Good synthesis results in higher-value options and actions. This paper focuses on how governments should synthesise inputs from many disciplines and sources to make decisions – whether during a pandemic or to guide a major strategy. But the issue of what makes a synthesis good is much broader
Read the full report here: https://theippo.co.uk/synthesis-gap-reducing-imbalance-advice-absorption-handling-big-challenges-pandemics-net-zero/
How should different kinds of data, insights, knowledge and interests be integrated to guide understanding or action – or to put it simply, how should we synthesise? This paper draws on the first year of work by the International Public Policy Observatory (IPPO), collaborating with researchers and policymakers on how to respond to the many challenges of COVID-19, from education and care to mental health and housing. It also draws on decades working with governments around the world to improve strategic thinking and action.
Primarily, the paper focuses on how governments should synthesise inputs from many disciplines and sources to make decisions – whether during a pandemic or to guide a major strategy (2). But the issue of what makes a synthesis good is much broader, relevant to anyone interested in data and knowledge, or in the future of artificial and collective intelligence – which need methods that can integrate multiple voices or inputs in a coherent way (and which suffer from a parallel synthesis gap). The issues are also relevant to research teams seeking an understanding of complex phenomena (e.g. gang crime or public behaviour in recycling), to public inquiries making sense of thousands of inputs, or to cities seeking a shared vision of the future.
The paper suggests both theoretical perspectives and practical ideas about how to do synthesis better. It was prompted by a concern that the absorptive and synthesising capacity of governments is often weak, and in some cases may have declined. This means that even when there is high-quality advice and analysis, and skilled knowledge brokerage, this does not lead to optimum actions. The US and UK are striking examples: endowed with the world’s most admired universities, and deep pools of expertise, but performing relatively poorly through the COVID-19 pandemic, and lacking strong capability for synthesis.
The paper argues for more conscious attention to synthesis – both in universities and in organisations, such as governments, that are responsible for whole systems. It shows that synthesis can follow a series of stages which can be mapped logically, and that the skills for doing this well can be learned and embedded in teams.
Good synthesis results in higher-value options and actions. That it is often done badly, or not at all, matters.
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