What is Blocking Imagination?
Value of immagination
Can immagination help?
This post is based on a structured reflection exercise exploring what blocks imagination in organisations — applied to Cardiff University on my own imagination
Why Are We Asking This?
Every university says it values new ideas. But saying something and doing something are very different.
At Cardiff University, we asked a simple but honest question:
What is currently blocking our imagination?
This blog post shares what we found — and what we think we can do about it.
1. What Everyone Knows But Nobody Says
The first thing we did was look for the invisible truth — the thing everyone knows but no one says out loud.
At Cardiff, that truth is:
This is called “publish or perish.” It is not written in any policy. Nobody officially decided it. But everyone feels it.
And because it is invisible, it is very hard to challenge.
What This Pressure Quietly Stops
| Behaviour | What Happens Instead |
|---|---|
| Taking risks with new ideas | People play it safe and stick to known areas |
| Working across departments | People stay in their discipline to stay productive |
| Slow, uncertain thinking | Only fast, publishable work gets attention |
| Admitting something is not working | Problems are hidden to protect reputation |
2. When Do Ideas Live — And When Do They Die?
We looked at what conditions help ideas grow, and what conditions kill them.
| What Helps Imagination | What Kills Imagination |
|---|---|
| Feeling safe to share strange or half-formed ideas | Metric pressure — always counting publications and grants |
| Time and space to think without pressure | Hierarchy — ideas get filtered before reaching decision-makers |
| People from different backgrounds mixing together | Blame culture — people hide problems instead of sharing them |
| It is okay to fail and learn from it | Overloaded people — no mental space left for curiosity |
| Working on things you genuinely care about | “We’ve tried this before” — past failure used to stop future trying |
| Long time horizons for projects | Short funding cycles — no room for slow, uncertain work |
| A colleague who says “tell me more” | Conformity pressure — fitting into established fields to be taken seriously |
3. Four Areas Where We Can Make Change
We organised our thinking into four areas. Each one is a place where we can intervene.
1. Context & Space
The environment and structure imagination has to live inside
2. Channel & Language
The words and stories that shape what feels possible
3. Experience & Moments
The actual encounters where imagination lives or dies
4. Objects & Subjects
The tools and people involved in creating imagination
3.1 Context and Space
This is about the environment and structure that imagination has to live inside.
What We See at Cardiff Now
| Blocker | Effect on Imagination |
|---|---|
| Hierarchy and deference to seniority | Good ideas get filtered before they reach anyone who can act |
| Very low risk appetite | People self-censor before they even speak |
| Overloaded staff | No mental bandwidth left for curiosity |
| Procurement and accountability processes | Too slow for ideas to stay alive |
| Blame culture | Problems are hidden, not learned from |
What Could Change
| Intervention | Why It Helps |
|---|---|
| Protected unaccountable time | Gives people space to think with no deliverable |
| Cross-disciplinary informal spaces | Allows ideas to emerge from unexpected collisions |
| Using the Future Generation Act as legitimacy | Frames imagination as a long-term obligation, not a luxury |
| Reducing meeting load | Frees mental bandwidth for curiosity |
3.2 Channel and Language
This is about the words and stories we use — because language shapes what feels possible.
Language That Closes Down Thinking
| Current Phrase | What It Signals |
|---|---|
| “Don’t reinvent the wheel” | Stay with what exists |
| “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it” | Change is a risk, not an opportunity |
| “We’ve tried this before” | Past failure means future failure |
| “What is your impact?” | Only measurable outputs matter |
| “Is there evidence for this?” | Uncertainty is not welcome |
Language That Opens Up Thinking
| New Phrase | What It Signals |
|---|---|
| “What are you curious about?” | Curiosity is valued, not just productivity |
| “What if we tried…?” | Speculation is welcome |
| “What is different now?” | Past failure does not define future possibility |
| “What did we learn?” | Failure is information, not shame |
| “Tell me more” | Half-formed ideas deserve space |
3.3 Experience and Moments
This is about the actual encounters where imagination can happen — or die.
