It would be super cool and even apropos to the topic if those of you that make it to the end of the blog would let me know what you think. I promise to respond. Let’s have a conversation.
Hi Steve. Thanks for covering this important topic and pointing out the complexities so well. I formed a collaborative (National Coalition for Maternal Mental Health) of competing non-profits addressing maternal mental health on the premise we would do a few simple things which we refer to as SEA 1. SHARE what we are each working on 2. ENGAGE outside stakeholders by inviting them to coalition meetings to present on some related to mental health or supporting moms and families 3. Collectively raise AWARENESS and ADVOCATE for change (our first order of business was a national social media campaign for maternal mental health awareness month in May). It’s been both bumpy and rewarding for our participants. We all just agreed to another year together and to pay dues to support this collective work.
One key has been outside consultation on structure and strategy planning sessions. A neutral expert on non profit collaboration. One struggle has been capacity. This is a group of passionate mothers who always seem to find one more hour to give for their cause.
Thanks for the reminder to keep it up. It matters.
PS regarding collaborative events. I just learned about village square and my interest is peaked.
Hey Steve,
As a fellow pie lover in his glory as we are in pumpkin pie season… thanks for pulling these elements together. I appreciate your recognition of vulnerability as an attitude needed for trust building and for surfacing the approach of an emergence when we take on this work. Talking about the ‘art’ of collaboration can sometimes be greeted with rolling of the eyes and so the more that can be said, written and demonstrated about the validity the better.
I also agree that collaboration as a way to confront these real and looming problems is a powerful way to overcome the cloud of gloom around us. We, as a society, created these wicked problems and so why wouldn’t we, (private, public and civil society actors) be implicated in resolving them. I am constantly buoyed by having the opportunity to work in this space at this point in time.
One thought (a nuance, really): in the Commitment stage, what if partners committed to a queston, to some learning that they want to embark on together and that they can’t pursue effectively alone? It’s something I explored recently in a blog post called Mission Questions Not Mission Statements. Such an approach ties in with both vulnerability and emergence, and it’s likely to be more inclusive and engaging. It’s the spirit behind the Social Lab movement.
Joy, Thank you for this excellent example. As we try to talk about this type of work it is critical that we have concrete examples. I am also very appreciative of the bumps as well as the rewards. They come together for anything that is worthwhile, right?
Additionally, I am a huge fan of having a Theory of Change and I have a hunch (that I am eager to verify) that if members of a coalition like yours could each come to a participatory event with a complete Theory of Change the event could focus on the intersections. I have a very tactical understanding of what a Theory of Change is.
1) What is the change that you intend to make
2) What do you do every day - what activities - that you believe will contribute to creating that change.
3) what is the theory that connects your activities to the change - why will what you do create the change?
Brad, It seems like you and I are on similar wavelengths here. That is great to see - lends credence, no?
I read you excellent article on complexity and partnership. I really appreciate the role of “brokering” and I think ingeneral we need to invest more in this in our sector. UIn my previous comment I talked about backbone orgs which is a type of brokering.
Also in my previous comment I wrote about Theory of Change which you mention in your article. I like to use a Theory of Change as an iterative document that can serve to stay on mission in a lean methodology process. I find the more complicated Theory of Change processes are very useful as a process but the resulting document can be too unwieldy to operationalize and revisit and tweak over time. This also answers the ‘art’ of collaboration idea. I absolutely do not see it as an *art* which is why I titled this the Tactics of Collaboration. That said, I am very comfortable with using terms like faith and love in the context of our work. Their is a reason why this work needs to be done and that is to improve our quality of life - to serve humanity. Money is a very poor proxy for success. Love is not.
Michelle, Mission Questions is very compelling. It is clearly better than “be # 1”. Ready your post, I think it is similar to the idea of emergence and the faith that rigorous work together will bring us to a better place. The only nuance that I would add to your nuance is that for social sector organizations, moving away from a clear statement of the change they intend to create would be a mistake. For example, your friend in the woods in my opinion should never let go of “eliminating the concept of waste” as a goal to focus their work. The question “What if we embraced the concept of rot and death…and also renewal?” is very powerful but I wonder if it is practical enough to structure the tactics of a business around it.
This piece is great and as a practitioner of collaborative innovation and facilitator of networks, your views are provocative.
I’d like to get your read on a parallel conversation going on elsewhere on the SSIR blog regarding Innovation Labs, and a piece by Amira Bliss and Nidhi Sahni. As the co-founder of the Global Knowledge Initiative, we’ve had the privilege of experimenting with a range of models, tools, and processes to kick-start collaborative innovation on problems global and wicked.
