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I read \u2018the tyranny of recipes<\/a>\u2019, an article in Prospect magazine the other day that really resonated with me. In the article, the author explains how our increased reliance on recipes has impaired the intrinsic development of judgment \u2013 he argues, that we\u2019ve lost trust in our own ability to understand and know what is working in the kitchen \u2013 and I think this analogy transcends this particular context.<\/p>\n The author writes \u2026 \u201cOur tendency to describe courses of action as \u201crecipes\u201d or \u201cformulas\u201d suggests we believe problems are best solved by following step-by-step procedures that lead to guaranteed results. I think there is something deeply problematic in this \u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n I tend to agree with him \u2013 and it got me thinking about my own work in social services. We see ourselves [at IRISS] as facilitators of others\u2019 creativity; we try to create safe and reflective spaces to encourage people to try things out, to have a go, and to see what happens. Time and time again we come up across the same old barriers in that people want to know what the outcome will be, by when and for whom. When we work together to co-design or co-produce the outcomes much of this cannot be known at the outset \u2013 because we are not following a prescriptive path. We do use a variety of processes (of course!) but these tend to be very flexible to allow for what might emerge in conversation and practice.<\/p>\n So, how can we revive the art of practical wisdom? It will likely demand that people who are supported by services, practitioners and those in senior management have a certain type of mindset which is comfortable with ambiguity (i.e. there is not a set \u2018way\u2019 to do things) and that is not afraid of failure\u00a0 (i.e. we will get things wrong, but in the process of figuring things out, we\u2019ll try to minimize this risk by working alongside you).<\/p>\n