Beyond the Silver Bullet. Navigating Wicked Problems with Frameworks

Today’s global landscape often feels like an unending game of whack-a-mole, with interconnected crises — social, economic, environmental, political — erupting all around. Those who strive to create order amid the chaos, like me, might feel overwhelmed. For me, this is where frameworks and methodologies become most valuable. They offer structure and lenses to decipher the intricate complexities of the world, making social innovation for wicked problems feel more realizable. Reflecting on insights from recent experiences, I have articulated my thoughts below, on how I’m trying to navigate a world of ever-increasing wicked problems.

How it started…

I’ve long been interested in the process of “social innovation.” This fascination arose from an almost utopian and idealistic belief that change is possible — a belief kindled by my early encounters with design and the inherent positivity in the creative act of making. To me, design is naturally interdisciplinary — a blend of thinking and making that is capable of bridging divides. It’s a way of uniting people from diverse backgrounds and perspectives around a common purpose; addressing the multifaceted and often daunting problems that challenge our world.

How it shifted…

Yet, my sense of optimism would feel elusive when faced with harsh realities. As I matured, my initial idealism was met with the growing awareness of deep societal divisions. The world today seems more polarized, with groups fixated on our differences rather than the shared humanity that unites us. The global challenges of poverty, climate change, inequality, political instability — seemed insurmountable to me. I struggled with a sense of powerlessness, unsure of how or where to make a meaningful impact.

I realize now that my early notion of social impact was somewhat naive. I admired the significant work done by individuals and small organizations, with pockets of inspiring action. But faced with global issues, my instinct was often quantitative: “how can this scale to solve the problem?” I sought definitive solutions, oversimplifying complex problems into tasks demanding absolute resolution.

How it’s going…

Earlier this semester, I was lucky to take an Innovation in Global Problem Solving class with Gina Lucarelli — founder and director of the UNDP Accelerator Labs, and Kathleen Brandenburg — co-founder and co-CEO of IA Collaborative. Through activities and guest lectures, the class focused on integrative frameworks to address wicked global problems for social good, covering topics from the importance of decolonizing innovation, to the role of collective intelligence, and how scale could be defined in these contexts.

Each of these topics resonated very deeply, and gave me the language and tools I was seeking to navigate this complex world. As I reflected on my own experiences, I left the class with three main takeaways — (1) creating a shared vocabulary is subtle but powerful; (2) we must consciously decolonize and democratize innovation; and (3) it’s equally important to consider quality of impact (instead of just quantity) when we think about measuring and scaling. I’ll briefly explain what I mean by each of these below.

1. The Power of Shared Vocabulary

Having a common lexicon is crucial for tackling complex challenges. Articulating nuanced concepts with clarity becomes a fundamental tool for breaking barriers and building bridges to the complexities of social innovation.

Problem Typology
A framework for categorizing challenges based on their complexity: simple, complicated, complex, and crisis.

This approach helps identify the most appropriate strategies for tackling different types of issues.

This might seem obvious and basic, but remarkably powerful. Recognizing and acknowledging that different complexities require different methodologies is essential to intervene in appropriate ways.

Wicked Problems
Problems characterized by ambiguity and resistance to simple solutions. This terminology helps shift the focus from finding a complete resolution to progressing through incremental and adaptive strategies.

Naming the most pressing challenges as “wicked problems” exemplifies vocabulary’s transformative power. Identifying these problems as ambiguous and resistant to simple solutions can shift focus from unattainable ideals to realistic, incremental progress. Such naming demystifies these complexities, making them more approachable.

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
A global framework consisting of 17 interconnected goals and 247 specific indicators, providing a shared north-star for addressing complex global challenges.

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) further highlight shared vocabulary’s significance. This framework of 17 interconnected goals and 247 indicators provides a structured roadmap for global challenges. The SDGs create a shared vision, fostering cooperative action towards a sustainable future. They emphasize the value of collective purpose over complete consensus.

A Note on Language
I want to acknowledge that much of the vocabulary I reference — terms like “wicked problems,” “problem typology,” and even the Sustainable Development Goals — emerges from Western, English-speaking academic and institutional contexts. This isn’t lost on me. While these terms offer a helpful mental model for navigating complexity, they are not universal, nor should they be treated as such. I see them as starting points — tools that should be translated, adapted, or entirely reimagined depending on the local context, culture, and lived experience. Language can both clarify and constrain, and we must stay attuned to whose voices are shaping the lexicon and whose are being left out.