I’m often asked what makes this notion of an Innovation Lab new or different. My take: it’s not wholly different. It’s unique as a recombinant form of social innovation. Tools like Human Centered Design have been around for decades. However, part of the novelty and the power of Innovation Labs rests in opening up the box of tools that underpins the innovation design processes. By empowering the broadest set of users possible with the ability to select the tools for design, wield them on their own terms, and formulate innovations in an utterly collaborative fashion, Innovation Labs come to solutions that are uniquely co-created.
To connect this notion of Innovation Labs to the idea of establishing the case for collaboration, I want to pick up on your points on return on investment and improving the risk-return calculation. How Innovation Labs can help propel the thinking and measurement on methods to calculate returns to social innovation as a social process will be fascinating. How the very construct of Innovation Labs offers an investment in the social capital and the linkages necessary for systems to innovate merits thought and validation as we move forward. So, given the emphasis on emergence, how do you propose reconciling the unknowns implicit in emergent processes with the need to articulate the value propositions of investments in processes like that of Innovation Labs ex ante of their work enabling collaborations that deliver value (as any grant application, for example, would require)? And, what would the calculations look like after the fact to put some good numbers and methods behind the risk return calculations as you propose?
Sara, I left a long comment yesterday and maybe never hit ‘submit’? Erg. Trying again now.
Many thanks for the very thoughtful comment!. It seems that your last two questions are the gist of your comments. True?
Given the emphasis on emergence, how do you propose reconciling the unknowns implicit in emergent processes with the need to articulate the value propositions of investments?
and
What would the calculations look like after the fact to put some good numbers and methods behind the risk return calculations as you propose?
In general, I think we over think this idea. Social enterprise is a disruptive innovation because social enterprises are required to provide value beyond profit. I like to say that profit is “above the line” and value that rolls up to love is below the line - is the bottom line. I use the terms faith and love intentionally and rigorously. They are great and meaningful words that should not be compartmentalized. Love is valuable. Love is the ledger. That does not excuse us from being rigorous in our efforts to maximize the value we are creating. Quite the opposite. If it is love that we are aiming for, then it is clearly really important. Feeding the hungry. Maximizing vibrancy in our communities. Ending poverty. These things all have best practices and indexes of progress. That is where the rigor goes. Each domain has its measure of progress. There is no grand unifying unit of good and their definitely is no relevant way to equate money to good, or love. Love is valuable. that is enough.
Really interesting thoughts, thanks. Your model Commitment—> Partnership—> Vulnerability—> Emergence is interesting and makes sense. It is a good complement to the Tuckman’s stages of group development (Form—> Storm—> Norm—> Perform), stages 2 and 3 being a little bit opposites in waves….
Thank you for this article. Having recently read Brene Brown’s “The Gifts of Imperfection,” I feel as though vulnerability is less of a tactic and more of way of being.
Amy, I agree. I think of the 4 stages as developmental. I do believe we need to actively pursue the capacity to be vulnerable and reading Brene Brown is a great way to start. 😊
Thanks for your reply Steve. I’ve been pondering Sara’s comments and will be exploring the same questions with regard to measuring the social impact on investments via social labs.
COMMENTS
BY Jazz Rasool
ON November 4, 2014 03:26 PM
Just spent 6 years researching collaborations that worked and ones that didn’t. The outcomes of collaboration best practice are highlighted at:
http://medium.com/@jazzrasool -the article on Job with Life and:
http://energydiamond.com/care.pdf is a good manifesto/vision to start
http://energydiamond.com/docs/edbrochure.pdf
BY steve wright
ON November 6, 2014 09:30 AM
It would be super cool and even apropos to the topic if those of you that make it to the end of the blog would let me know what you think. I promise to respond. Let’s have a conversation.
BY Joy Burkhard
ON November 6, 2014 03:38 PM
Hi Steve. Thanks for covering this important topic and pointing out the complexities so well. I formed a collaborative (National Coalition for Maternal Mental Health) of competing non-profits addressing maternal mental health on the premise we would do a few simple things which we refer to as SEA 1. SHARE what we are each working on 2. ENGAGE outside stakeholders by inviting them to coalition meetings to present on some related to mental health or supporting moms and families 3. Collectively raise AWARENESS and ADVOCATE for change (our first order of business was a national social media campaign for maternal mental health awareness month in May). It’s been both bumpy and rewarding for our participants. We all just agreed to another year together and to pay dues to support this collective work.
