There are many interesting sights to see in Newfoundland and Labrador but in June the east coast of this province welcomes icebergs floating by in what is called ‘Iceberg Alley’ (http://www.newfoundlandlabrador.com/ThingsToDo/IcebergViewing). You can even follow the locations and tracking of these magnificent icons of nature through a website called www.Icebergfinder.com. It seems to me that Collective Impact and icebergs have a lot in common.
Icebergs are ancient pieces of fresh water which have broken away from a glacier or ice shelf. They float freely in water until they encounter another iceberg or ocean shelf. There is often more to the iceberg than meets the eye. The famous phrase ‘tip of the iceberg’ is well known to all of us.
Collective Impact has many of these characteristics. The five conditions of collective impact: common agenda, shared measurement, mutually reinforcing activities, continuous communications and backbone infrastructure are the tip of the iceberg, simple rules for complex interactions. The ice below the water is bigger and reveals itself over time (not unlike collective impact).
In early June 2015, the Community Sector Council of Newfoundland and Labrador hosted a two day Collective Impact Summit bringing together key leaders from the business, government, community and citizen sectors. Over 120 individuals from across the province gathered to listen to keynotes by John Kania, Managing Director of FSG Social Impact Consultants and to Paul Born and Liz Weaver from the Tamarack Institute and engage in a working session where they could dive deeper on Collective Impact (explore the iceberg below sea level).
The presentations from these two days are attached below for you to download. The Collective Impact Summit in Newfoundland and Labrador was an opportunity for key leaders across the province to come together, build a shared language and move forward their community change efforts. We will watch to see the impact of this Summit in the next few years. Could this be the ‘tip of the iceberg’?
For those of you exploring Collective Impact and wanting to learn more, Tamarack invites you to join us at the Collective Impact Summit planned for September 28 – October 2, 2015 in Vancouver, British Columbia. This learning event will feature keynote speakers, workshops and tool sessions as well as many opportunities for you and your colleagues to dive deeper on collective impact and community change.
