In this blog, Arshdeep and Diana reflect on the February Innovation hour event, with the focus on what changemaking means to students, staff, and faculty of U of T. Discussions during this event highlighted how change takes place at every level through collaboration, even if you can’t see it.
Written by Arshdeep Kang (Communications & Operations Lead, Honours Bachelor of Design) and Diana Radenko (Graphic Design and Communications Coordinator, Honours Bachelor of Arts, Book and Media Studies)
People come to the Innovation Hub from all kinds of backgrounds and fields of study, but we’ve noticed they have one thing in common. Changemaking. Everyone who comes to the Innovation Hub is interested in creating change, at the university and beyond. So, it isn’t surprising that one of the questions that arose from our November Innovation Hour was how we can create change in our community? We decided to bring this question into February’s Innovation Hour and ask students, staff, and faculty what changemaking means to them. We’re delighted to let you in on some of the great conversations we had during the event.
Making Meaningful Impact
On the day of the event, students and staff came in excited for a great discussion and to mingle and connect with others. The discussion began with one question: What does changemaking mean to you? A great conversation followed.
Diana: Participating in this discussion opened my eyes up to how different people perceive change, and I learned something new from everyone. My idea of changemaking, and much of my team’s perspective, comes from listening to student stories with empathy and probing their needs. But then someone pointed out that identifying needs is only part of the process—the real challenge is addressing these needs and identifying the steps that lead to change. We all agreed that effective changemaking means walking a fine line.
Arsh: On the one hand, it can be comforting to see impactful change that makes a difference; people want to feel like they’re making a positive change for others. But we also discussed how uncomfortable change can be. During this conversation, I reflected on how this process needs to be disruptive for change to take place, but what can I do to not feel overwhelmed? One student suggested starting with small changes. Embracing change one step at a time really resonated with me. If we want to do things differently, we need to be comfortable veering away from convention. I realized that, although stepping away from the traditional path can be daunting, it also means that new ideas have the opportunity to manifest in inspiring ways.
Change Starts Locally
Our next question, was How does changemaking show up at U of T? This conversation was a bit trickier. Staff and students both seemed reluctant to share how they felt about this topic. We saw several hands raise and lower, but eventually, people started to share. The group discussed how important it is to understand the university’s structure to understand the process of change at U of T. Change happens slowly here and often people aren’t still here to see changes come to life. Eventually change happens, and the change ripples outward through influence. Small efforts come to fruition on a larger scale.
Diana: Even with their initial hesitance, I’m glad participants contributed to the conversation because I got to learn from their experiences; change at U of T happens through a culture of collaboration and influence on different levels. In other words, changemaking at the university starts at a smaller level and slowly over time do we see change being implemented more widely.
Arsh: My biggest takeaway from this conversation was that U of T’s structure can make it difficult to see change happen at once. But that doesn’t mean that there isn’t anyone working on a problem.
Building Communities of Practice
The final question we asked was, What kind of changemaking do you want to see at U of T? During the conversation it was clear that both students and staff want to build communities of practice and actively listen to and learn from others. When it comes to changemaking, it was heartwarming to see how aligned staff and students are. Everyone emphasized the importance of ensuring all voices are heard in any changemaking efforts. At the iHub, we conduct our design thinking projects with the same goal in mind: true co-creation comes from engaging all voices from the start.
Diana: I felt inspired by how motivated students are to take an active role in changemaking when they see change happen in real time. I realized that signposting students’ efforts to create change empowers them to keep forming community connections. That comment revealed to me how valuable transparency is from a student’s perspective.
Arsh: As I was hearing this conversation unfold, I realized that both staff and students were on the same page: clear collaboration and more opportunities for cross-campus connections would be a significant, positive change.
Change from Within
We know from our work that changemaking at a large, decentralized university is a challenge. Change can be a tough topic for students and staff because everyone wants what’s best for their community. Sometimes it can feel like an uphill battle in our complex university environment. We took heart, however, in the optimism we heard throughout the discussion. Students came to this event because they recognized the importance of building connections in the community. For staff, it was a refreshing experience to connect with students on an informal basis and share their unique perspective.
We closed the event with a final discussion: how can we each make change? Everyone agreed it’s important to start with your own community. Sweeping change never comes all at once, but knowing who to talk to, and which issues are most on people’s minds can make changemaking easier. The most impactful changes may start small, but the more they resonate with others, change becomes possible and starts to happen.
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