One key has been outside consultation on structure and strategy planning sessions. A neutral expert on non profit collaboration. One struggle has been capacity. This is a group of passionate mothers who always seem to find one more hour to give for their cause.
Thanks for the reminder to keep it up. It matters.
PS regarding collaborative events. I just learned about village square and my interest is peaked.
BY Brad Henderson
ON November 7, 2014 07:23 AM
Hey Steve,
As a fellow pie lover in his glory as we are in pumpkin pie season… thanks for pulling these elements together. I appreciate your recognition of vulnerability as an attitude needed for trust building and for surfacing the approach of an emergence when we take on this work. Talking about the ‘art’ of collaboration can sometimes be greeted with rolling of the eyes and so the more that can be said, written and demonstrated about the validity the better.
I also agree that collaboration as a way to confront these real and looming problems is a powerful way to overcome the cloud of gloom around us. We, as a society, created these wicked problems and so why wouldn’t we, (private, public and civil society actors) be implicated in resolving them. I am constantly buoyed by having the opportunity to work in this space at this point in time.
Re: working with emergence perspective. Earlier this year I had a paper published by the online journal of Partnership Brokers Association, http://partnershipbrokers.org/w/journal/complexity-and-partnering-learning-to-see-for-more-effective-brokering/ about what this looks like as partnership practitioner. You will notice that I borrowed heavily on FSG’s paper.
BY Michelle Holliday
ON November 7, 2014 08:05 AM
Love it! Thank you, Steve.
One thought (a nuance, really): in the Commitment stage, what if partners committed to a queston, to some learning that they want to embark on together and that they can’t pursue effectively alone? It’s something I explored recently in a blog post called Mission Questions Not Mission Statements. Such an approach ties in with both vulnerability and emergence, and it’s likely to be more inclusive and engaging. It’s the spirit behind the Social Lab movement.
http://www.solarium.cambiumconsulting.com/content/mission-questions-not-mission-statements
BY steve wright
ON November 7, 2014 08:18 AM
Joy, Thank you for this excellent example. As we try to talk about this type of work it is critical that we have concrete examples. I am also very appreciative of the bumps as well as the rewards. They come together for anything that is worthwhile, right?
Have you had an opportunity to read about backbone organizations in collective impact work?
It seems like this is what you are trying to do with the National Coalition for Maternal Mental Health. Here is a good article on Backbone orgs: http://www.ssireview.org/blog/entry/understanding_the_value_of_backbone_organizations_in_collective_impact_2
Additionally, I am a huge fan of having a Theory of Change and I have a hunch (that I am eager to verify) that if members of a coalition like yours could each come to a participatory event with a complete Theory of Change the event could focus on the intersections. I have a very tactical understanding of what a Theory of Change is.
1) What is the change that you intend to make
2) What do you do every day - what activities - that you believe will contribute to creating that change.
3) what is the theory that connects your activities to the change - why will what you do create the change?
Thank you for contributing to the conversation.
BY steve wright
ON November 7, 2014 08:58 AM
Brad, It seems like you and I are on similar wavelengths here. That is great to see - lends credence, no?
I read you excellent article on complexity and partnership. I really appreciate the role of “brokering” and I think ingeneral we need to invest more in this in our sector. UIn my previous comment I talked about backbone orgs which is a type of brokering.
Also in my previous comment I wrote about Theory of Change which you mention in your article. I like to use a Theory of Change as an iterative document that can serve to stay on mission in a lean methodology process. I find the more complicated Theory of Change processes are very useful as a process but the resulting document can be too unwieldy to operationalize and revisit and tweak over time. This also answers the ‘art’ of collaboration idea. I absolutely do not see it as an *art* which is why I titled this the Tactics of Collaboration. That said, I am very comfortable with using terms like faith and love in the context of our work. Their is a reason why this work needs to be done and that is to improve our quality of life - to serve humanity. Money is a very poor proxy for success. Love is not.
Thank you for your comments.
BY steve wright
ON November 7, 2014 09:10 AM
Michelle, Mission Questions is very compelling. It is clearly better than “be # 1”. Ready your post, I think it is similar to the idea of emergence and the faith that rigorous work together will bring us to a better place. The only nuance that I would add to your nuance is that for social sector organizations, moving away from a clear statement of the change they intend to create would be a mistake. For example, your friend in the woods in my opinion should never let go of “eliminating the concept of waste” as a goal to focus their work. The question “What if we embraced the concept of rot and death…and also renewal?” is very powerful but I wonder if it is practical enough to structure the tactics of a business around it.
