Making change happen isn’t easy. But the right approach makes it possible.

Change is not a linear process. The challenges we are facing are simply too complex and intractable for a single discipline or organisation to address in isolation. However, change is possible with the right approach.

This year, more than ever, we’ve seen the emergence of new approaches, new relationships and new mindsets characterised by a spirit of agile, adaptive and entrepreneurial problem solving and innovation.

Over the last few weeks, the RSA has shared stories, ideas and perspectives from those championing and provoking progress as part of our Living Change series. We heard from Professor Sarah Gilbert, this year’s Albert Medal winner, and from a range of other change makers including Cassie Robertson (deputy Director of funding strategy at the National Lottery Community Fund), Ruth Ibegbuna (Founding CEO of RECLAIM) and Kaisa Heino (Deputy Mayor of Imatro, Finland) who, in our opening event, met to discuss and share their experiences, insights and lessons learned over the last year.

We’ve released new research on the future of our communities, and shared ways of cutting down the level of plastics in our environment as well as looking at new ways of developing skills for the rapidly changing workplace, an existing need made even more important by the impact of the pandemic.

We also heard from some of our Fellows about the importance of embracing and facilitating change in response to the demands of the world around them including how the social enterprise, Liberty Kitchen, pivoted rapidly in order to survive as well as how the recent disruption of education provides an opportunity to re-imagine schooling.

There’s also a specially curated RSA Living Change playlist which will let you catch up on some of our top events featuring fascinating people, ideas and examples of change which you may have missed. Do take a look; they’re well worth watching.

Throughout the Living Change series we have sought to highlight organisations and individuals which embody the evolutionary RSA approach of harnessing knowledge, reaching out to others, innovating and experimenting, showing what change can be, building alliances, seeing possibilities and focusing on big collective goals.

As Joanna Choukeir, the RSA’s Director of Design and Innovation, discussed in her blog, this approach allows us to think like a system and act like an entrepreneur. It’s our proven, multidisciplinary way of bringing together our insights, research, tools and practices, alongside our global network of 30,000 problem-solvers to support social changemakers.  

And our mission doesn’t end here. Going forward, we’ll be continuing to platform new initiatives, investigate social injustices and explore new ways of doing things.

To find out more about how you can make change happen in your life, organisation or community then download the RSA Future Change Framework, a free toolkit to help you get started.

The RSA has been at the forefront of societal change for over 250 years – our proven Living Change Approach, and global network of 30,000 problem-solvers enables us to unite people and ideas to understand the challenges of our time and realise lasting change.

Make change happen. Find out more about our approach. #RSAchange