One of my favourite things to do when I am in an airport is to cruise the bookstores and catch up on the latest publications. I often indulge in buying a book if the title and table of contents speak to me. Recently, on a trip home, I picked up The Impact Equation by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith.
I have been thinking alot about collective impact lately and the power and potential of communities to tackle some of their most vexing issues including reducing poverty, achieving school success, neighbourhood revitalization and dealing with health disparities.
The Impact Equation builds upon the collective impact framework developed by FSG Social Impact Consulants. John Kania and Mark Kramer identify five conditions for collective impact: a common agenda, shared measurement, mutually reinforcing activities, continuous communication and a backbone organization.
Similarly, Brogan and Smith have developed a fairly succinct equative for moving toward impact:
Impact = Contrast x (Reach + Exposure + Articulation + Trust + Echo)
You can see how the two big ideas interplay. Building a common agenda includes articulating the it, building trust, reach and exposure. Shared measurement and mutually reinforcing activities provide contrast, exposure and echo and are critical for extending reach. Continuous communications and a backbone organization are critical functions to build reach, exposure, trust and the echo.
In working with The Impact Equation Brogan and Smith delve deeper into the role of goals, ideas, platforms and networks as key elements for building impact. Again, these core themes resonate with the conditions of collective impact.
One of the biggest takeaways for me from this book, is the importance of navigating relationships to create reach and impact. It is the investment in personal connections, leveraged by creative ideas, the use of multiple tools and impactful measures that brings about social and community change.