Many thanks for the contribution!
BY Sara Farley
ON November 13, 2014 11:24 AM
Hi Steve,
This piece is great and as a practitioner of collaborative innovation and facilitator of networks, your views are provocative.
I’d like to get your read on a parallel conversation going on elsewhere on the SSIR blog regarding Innovation Labs, and a piece by Amira Bliss and Nidhi Sahni. As the co-founder of the Global Knowledge Initiative, we’ve had the privilege of experimenting with a range of models, tools, and processes to kick-start collaborative innovation on problems global and wicked.
I’m often asked what makes this notion of an Innovation Lab new or different. My take: it’s not wholly different. It’s unique as a recombinant form of social innovation. Tools like Human Centered Design have been around for decades. However, part of the novelty and the power of Innovation Labs rests in opening up the box of tools that underpins the innovation design processes. By empowering the broadest set of users possible with the ability to select the tools for design, wield them on their own terms, and formulate innovations in an utterly collaborative fashion, Innovation Labs come to solutions that are uniquely co-created.
To connect this notion of Innovation Labs to the idea of establishing the case for collaboration, I want to pick up on your points on return on investment and improving the risk-return calculation. How Innovation Labs can help propel the thinking and measurement on methods to calculate returns to social innovation as a social process will be fascinating. How the very construct of Innovation Labs offers an investment in the social capital and the linkages necessary for systems to innovate merits thought and validation as we move forward. So, given the emphasis on emergence, how do you propose reconciling the unknowns implicit in emergent processes with the need to articulate the value propositions of investments in processes like that of Innovation Labs ex ante of their work enabling collaborations that deliver value (as any grant application, for example, would require)? And, what would the calculations look like after the fact to put some good numbers and methods behind the risk return calculations as you propose?
Looking forward to hearing your ideas!
BY steve wright
ON November 14, 2014 11:07 AM
Sara, I left a long comment yesterday and maybe never hit ‘submit’? Erg. Trying again now.
Many thanks for the very thoughtful comment!. It seems that your last two questions are the gist of your comments. True?
Given the emphasis on emergence, how do you propose reconciling the unknowns implicit in emergent processes with the need to articulate the value propositions of investments?
and
What would the calculations look like after the fact to put some good numbers and methods behind the risk return calculations as you propose?
In general, I think we over think this idea. Social enterprise is a disruptive innovation because social enterprises are required to provide value beyond profit. I like to say that profit is “above the line” and value that rolls up to love is below the line - is the bottom line. I use the terms faith and love intentionally and rigorously. They are great and meaningful words that should not be compartmentalized. Love is valuable. Love is the ledger. That does not excuse us from being rigorous in our efforts to maximize the value we are creating. Quite the opposite. If it is love that we are aiming for, then it is clearly really important. Feeding the hungry. Maximizing vibrancy in our communities. Ending poverty. These things all have best practices and indexes of progress. That is where the rigor goes. Each domain has its measure of progress. There is no grand unifying unit of good and their definitely is no relevant way to equate money to good, or love. Love is valuable. that is enough.
BY CecileRay
ON November 17, 2014 06:50 AM
Really interesting thoughts, thanks. Your model Commitment—> Partnership—> Vulnerability—> Emergence is interesting and makes sense. It is a good complement to the Tuckman’s stages of group development (Form—> Storm—> Norm—> Perform), stages 2 and 3 being a little bit opposites in waves….
BY Amy Erickson
ON November 24, 2014 01:30 PM
Thank you for this article. Having recently read Brene Brown’s “The Gifts of Imperfection,” I feel as though vulnerability is less of a tactic and more of way of being.
BY steve wright
ON December 1, 2014 11:52 AM
Cecile, thank you for the comment. I will re-read Tuckman!
BY steve wright
ON December 1, 2014 11:55 AM
Amy, I agree. I think of the 4 stages as developmental. I do believe we need to actively pursue the capacity to be vulnerable and reading Brene Brown is a great way to start. 😊
BY Amy Erickson
ON December 2, 2014 09:45 AM
Thanks for your reply Steve. I’ve been pondering Sara’s comments and will be exploring the same questions with regard to measuring the social impact on investments via social labs.
BY Deborah Proctor
ON April 28, 2015 03:27 PM
Let it flow.. Let it flow…
Type A, will surely have trouble with stage 3….
Love the concept and yes I am a type A