Top 3 Things We Learned From Visiting Big Thought

Last month my colleague, Brandon Frame, Urban Assembly Deputy Director of Social-Emotional Learning,  and I made the trip down to Dallas, Texas to visit Byron Sanders, CEO of Big Thought. Big Thought focuses on tackling the opportunity gap by creating, connecting, and cultivating imagination-based programming for young people.  Big Thought programs are designed to spark the imagination, cultivate social-emotional skills, and increase academic performance of youth in the Dallas area.

 Here are the top 3 things we learned during our visit.

1) Define the Problem - Provide the Solution 

Big Thought's original mission was focused on supporting the creativity of youth in the Dallas area. The only problem was that the district's approach to funding in this area was extremely complex, making it difficult for schools and teachers to provide arts-based experiences that would benefit students. Enter Big Thought. Big Thought worked with Dallas ISD to create a per pupil funding allocation for creative opportunities, and then created a database that assisted schools to find opportunities that matched that level of funding. Define the problem, provide the solution.

2) Decrease Friction – Increase Value

Sometimes we need to dream big, sometimes we just need to work the kinks out. Friction is the resistance a consumer experiences when working to complete a task. The more energy that is lost to resistance (i.e., bureaucracy, user interface, apportioning funds etc), the less energy that is available to help kids experience creativity and social emotional development So, Big Thought transformed from a creativity organization that used technology, to a technology organization that supported creativity. Big Thought and its 600 partners, revolutionized the action space for youth creative development by reducing the friction between the school district bureaucracy and the teachers and youth organizations that had to navigate it to support kids. Decrease friction, increase value.

 3) Measure your process, measure your outcomes

“Are we doing the right things, and are we doing things right?” – Byron Sanders

Process and outcome measurement is the basis of everything that happens at Big Thought. Does high quality social emotional development through the arts reduce the rate of recidivism among teens on parole? Big Thought knows the answer. Do students have to partner with a single organization over the summer to reduce the amount of summer learning loss, or can they benefit from multiple organizations sequentially providing programming? Big Thought knows. What is the average gain in relationship skills or academic achievement for a student involved in Big Thought programs? Big Thought can tell you. If you can’t answer whether the approaches you are using are having the intended impact, or understand the difference between what you think is happening and what’s actually being executed on the ground, then your organization is not going to improve. Measure your process, measure your outcomes. 

The Urban Assembly really enjoyed visiting Big Thought. We learned a lot of useful things from the way they approach problem solving. Former presidents, George Bush and Bill Clinton just got finished visiting their organization, so check out their social media at @bigthought (twitter) and @big thought (linkedin), and keep on innovating!