It is wonderful to see these important mind-shifts so clearly described. Since the thinking of so many people (and funding practices) have been driven by the isolated impact mindset for well over a decade, the common sense approaches based on Collective Impact thinking are often fighting an up-hill battle. Since our communities and our world so desperately need dramatically improved collaboration, I hope that this article can be broadly shared and acted upon. There are a few other shifts that should also be considered, such as shifting from a compliance orientation to a mindset that looks for innovation and creativity to solve problems.
I recently did a presentation on important mindset shifts to achieve collective impact, and this 11-minute video is the first part of that presentation. Take a look.
It’s so nice to see an acknowledgement that it is a combination of interventions which creates change, and not simply one masterful idea scaled up. I often find it frustrating when people in the impact investing circle talk about “scalability” as one of the chief success factors of a social innovation. As Schumacher told us, “Small is Beautiful” - far better to have a small successful intervention that goes on serving people than to try to scale it up and break it.
These are clear and compelling insights. They reflect the discipline they discuss - communicating emerging understanding and evidence to help steer the course of a mutual endeavor.
In this case, the endeavor is no less than the function of civil society itself.
So the stakes are enormous. (Talk about large-scale collective impact.) The goal here - it strikes me - is not only sustainable change but creating a sustainable, adaptive structure for change.
Congrats to the authors John Kania, Fay Hanleybrown and Jennifer Splansky Juster. And to all those with whom they collaborate.
The post also made me think about the word “solution.” Its connotation has come to convey a sense of linear completion. Like when we cross something off our list of duties. Of course, such thinking is a fiction.
Life is a circle not a flow-chart with an ultimate product or service. The key goal is always constant and always receding. We continue. That’s it. And we do it well or poorly. We improve our ride around the circle or we make it worse. All the best work of humanity nurtures our abilities to take care of each other and future generations.
Of course, there is another meaning of the word “solution” - where the minor component or components are dissolved with the major liquid component. Can you see the salt in salt water? No. Can you taste it? Yes. Does its presence in the water change the water’s potential? Yes!
This kind of solution may help us reinforce the idea of collective impact as transformational as well as participatory.
Lemonade is a good example. In the right amounts, the sugar, lemon juice and water create a wonderful solution. And, as you point out in your post, the true achievement lies - not in any single component ingredient - but in the function of the whole.
COMMENTS
BY Bill Barberg
ON August 17, 2014 09:55 PM
It is wonderful to see these important mind-shifts so clearly described. Since the thinking of so many people (and funding practices) have been driven by the isolated impact mindset for well over a decade, the common sense approaches based on Collective Impact thinking are often fighting an up-hill battle. Since our communities and our world so desperately need dramatically improved collaboration, I hope that this article can be broadly shared and acted upon. There are a few other shifts that should also be considered, such as shifting from a compliance orientation to a mindset that looks for innovation and creativity to solve problems.
I recently did a presentation on important mindset shifts to achieve collective impact, and this 11-minute video is the first part of that presentation. Take a look.
BY Bill Barberg
ON August 17, 2014 09:57 PM
Here is the URL for that overview on mindset shift: http://vimeo.com/insightformation/review/103138217/df26bdfd3e
BY Susan Low
ON August 25, 2014 11:07 AM
It’s so nice to see an acknowledgement that it is a combination of interventions which creates change, and not simply one masterful idea scaled up. I often find it frustrating when people in the impact investing circle talk about “scalability” as one of the chief success factors of a social innovation. As Schumacher told us, “Small is Beautiful” - far better to have a small successful intervention that goes on serving people than to try to scale it up and break it.
BY Steven Crandell
ON October 16, 2014 04:13 PM
These are clear and compelling insights. They reflect the discipline they discuss - communicating emerging understanding and evidence to help steer the course of a mutual endeavor.
In this case, the endeavor is no less than the function of civil society itself.
So the stakes are enormous. (Talk about large-scale collective impact.) The goal here - it strikes me - is not only sustainable change but creating a sustainable, adaptive structure for change.
Congrats to the authors John Kania, Fay Hanleybrown and Jennifer Splansky Juster. And to all those with whom they collaborate.
The post also made me think about the word “solution.” Its connotation has come to convey a sense of linear completion. Like when we cross something off our list of duties. Of course, such thinking is a fiction.
Life is a circle not a flow-chart with an ultimate product or service. The key goal is always constant and always receding. We continue. That’s it. And we do it well or poorly. We improve our ride around the circle or we make it worse. All the best work of humanity nurtures our abilities to take care of each other and future generations.
Of course, there is another meaning of the word “solution” - where the minor component or components are dissolved with the major liquid component. Can you see the salt in salt water? No. Can you taste it? Yes. Does its presence in the water change the water’s potential? Yes!
This kind of solution may help us reinforce the idea of collective impact as transformational as well as participatory.
Lemonade is a good example. In the right amounts, the sugar, lemon juice and water create a wonderful solution. And, as you point out in your post, the true achievement lies - not in any single component ingredient - but in the function of the whole.