When we seek change the temptation is looking for 'the key' component of a problem or situation that, if changed, is expected to lead to profound transformation. Too frequently these type of solutions fail not because the change to the component is poor, but that the thinking is not aligned to the system that contributes to the problem in the first place and thus, changing thinking is what's actually the key not the designed solution.
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Earlier this year I was approached to share my thoughts about collective impact as part of Maytree's popular lunch-and-learn program Five Good Ideas which invites subject matter experts to discuss "powerful yet practical ideas on key management issues facing non-profit organizations." I eagerly said yes, but then discovered that this is not an easy task.
I became a collective impact evangelist in 2012. I saw and felt its possibility and what it might mean for the unacceptably high and stubbornly consistent number of Australians living in entrenched disadvantage, despite us being the 'lucky country', seemingly immune to impacts like the global financial crisis.
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Collective Impact has increased our focus on moving the needle on population level changes. John Kania, Managing Partner of FSG Social Impact Consultants and author of many articles on collective impact has called this 'positive and consistent progress at scale'. But are population level indicators the only ones that we need to pay attention to when moving toward collective impact?
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Creating a healthy, humane world will require more than new organizational designs, writes Hildy Gottlieb in a recent Stanford Social Innovation Review article, Building Movements, Not Organizations. It will take rethinking the nature of organizations entirely.
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This article first appeared in the July 2015 newsletter of Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) Technical Assistance Coordinating Center.
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