My brother sometimes gets canker sores, and I always wanted to help him when we were younger because of how much they seemed to hurt.
Once, he mentioned that chocolate helped take the pain away for a while, but I knew from what my parents said that chocolate would make the canker sores worse in the long run.
I had also heard that rubbing salt on the sores was supposed to help them go away, but I knew from my brother's wincing that this remedy was painful.
Then I had an idea. If salt made canker sores hurt but also helped them heal, and chocolate made them worse but took away the pain, maybe I could combine the two to cancel out the negative effects while still delivering the positive ones. So, I took some of the milk chocolate eggs from my Easter basket and rolled them in table salt, then excitedly presented them to my brother as a new "medicine" he could take for his canker sores. It was hard when the dentist told me to stop because my efforts to help my brother were going to make things worse.
Now, solving canker sores was probably always out of reach for an 8-year-old; but if I was going to do it, what would I have needed? Probably a medical lab, some microscopes, some test subjects — bottom line, I needed more information. My efforts were misguided because I didn't understand what actually caused canker sores. I didn't know what the effects of my salt and chocolate "medicine" would be, and I definitely didn't know what medical research involved.
Good intentions do not automatically translate to good solutions.
We see the same thing happen with organizations today. They see a problem. They want to help. They follow through on what seems like a good idea, but they lack a clear understanding of the root causes of the problem and the effects their actions will have on the system as a whole.
ReSolutLy is the laboratory I didn't have at eight years old, the research resource that so many need but don't have access to. We collect and analyze the intelligence that puts complexity in context and gives you the confidence that you're asking the right questions, targeting the root causes of the problem, and developing solutions that will lead to the most positive and lasting changes.
Connect with us if you want to feel confident that you're making a positive difference in the world. Let's uncover good solutions together. ReSolutLy is the way to do it right.