In December, Liz Weaver and I hosted Community Change: Lessons Learned 2014 a webinar exploring key community change lessons. It provided a great opportunity to generate deeper insights about our work over the past year with the 200 learners who joined the webinar. The dialogue and response energized us with the realization that our growing online community of learners has really become a movement for social change!
One theme emerging from our reflection was best illustrated by a quote from Peter Drucker that Liz shared: "culture eats strategy for breakfast." Drucker's astute observation echoes conversations that we have had with a few different groups in 2014 who are leading community change efforts the importance of paying attention to the internal context and dynamics amongst leaders in collaborative work as much as we do external forces.
On a macro level Tamarack has provided resources and a platform for cities and collaborative initiatives to use in establishing their own regional poverty reduction initiatives. This approach enables community champions to address the issues and mobilize resources that are most relevant within their own communities. While those we have engaged ultimately have the same goal fewer poor Canadians the process and outcomes for achieving that goal can vary considerably from community to community.
Within each region there are additional layers of inner context, such as: a roundtable, a research project; or, an organization. Each faces its own unique challenges with internal politics, communication patterns, power imbalances, etc. So what does this mean for those of us wanting to affect positive change on a complex issue like poverty?
I believe we need to consider what the principles of collective impact mean for our own team. We shouldn't
dedicate all of our energy to external threats and opportunities but instead deliberately take the time to reflect on our internal circles. How do we communicate with each other? Does everyone at the table speak the same language? Who has a bigger voice and why? How will this help or challenge our group? Have we been intentional about who is at the table? What are our individual priorities, and do they complement each other? How do we measure success, and do we all have a shared definition of success?
I would invite you to reflect on the relationships built through your work over the past year. Where these
relationships have blossomed, can you identify actions that have enabled you to positively answer the
questions I posed above? Where relationships have floundered, have you overlyfocused on responding to
external pressures? How might you establish practices that strengthen your own internal culture, and build
trust?
I share these personal insights and questions for consideration in the hope that they inspire you to deepen your community connections. How does this relate to what you've experienced? In what ways do these insights resonate with your own reflections?
