Rethinking Grand Goals: The Real Secret of Knowledge Brokerage Lies in Small Beginnings

Rethinking Grand Goals: The Real Secret of Knowledge Brokerage Lies in Small Beginnings

Blogpost by Julius Paul Wesche, researcher at NTNU

Have you ever started a project with big, transformative goals, only to realize that the true value lay in something simpler yet surprisingly powerful?

During my recent experience supporting a Knowledge Brokerage team, I discovered that the outcomes of such initiatives can differ significantly from initial expectations. Initially, I believed we had a genuine opportunity to empower the municipality we were working with to establish a community of practice focused on increasing public transport usage. However, it became clear that the most substantial impact of our efforts was simply getting 13-14 key individuals from the municipality and mobility companies together in the same room.

Although we still hope that a community of practice will be considered, the most immediate and tangible outcome was facilitating this critical meeting—a meeting that could very well kick-start a series of follow-up discussions and, ultimately, tangible improvements. By providing the key municipal official responsible for CO2 reduction and mobility with the opportunity to gather important stakeholders, we laid the groundwork for meaningful conversations about enhancing access to public transport.

It wasn’t the outcome we had envisioned at the start, but it underscored an important truth: sometimes, the initial step of simply bringing the right people together—even when it feels small—can be one of the most significant contributions to advancing knowledge exchange and collaboration. Convening those key players and facilitating that first essential conversation is often the foundation upon which unexpected opportunities and new possibilities can emerge.

Knowledge brokerage can often feel like an abstract endeavor—filled with lofty goals and complex strategies. We aspire to create transformative changes, to shift paradigms, and to generate impact on a grand scale. But, in reality, true progress often begins with the modest act of connecting individuals. Creating spaces where people can share their perspectives, discuss challenges, and find common ground is the seed from which larger transformations grow. The power of these initial connections lies in their potential to evolve organically, leading to collaborations and solutions that no one could have anticipated.

Perhaps knowledge brokerage is not always about achieving grand, ambitious goals, but about creating the right conditions for progress. It is about recognizing that even the smallest actions—like organizing a meeting—can set the stage for greater things to come. Bringing people together can lead to good things and open doors that we might not have been aware of in the first place. These seemingly small steps can create ripples that extend far beyond our immediate sight, building momentum and fostering relationships that eventually lead to meaningful and impactful change. The journey may start with a single conversation, but that conversation can be the spark that lights the path forward.

This blog post is part of a series of reflections about our training events held in different European cities.