Category: North America

Exploring Police and Community Relations in Lancaster, PA

Guest blog written by Anne Dietterich, Amreen Bashir, Awab Elmesbah, Giang Pham, Revanth Voothaluru, Seun Akinfolarin We started MLD103M as six complete strangers scattered across three continents trying to learn better ways to tackle complex problems like those we expect to face in our careers. The class was different, though, from what we were used…Continue Reading Exploring Police and Community Relations in Lancaster, PA

Rolling out COVID relief programs in Reno using the PDIA approach

Guest blog written by Calli Wilsey During one of our first sessions, I remember Professor Andrews speaking about complex problems and the need to address these issues with a new approach typically not used by public policy professionals and government agencies. As he described the problems he has witnessed with the traditional “plan and control” implementation…Continue Reading Rolling out COVID relief programs in Reno using the PDIA approach

Implementing Reparations in Asheville, North Carolina

Guest blog written by Bethany Dill, Isabel Mejia Fontanot, Kent Shi, Kerianne DiBattista MLD103, otherwise known as “PDIA in Action”, is a one-of-a-kind experience at HKS. On day one, we were randomly assigned teammates we would spend the next 7 weeks working with and given a problem to focus on. Quickly, we needed to get…Continue Reading Implementing Reparations in Asheville, North Carolina

It is the journey, not the destination that truly matters

Guest blog written by Deepa Singal Participating in the Executive Education program, “Implementing Public Policy” at the Harvard Kennedy School was a dynamic, motivating and humbling experience. Our global cohort consisted of emerging leaders and seasoned policy experts from multiple sectors and countries, all with the shared purpose of making a positive impact in the world….Continue Reading It is the journey, not the destination that truly matters

Formin’ Normin’ and Stormin’ – My IPP Journey Through Pandemics and Hurricanes in Louisiana

Bourbon Street, New Orleans, Louisiana

Guest blog written by Liana Elliott When I began this executive education course – in the middle of a pandemic, while still recovering from a cyberattack – I was expecting to get some dry, Harvard-y lectures and maybe some good business-speak tools, and join the network of HKS practitioners around the world.  I was NOT expecting…Continue Reading Formin’ Normin’ and Stormin’ – My IPP Journey Through Pandemics and Hurricanes in Louisiana

Top 10 Things I learned from Leading Economic Growth

Decorative graph depicting economic growth concept

Guest blog written by Robert Trewartha   To be honest, I was “volun-told” into this course by the Mayor. I had joined her for the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative in 2019-20 and learned a great deal. This opportunity came along at a time when we were in the height of managing the COVID-19 pandemic in our…Continue Reading Top 10 Things I learned from Leading Economic Growth

Using the PDIA Toolkit to Help a Nonprofit in Philadelphia

Fishbone Diagram on homelessness and addiction in Philadelphia

Guest blog written by Jamison Hicks The PDIA toolkit has yet again proven to be both useful and effective in providing organizations with the structural means to continually monitor and evaluate programmatic and organizational success. From a usage perspective, even though the toolkit was created in the US, the majority of PDIA blog posts on…Continue Reading Using the PDIA Toolkit to Help a Nonprofit in Philadelphia

PDIA and Coordination Challenges within Government

Government building in Tarrant County, Texas

Guest blog written by Nevena Bosnic, Mehdi El Boukhari, Ama Peiris, Matthew Welchert Over the past seven weeks, our group embarked on the learning journey of problem driven iterative adaptation (PDIA) as it applies to coordination challenges facing the various levels of government as well as civil society in addressing homelessness in Tarrant County, Texas….Continue Reading PDIA and Coordination Challenges within Government

PDIA and Dementia in the Workplace

A woman using a laptop to assist and elderly man sitting next to her

Guest blog written by Tamsir Cham, Andrea Hayes, Fateme Najafi, Aysha Valery Overall, we learned that the PDIA process is about being patient, digging deep into a problem, continuing to iterate, and engaging both the stakeholders and the authorizers.  We also learned how to dig deep into problems.  Digging deep requires discovering the underlying or root causes…Continue Reading PDIA and Dementia in the Workplace