Hardly a day goes by without my adding a number of smileys to my emails or texts. In fact, here’s one now :) . Why? Well they are so expressive; so much better than LOL or BTW or FYI. So with one small icon, I seem to be able to convey information and feeling.
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I imagine the majority of us value collaboration. We believe that doing it increases impact, fosters innovation, and is especially called for when it comes to effecting large-scale systemic change (or transformational change). Many say collaboration is more efficient than disconnected social change or social service efforts.
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Earlier this month I participated in a workshop on collaboration at a gathering of several hundred grantmakers, hosted by Philanthropy Northwest. During the session, Collaborative Exchange, I presented on Graduation Matters Montana, a public-private initiative that resulted in record-breaking high school graduation rates.
As I was preparing for the session, I was reminded of a Tamarack Institute talk in which Liz Weaver and Mark Cabaj described what effective change efforts have in common. There are three things, they posited: (1) a framework; (2) principles; and (3) practices. How, I wondered, could I describe our work raising graduation rates, based on Weaver and Cabaj’s insights?
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Collective Impact is a multi-sector approach to large-scale collaboration that is authentically inclusive of citizens in its development and implementation – in particular citizens who have life-experience with the big problems or issues being addressed, such as poverty, climate change, family violence, and so many more.
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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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