| Moment | Current Experience | Reimagined Experience |
|---|---|---|
| Team meetings | Problem-solving mode, focus on delivery | Include a “what if” question every meeting |
| Performance reviews | Focus on outputs, publications, grants | Include “what are you curious about?” |
| Project failures | Hidden or minimised | Shared in “failing forwards” sessions |
| Student interactions | Consultation and feedback | Listening circles — genuine co-creation |
| Cross-department contact | Rare, usually formal | Regular informal collision spaces |
3.4 Objects and Subjects
This is about the tools and people involved in creating imagination.
| Tool / Approach | How It Enables Imagination |
|---|---|
| User-centred design methods | Brings real human needs into research and teaching |
| Imagination grants | Fast, small funding with no bureaucracy |
| Diverse and multicultural teams | Varied perspectives produce unexpected connections |
| “Imagination roles” | People whose job protects space for others to think |
| Blue sky thinking sessions | Structured permission to explore without constraint |
4. What Are Imagination Grants?
One of the most practical ideas we discussed was imagination grants — a completely different model from normal research funding.
Normal Grants vs Imagination Grants
| Normal Research Grants | Imagination Grants | |
|---|---|---|
| Amount | Tens of thousands to millions | £500 – £5,000 |
| Application | Long, detailed, months of work | One paragraph |
| Decision time | Months | Days |
| Proof required | Must prove impact upfront | No proof required |
| Failure | A serious problem | Expected and acceptable |
| Who decides | Senior academics and committees | Mixed panel including students and external people |
| Reporting | Detailed outputs and metrics | “What did you learn?” |
Types of Imagination Grants
| Grant Type | What It Funds | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
| Collision grants | Two people from different disciplines spending time together | Ideas emerge from unexpected combinations |
| Prototype grants | Building a rough version of an idea | Turns abstract thinking into something real |
| Listening grants | Time spent with a community or patient group — just to listen | Grounds ideas in real human experience |
| Strange question grants | Exploring a question that fits no existing category | Opens space for genuinely new thinking |
| Rest and think grants | Protected time with no teaching or admin | Mental space is a prerequisite for imagination |
| Cross-sector swap grants | Time embedded in NHS, a startup, or an arts organisation | New environments break habitual thinking |
5. What Can Start Tomorrow — And What Needs Permission?
Not everything requires waiting for the institution to change.
| Action | Start Tomorrow? | Needs Permission? |
|---|---|---|
| Using “what if” in meetings | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| Asking “what are you curious about?” | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| Calling setbacks “early learning” | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| Informal cross-department coffee meetings | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| Sharing a strange idea in a team session | ✅ Yes | ❌ No |
| Imagination grants | ❌ Not yet | ✅ Needs budget and backing |
| Protected thinking time | ❌ Not yet | ✅ Needs leadership support |
| Changing performance conversations | ❌ Not yet | ✅ Needs HR and leadership |
| Reducing metric pressure | ❌ Not yet | ✅ Needs sector-wide shift |
The key insight: The things you can start tomorrow are about behaviour and relationships. The things needing permission are about structures and resources. You do not have to wait for the institution to change to start changing the culture.
6. What Would Become Possible?
If this imagination infrastructure existed at Cardiff University, things would look different at every level.
For Individual Academics
| Today | With Imagination Infrastructure |
|---|---|
| Risky questions damage careers | Researchers can follow strange questions without career risk |
| Ideas need senior sponsorship | Early career academics can propose ideas directly |
| Failure is hidden | Admitting something is not working is safe and normal |
| Cross-disciplinary work seen as losing focus | Working across disciplines is encouraged and rewarded |
For Teams and Departments
| Today | With Imagination Infrastructure |
|---|---|
| Departments compete for metrics | Departments collaborate on shared problems |
| Ideas get filtered upward through hierarchy | Ideas travel freely and reach people who can act |
| Failure is hidden | Failure is shared openly and learned from |
| Teams form around funding calls | Teams form around questions |
For Cardiff as an Institution
| Today | With Imagination Infrastructure |
|---|---|
| Known for volume of output | Known for the quality and boldness of thinking |
| Future Generation Act as compliance | Future Generation Act as a lived commitment |
| Attracts productive academics | Attracts curious and bold thinkers |
| Students experience output-focused culture | Students graduate knowing what imaginative institutions feel like |