2. Consciously Decolonizing Innovation

The concept of decolonizing innovation challenges us to rethink how solutions are developed and implemented — particularly in contexts shaped by histories of inequality. It brings attention to the ethical imperative of grounding innovation in local realities and recognizing the value of community knowledge.

In exploring examples like the PlayPump, we saw how even well-intentioned interventions can falter when they overlook systemic complexity contextually. Without a contextual lens, innovation risks becoming extractive rather than transformative.

A useful distinction that emerged in our discussions was between “knowledge” and “wisdom.” While knowledge can be formal and transferable, wisdom is rooted in experience and specific to place. This framing encourages us to move away from expert-driven models and toward approaches that prioritize those already navigating these challenges firsthand.

As Professor Anil Gupta of the Honey Bee Network puts it, “Don’t ask people what they need, ask what they know.” His work exemplifies how participatory methods like the Shodh Yatra—a walk designed to identify grassroots innovations — can shift power dynamics and surface solutions that are both relevant and resilient.

This shift in perspective opens the door to models of collective intelligence, where knowledge is co-created rather than imposed.

Collective Intelligence

Effective communication and collaboration strategies are crucial for collective intelligence to function. It relies on the pooling of diverse information and ideas, and enables groups to solve complex problems by leveraging the combined knowledge and insights of its members.

Collective Intelligence often involves consensus decision-making, where a group reaches a shared understanding or agreement. It emerges from the interactions and collective efforts of individuals, rather than being the result of a single individual’s knowledge or expertise.

Learning Circles: A method for fostering collective intelligence, involving a central prompt, a facilitator, and a documenter. This structure facilitates inclusive dialogue and collaborative problem-solving, allowing diverse perspectives to coalesce into shared solutions.

We used a learning circle with a central question prompt to focus our discussion. A facilitator guided the discussion as each person shared their perspectives and points of view, while two scribes documented the discussion in real time.

Another effective tool in building collective intelligence is a boundary object. Its superpower lies in its ability to bridge perspectives and enable collaboration without requiring complete consensus.

Boundary Objects: Conceptual tools that are flexible yet robust, facilitating collaboration by integrating diverse perspectives while maintaining a shared understanding. These objects can take many different physical forms, like a framework, a game, or a prompt.

Both practices reinforce the idea that innovation is most effective when it emerges from dialogue, mutual respect, and distributed expertise.

3. Reframing Scale in Social Innovation

In the context of social impact, scale takes on a different meaning. Rather than pursuing uniform, far-reaching solutions, impact is often achieved through approaches that are context-specific and adaptive. The concept of “scree-scaling” — deploying multiple small, iterative interventions — acknowledges the complexity of systems and the value of distributed responses.

Scree-Scaling: An approach focusing on deploying numerous small-scale interventions that collectively drive systemic change, acknowledging the complexity and uniqueness of local challenges.

Frameworks like Donella Meadows’s leverage points highlight the strategic importance of targeted change. Here, precision can outweigh breadth, emphasizing interventions that shift systems from within.

Leverage Points: Identified by Donella Meadows, these are strategic points within a system where a small intervention can catalyze significant change, emphasizing the importance of focused efforts rather than scale alone.

This reframing recognizes that complex challenges rarely have singular solutions. Instead, sustained, localized progress can lead to deeper, more meaningful transformation over time.

I realized that this journey is about finding a balance between idealism and realism. For me, it prompted a shift away from seeking “perfect solutions” toward embracing continuous reflection and incremental innovation.

In today’s political climate, tackling deeply systemic social issues requires new approaches and processes. Given the shifting global landscape — with changes in international aid structures and the evolving role of global organizations — the way we think about and drive social impact is being redefined.

This makes approaches centered on local, participatory, and collective action, not just relevant, but critical. Empowering those closest to the problem to design and implement solutions is more vital than ever. When solutions are shaped by those who live the challenges, progress becomes not only possible, but more sustainable.

Credits

• Gina and Kathleen—our incredible professors, for the engaging lectures, thoughtful discussions, practical tools, and dozens of real-world examples
• Professor Anil Gupta, Akinyemi Scott-Boyle, Bas Leurs, and Giulio Quaggiotto—our inspiring guest speakers, for sharing so many insights from their diverse experiences
• Siddhi — my friend and classmate, who let me borrow visual snippets from the incredible live sketch-notes she created over the course of this class
• Jhumkee — my mom and first/forever mentor, for exposing me to the world of social impact and participatory design at a young age, and for instilling in me a sense of purpose