Project by: Steve Hamilton, Miguel Olivares and May Sun
Sticky Buns combined Etsy’s popular Eatsy lunch initiative with the Jeffersonian Dinner and filters it all through Usonian Ideals to create The Eatsonian Lunch for Etsy. Their design of the Eatsonian lunch was heavily influenced by research in the Diffusion of Innovations as well as social engagement models inspired by Positive Deviance. The final design developed for the Eatsonian Lunch helped spread Etsy culture and build connections among all stakeholders working at Etsy headquarters in Brooklyn as well as offices throughout the organization.
Sticky Buns grander vision is to generate social capital by creating spaces where outside topics can enrich the employees life. By using the tools of design and a social innovation framework Sticky Buns hopes to create a new standard for companies. The new standard would engage them to be self aware of their social responsibilities with employees, stakeholders and their community at large. Sticky Buns seeks to do this through an innovative structure that can work at any organization and is easy to implement using existing food service resources or outside catering.
An Eatsonian lunch consists of a structured conversation taking place over a family style meal attended by 8 to 10 employees from all departments and levels within the company. At each lunch a single predetermined topic provides the basis for conversation and everybody arrives prepared to share personal narratives about how the week’s topic has intersected with their own lives. By making things personal the Eatsonian lunch builds strong connections between attendees and because they come from all areas of the company encourages bonds that bridge Etsy departments and hierarchies. The lunch borrows this dialog oriented structure from Jeffersonian Dinners which began at Monticello around the table of American Founding Father Thomas Jefferson, and have proliferated more recently as a popular tool for fundraising for non-profit organizations.
The Sticky Notes Dashboard provides a graphic visual representation of the connections established during the series of lunches, in addition to providing a list of topics covered, and info about who’s attending next week. “The goal is to make real connections through the meal, a sustainable ongoing program through the structure, and make it all visible so as to generate interest with the dashboard” said Olivares. And according to Sun “the structure can work at any organization and is easy to implement using existing food service resources or outside catering.”