Children are wonderful teachers.
The intensity of the gaze and connection between our grandsons is magic. What can we learn? Undivided attention. Eye contact. Observing. Looking and listening deeply. Open hearts. Getting to know each other!
These are all qualities discussed this week at the Collective Impact Summit when talking about the critical central element of this work.
Engaging with the members of the community who are the intended beneficiaries of the Collective Impact initiative. The Context Experts.
As the leaders we bring the Content Experts to the table with knowledge and resources to share.
Jay Connor explained this 50/50 mix with great eloquence. He also gave encouragement that we can pick up the pace of change when we have this engagement established.
My personal passion is the well being of children – all children and particularly those most vulnerable. That means we need to form trusting relationships with their parents, carers and families to understand what they need to ensure their babies, children and young people can thrive. This is a community and social responsibility we all share. However in the context we have the reality of their developmental clocks – tick, tick, tick. We need to get moving!!!
This is also the hope and promise of Collective Impact if we focus on the right things (channeling the great Peter Drucker)
And we wont know the right things to focus on until we pay attention and listen and ask the right questions of and with the right people. Then we can add energy and urgency to “Breathing Life into Implementation Plans”.
I am fortunate to work with wonderful caring and community focused people at Family Life.
We are a community owned social enterprise, committed to transforming lives for stronger communities, through effective services, support and connections, for children, young people and families to thrive in caring communities.
This is our Heart Work. A staff member’s 6 year old son said as she left for work one day, “Are you going to do you heart work mummy?” More learning from children.
With Collective Impact, and a shared agenda with community partners committed to shared measurement, communication and mutually reinforcing activities, we can build on our strong foundations and evidence of impact, to do more and better.
The community of learners at this Summit are all heart workers as knowledge and community builders.
It has been brilliant to participate in the emergence of new ideas, understanding and skills for practice, as everyone generously shares and engages in creative disruption discussions. Great practice for what exactly what we need to do back home!
SNAP – not snap back!!
What heart work do you do?
