Blogs

National Co-production Week Blog: Curiosity

Curiosity. Apparently it killed a cat. It’s also an important missing ingredient in the way we interact with the world and with one another.

By Hannah Thornton · July 3, 2017

Curiosity. Apparently it killed a cat. It’s also an important missing ingredient in the way we interact with the world and with one another.

We don’t wonder how the person scanning our shopping is feeling today. We don’t wonder if our neighbour needs help with their garden. We don’t wonder what the person sitting across from us would tell us if we gave them a minute of our time.

Our uncurious minds create a world deficient in compassion and understanding. Without wondering, we either assume we know, or we show that we don’t care. Without curiosity, we’re either arrogant or cold-hearted.

However, there’s a countermovement at play reclaiming curiosity. It takes a hundred different forms and it carries a hundred different definitions. We hear people talk about co-production, co-design, co-creation but don’t let the semantics distract from the principle. At its heart, there’s a movement towards greater curiosity.

This movement has the potential to lead us to a future of humility and warmth, one where conversations and compassion take centre stage in defining public services. Where we need not wonder about the shop assistant, or our neighbours because we’ve found and embraced our curiosity, paired it with an ounce of courage and acted.

Through curious collaboration, we have the potential to go places together we are simply not capable of getting to alone. With curiosity we are human. We hold our arms open to new people, new ideas and new possibilities.

Happy National Co-production Week. Let’s work with insatiable curiosity.

Ruby Smith
Head of Co-Design and Improvement at South Yorkshire Housing Association