We live in a world of insane innovation.
It's hard to believe a few years ago we lived without mobile phones and Wi-Fi. Since then iPods have come and gone, the smartphone has kicked landline phones from our homes, social media has gone from Myspace to TikTok, while Bluetooth headphones make it look as if people are talking to themselves.
This is before we even get to Web3, cryptocurrencies, and NFTs!
But innovation does not just exist within the technology sphere. In fact, innovation dictates how we see things and experience the world around us. That we have come to see the world through the perspective of innovation.
Stories of Silicon Valley founders have replaced myths about heroes, highlighting the importance of innovation.
What was previously considered natural phenomena such as old age, cancer, and other illnesses are now seen as problems to solve through innovative technologies. In our personal lives too, what could be considered natural feelings of boredom and unhappiness are now problems we need to "hack", through better technologies, apps and products.
While this may not entirely accurately represent how we think, I believe we can all understand this way of seeing the world. That is, seeing the world through infinite possibilities and innovation.
Cracks and Breakdown
Despite living in what may be considered this "innovation age", more and more people have a sense this isn't the whole story. That there are limits to innovation, and that progress may not be the only way of looking at the world.
This is because, at the same time as innovation, the world is constantly eroding, falling apart and breaking down. Cracks appear in our streets and bridges, in our policies and laws, and in our technologies which once held so much promise. They appear in our relationships, in our once nourishing workplaces, and in our idols we once held up so dearly.
It seems that it is natural for things to fall apart, including ourselves (as my back has been telling me recently).
In this article by Steven Jackson, upon which this post is inspired, an example of ship-breaking is provided to demonstrate how things break down and how we often ignore it. We never think of what happens to ships once they are no longer of use. But they are beached, stripped and dismantled (in places like the beaches of Bangladesh, as shown in the below picture).
This is the necessary ying to innovation's yang. As innovation surely exists, so does decay and breakdown.
Repair
Which brings me to the point of this article, repair thinking, which starts with this premise, from Jackson’s article:
“what happens when we take erosion, breakdown, and decay, rather than novelty, growth, and progress, as our starting points in thinking?”
And if we look at things from this perspective, taking action to repair what breaks and decays is at least as necessary as innovation.
While it may not be as glamorous in this "innovation age", repair work is equally important to our personal, professional, and communal lives.
In technology, this is pretty straightforward, for instance when we repair our phone instead of buying a new one. However, this thinking extends beyond technology.
In our closest relationships, so much work is repair work. In a relationship, you can go on new dates and give presents every day of the week, but if you are not fixing disputes, cleaning the house, and caring for each others' broken parts, things will likely not last.
On a larger scale, we see our environment breaking down due to our ideas of infinite progress. The adverse effects of pollution, microplastics, and global warming have come from thinking that our planet has infinite resources to be used and discarded. We are coming to see that work to repair may not be as glamorous as innovation, but could be key to our survival.
Repair at work
Similarly, in the workplace, innovation and progress is often the dominant way of thinking.
"How can things be done better?"
"How can we do more of something?"
"What is something new we can implement?"
"How can I move up?"
These are questions that have been asked in every workplace in which I have worked. These are questions of progress and innovation. However, in workplaces, repair work is also important.
The following personal anecdotes from my career highlight this.
I remember working as part of a great team. While we had some problems, we were willing to help each other out and worked well to achieve our tasks. After one stressful event, we had a debrief session. The leader was hyper-focused on improvements, and what we could do better next time, without acknowledging the immense stress the team was under. I can say that the team wasn't the same after that event.
A few months after this, we had a mandatory team-building event. The team, most definitely fractured and almost at the point of infighting, unwillingly attended. In one activity, we had what one could consider "repair work". We realised we didn't celebrate our successes and take the time to acknowledge all we had done, despite our limitations and challenges. While this wasn't the purpose of our exercise, I felt myself forgiving and seeking forgiveness for my actions.
Workplaces cause stress. You simply cannot get along brilliantly with everyone. In times of stress, you may not have time or capacity to ensure things are communicated well. A lack of fairness can lead to resentment against your workplace, and the people you work with.
In terms of the work itself, focusing on novelty and innovation leave staff stretched thin and could lower the quality of existing programs and products: check out this article on how Skype lost its crown to Zoom.
At its worst, when we ignore repair, we let harassment and abuse continue. We ignore the faults of those who drive innovation and progress, and we fail to reward those who support and care for others.
A focus on repair is essential in workplaces. It goes between innovation and breakdown, allowing us to continue, “the subtle acts of care by which order and meaning in complex... systems are maintained and transformed, human value is preserved and extended, and the complicated work of fitting to the varied circumstances of organizations, systems, and lives is accomplished.”