Often when I run workshops with communities to imagine new futures, they first always focus on what's missing. We're so used to think that in order to improve we need to work on the problems. This gives us a bit of complainer and grumpy approach where we only see what we lack instead of what we have.

I love to do the opposite. Instead of focusing on what's missing, we look at what the community already has—its resources, strengths, and capabilities. These are often hidden, underutilized, or even seen as boring.

I used this approach with a small Christian community in Vevey. Their building was old, and so were most of their members. But when we went beyond the surface, we all saw a big potential.

This group of elderly people are incredibly welcoming! And they love to cook. They have a kitchen at disposition, sure it's a tiny one but it's there. And they have a rich history with the Salvation Army's motto: Soup, Soap, Salvation. On the other hand the city of Vevey had a gap—no one was providing food for people in need on Saturdays.

Now you can put it all together: their welcoming nature, love for cooking, kitchen space and the needs of the population. And voilà! You have a beautiful new and tiny service: soup every Saturday. Nothing fancy, just good soup. And guess what? It makes a real difference in the city.

Action question

What resources, skills, and abilities do you have within your organization that you take for granted or don't even notice? How can you combine these elements to improve your service? Could you ask a friend or colleague from another organization to give you an outsider's perspective on your hidden forces?

Daniele's notes

• This is the first shitty draft of this principle

• This principle might one day make it in the fifth book in the "Service Design Principles" series that explores how to better serve humans and the planet.

• If you're curious about service design principles, you can get the four previous books in the series, with proofread principles and less grammatical creativity.

Written with AI help

This principle draft is based on an audio note I took while walking that was transcribed and cleaned using Audiopen. I then reviewed and improved the text by hand.