In July and August, I sought out individuals in my personal and professional network to contribute to a major paper I was writing on Collaborative Leadership and Co-Creating Cities of the Future. I sought out participation through Facebook, via a survey which I promoted in emails and through Twitter.
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The ideas are quickly flowing from the jumble in my mind to the neat lined pages of the notebook sitting on the table in front of me while I listen to the day’s overview at the Community Change Institute (CCI). As I take in the list of different tools, topics and learning modalities available to attendees, I recognize this is not just any run of the mill conference.
Although I had been lucky enough to join the CCI crew the year before in Toronto, this year would take on a new light as I prepared to become a first time learning lab leader and had a solid understanding of how the week was going to unfold.
As I readied myself for five days of learning, growth and interactions with bright, innovative people I wondered… What new inspiration will this year bring?
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If anyone knows his way around solving wicked, persistent problems through collaboration it’s Adam Kahane. The Canadian change-agent has facilitated collaborations that have catalyzed peace in South Africa, Guatemala, Colombia and beyond. And I thought my work to support a workforce collaboration was tough…
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Building an effective Collective Impact effort is understanding how to apply the framework to both the unique context of the community and the issue being addressed. The five conditions of Collective Impact provide a minimum specifications approach: developing a common agenda; building shared measurement; aligning efforts through mutually reinforcing activities; focusing on continuous communications and engagement and supporting the work through backbone infrastructure.
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My just-released paper, Shared Measurement: The Why is Clear, the How Continues to Develop acknowledges the importance of shared measurement as one of the five conditions of Collective Impact. As noted by Kania and Kramer, “Collecting data and measuring results consistently on a short list of indicators at the community level and across all participating organisations not only ensures that all efforts remain aligned, it also enables the participants to hold each other accountable and learn from each other’s successes and failures.”
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In my experience mobilizing communities to embrace large-scale change, I have learned that authentic communityengagement moves at the speed of trust. And, while most of us deeply appreciate the importance of trust-building, too often in our eagerness to launch into “the work” little time is actually invested and focused on intentionally building trust amongst partners.
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