Pollinis blog • September 2020

Illustration : Roselyne Clément

Power comes not from knowledge kept, but from knowledge shared. (Bill Gates)

We all have in our own way an understanding and a conception of the world around us. Each in our own way, we shape our lives based on our lived experiences and acquired knowledge. When the time comes to make important decisions, we generally seek advice from those around us so that they can enlighten us. This back and forth of ideas is the source of a new opportunity for informed decision making.

In nature, cross-pollination means the transfer of pollen from one flower to another. When this happens, a new type of plant is created, carrying different attributes and allowing species diversity within a given ecosystem.

How is cross-pollination relevant in today’s world, a world where social issues are increasingly complex ?

Cross-pollination can be considered as a lever for discovering, experimenting and proposing together new, innovative solutions to these problems. Human-centered design best practices require interdisciplinary teams. What is important is to be able to make connections, take note of similarities and differences and find inspiration in different areas. This diversity of experiences and opinions, sometimes convergent and sometimes divergent, will be conducive to unleashing the potential of collective intelligence. Amazing ideas can be found in the least expected places if you know how to look for them.

However, it’s not just a matter of putting together different profiles of individuals around the same table. There is also a need to bring together people with in-depth, rather than broad, expertise in their respective disciplines or fields, even though their perspectives may at first glance seem far apart. In the same way, we stress the importance of involving the users of your services, who are the experts who use them. Their points of view, past and present experiences are extremely useful sources of information in a service design process. The aim is to set up participative and collaborative processes involving individuals whose backgrounds reflect a diversity of expertise, experiences and perspectives with a view to jointly building solutions that are not only innovative, but also adapted.

How can we at Pollinis promote this pollination ?

Thanks to our know-how in service design and the many collaborations we cultivate, we will be there to help you create the conditions for the emergence of such solutions. We care that society and organizations evolve in a positive way. Let’s be open, collaborative and committed !