How can people effectively work toward a better world? Many groups and individuals have specific ideas about what a better world would look like. This article is about proven principles that anyone can use to help close the gap between the world as it is and the world as it could be. Improving society will work better if we can think systematically and rationally about what the issue is and about how to take effective action.

Analyze the Issue:

Break down a problem or issue into its component parts and understadn how they relate? You probably have some idea how to do that. Still, you might learn a thing or two from this post. The best way to attack a social problem is always to begin from a point of understanding the problem and its context.

Here are a few tips:

1. Figure out what data is relevant to the issue. Go and get whatever data is still missing.

2. Know the difference between causation, association, and influence. If two things seem to go together, there are two possible reasons. Perhaps those two things just happen to occur at around the same or in the same area. Perhaps one causes the other. There are almost always other factors in play. A doesn't cause B in some sort of social vacuum. B, and perhaps A as well, are always caused by C and D, and maybe E and F as well.

3. Think about factors in the social environment that might influence the existence or severity of the problem in question. Politics, public opinion, economic conditions, and technology are ususally related in

some small way to the problem in question.A workable solution to a problem is always going to depend on cultural, economic, political, and technological factors in the environment.

4. Look for statistics that reveal trends, patterns, or associations. What seems to go along with the existence of your problem? Has reearch revealed any connection?

Values:

We all have values that we hope to see realized in society. Promoting one's values might a person to vote for a candidate who opposes gay marriage. Another persons might be offended by a racy music video.

Other people might become involved with an activist group organized to fight for or against something. Activists want to see their values realized in our social institutions. This is one of the reasons for activism

to exist! Some activists fight for legal recognition for same-sex unions. Other activists push for more money for science education. Both groups of activists are operating on a foundation of one or more values. In the first case, the relevant value is family. In the second case, learning is the driving value.

A few questions about the values underlying any activist effort need to be asked. Does what you are doing really advance the value in question? In the case of advocating for better science education the answer is obvious. What about the case of expanding the definition of marriage to include same-sex couples? Is the value of family being advanced or undermined? The answer depends on whom you ask

Another seeminly worthy cause is a campaign to provide 100% health insurance coverage for children in the United States. This cause supports the health of children and health is a very important value.Yes, but health insurance issue isn't about health, it is about insurance. People only need insurance (or cash or credit) when something bad happens! Maybe public money could be better spendt on preventive measures like new regulations or education programs. Maybe advancing the value of health - a worthy thing to do - calls for a different approach.

Design Thinking:

Social innovations have to be designed. The necessary elements have to be recognized and organized

into a social services program or a new way to use technology or whatever. That much should be obvious. This post is about the less obvious elements of design thinking.

Designs intended to improve society, protect the environment, or restore environmental quality also embody values. The specific values will vary and most them will be obvious to anyone involved in social change efforts.

A few other values also need to be considered. Equity, efficiency, simplicity, and and robustness are all broadly applicable design values. How those values are realized in a particular case would be something for the individual "designers" to decide.

All clients or potential clients need to be treated uniformly, or equitably. A program can fairly target a certain group, pregnant teens or condo developers for example. A social service agency can focus on serving one type of client, such as pregnant inner-city teens in neighborhoods that are mostly black. It is not acceptable to specifically exclude specific types of people - "Sorry, we only serve black inner-city girls. Maybe there's somewhere else you can go."

Effectiveness is a critical value in social betterment efforts. What degree or type of change do you want to achieve? How will you know if you are succedding according ot that standard? There is simply no excuse for continuing to do something "good" because it is a good thing to do.

Resilience is important. What happens if you raise a little less money than anticipated. Will the program fall apart because there is no slack in the budget? What if the program depends on having X number of volunteer hours each month? What if you lose a key staff member? No single "failure" in the system should bring the program to a halt.

You can learn more about design thinking in Edward De Bono's New Thinking for the New Millenium, particularly in the second part of the book where De Bono describes design operations and design values.

Strategic Thinking:

Strategic thinking should be the norm for anyone interested in making society better. What's the long-term goal? Make the goal a SMART one - specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely.

Stopping climate change is not a SMART goal. Climate change is not something we can control by cutting greenhouse gas emissions or finding a way to scrub carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. The goal of stopping climate change also has other problems:

1. It is not Specific. What does stopping climate change really mean? People shouldn't have to guess.

2. It is not Realistic - the technical and political means to stop climate change are not available

3. It is not Timely - When do you we want to achieve the goal? Who knows!

At least "stopping climate change" is a Measurable goal.

No social change goal can be achieved in one big step. There have to be lots of smaller steps built into the plan. What are your objectives? If you aren't sure what your objectives should be, try working backward from the SMART goal. What objective has to be reached just before the goal is reached? What objective has to be achieved just before that objective?

Consider studying some formal methods for planning. Businesses and nonprofits often use something called SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis to plan. Organizations also use something called scenario building to plan for the future. It would be silly to try and explain the methods here. Whole books on strategic planning methods have been written. Do a search on that sbject at Amazon.com or at a large library.

Leverage:

All activists, and any other concerned citizens, naturally want policies, programs, or projects to be as successful as possible. A good case could be made for finding a "lever" to use on the problem of gun violence. The lever will give more results for a given level of effort. Not all levels will be equal. The trick is to find the right lever.

A real-world example of using leverage on a problem will help to illustrate a process anyone could copy.

Jeffrey Sachs, in The End of Poverty, examined evidence about the root causes of persistent poverty in much of Africa. Many explanations for Africa's persistent poverty exist. Sachs chose to focus on disease. This focus leads to the obvious question" What common diseases contribute disporportionately to poverty in Africa? Sachs argues that malaria is an even bigger drain on Africa's financial and human resources.

So, what is to be done about malaria in Africa? What project or program would have the most impact on rates of malaria infections? That program would give us maximum leverage in fighting poverty in Africa.

The preceding example suggests that finding a point of leverage can be done as follows:

1. Specify the problem that you want to address - you probably did this already

2. Identify general factors that seem to contribute to the problem in question

3. Identify specific, narrow factors within whichever factor or factor seems especially important

4. Determine the relative impact of each specific factor

5. Pick the specific factor that (ideally at least) contributes the most to the problem

6. Devise a strategy for mitigating that factor, one that is safe and realistic.

Anyone who wants to solve a social problem, or simply see others solve it could benefit from employing some fundamental elements of effective thinking. Analytical thinking leads to a better understanding of the problem. Values thinking makes it easier to see how common values could be supported or undermined by a selected solution. Design thinking improves the odds that a solution will really fit into the social environment. Strategic thinking enables the setting of SMART goals. Looking for a point of maximum leverage in addressing an issue is always a good idea.