LEGO®, unleashing our creativity and removing some of the pressure on individuals sharing their experiences in the session.
Drawing on the LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® method, which aims to prompt dialogue and encourage reflection and rich discussion, we worked through four “builds” which took colleagues from articulating their own personal values to exploring what these might look like in practice as part of our own project.
Kindness, joy, love, collaboration, diversity, inclusion, safety, balance, solidarity, learning, justice, integrity, adventure, playfulness, diligence, strength – underpinning the project are the people who embody it and whose values and expectations shape its activity and determine its direction.
Key Metaphors
Throughout the four builds, three key metaphors reflected colleagues’ early aspirations for the project.
1. Bridges – Building safe, unexpected connections
The LEGO® bridges built by our team connected researchers with each other as well as with healthcare practitioners, industries, and NGOs, providing a way out of the ivory tower and adding colour and liveliness to a landscape painted academic grey. They also provided a means to connect personal with professional, creating balance and overcoming preconceptions of what ‘work’ and ‘productivity’ look like. Bridges bring safety and stability but also surprises, sometimes leading to unexpected or unknown places. However, they must be structurally sound – some bridges lead nowhere or fall apart. Attending to these structures is important.
2. Windows – Fostering openness and mutual understanding
Our LEGO® windows reflected both connectivity and openness, providing a view into unknown spaces and alternative perspectives. Their transparency allowed for two-way flows, translating knowledge from one form to another for multiple audiences and enabling learning, growth, and change.
3. Boats – Navigating uncertainty with bravery and balance
Whilst bridges and windows are static, the metaphor of a boat brought motion and transience to our LEGO® builds. Sailing in response to need, giving and receiving experience and tools, connecting people and anchoring diverse places. By journeying, we can navigate through the unknown and through complexity. However, as every sailor knows, there are risks involved in being on the water, so there is a need to find balance, to be brave and to act carefully.
Acting Shared Values
These are some of the values articulated during our LEGO® play session: Embrace mess. Redefine failure. Have fun. Be creative. Join in. Be kind. Take time to notice. Wander. Meander. Reflect. Be supportive. Care. Listen. Take risks. Celebrate. Be accountable. Be transparent. Support strong, ethical, inclusive leaders within flat hierarchies.
As highlighted by CLEAR Lab’s work, not all values are shared, and not all are positive - some may need to be unlearned. This process involves questioning received wisdom and cultural habits, as well as being humble and willing to learn.
Team members talked about the importance of checking ingrained attitudes, privilege, and individual baggage. Learning when to be quiet and when to speak up. Recognising privilege. Redefining ‘success’ and ‘failure’. We questioned what, and whose, knowledge is shared, how and where? We reflected on when productivity might be negative, what it means to ‘work’ and where this takes place? Many of these discussions questioned assumptions of ‘normal’ and ‘acceptable’ in academic research.
Next Steps
Rather than a neat and tidy output, what was created in this session was a beginning; the start of a conversation about what matters to us as individuals and about how we can shape our project so that it reflects our diverse experiences, knowledges, and perspectives. As we navigate our course, build our bridges, and enjoy the view through the open window, we will continue to explore what our people and values bring to the work that we do in all its beautiful messiness, learning and sharing our insights along the way.
