Accelerating System Change with Collective Impact ... · The Tamarack Learning Centre Tamarack’s...

www.tamarackcommunity.ca

Accelerating System Change with Collective Impact & Authentic Engagement

SARC Fall ConferenceOctober 25th, 2018 –9:00 am to 12:00 pm


Your Presenter

Sylvia Cheuy

Consulting Director, Community Engagement

[email protected] (416) 988-6887


https://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/communityengagement

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/


TAMARACK: Our Theory of Change

We believe there are five interconnected practices that lead to impactful community change. We support our learners in the following areas:

The Tamarack Learning CentreTamarack’s Learning Centre exists to empower community changemakers to achieve greater impact. We support municipalities, funders, non-profits, and community leaders through on-demand coaching and consulting, in-person and digital training, and publications that guide change efforts.

We support our learning network in developing five interconnected practices that lead to community change:

CollectiveImpact

Community Engagement

Evaluating Impact

Collaborative Leadership

Community Innovation

A Connected Force for Community ChangeJoin us www.tamarackcommunity.ca

http://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/


What is Your Knowledge of Collective Impact?


Where Collective Impact Fits


Collective Impact: A Definition

“A disciplined, cross-sectorapproach to solving complexsocial and environmental issues on a large scale.”

- FSG: Social Impact Consultants


Preconditions for Collective Impact

• Influential Champion(s)

• Urgency of issue

• Adequate Resources

Common

Agenda

Shared

Measurement

Mutually

Reinforcing

Activities

Continuous

Communication

Backbone

Support

All participants have a shared vision for change including a common understanding

of the problem and a joint approach to solving it through agreed upon actions

Collecting data and measuring results consistently across all participants

ensures efforts remain aligned and participants hold each other accountable

Participant activities must be differentiated while still being coordinated through a

mutually reinforcing plan of action

Consistent and open communication is needed across the many players to build

trust, assure mutual objectives, and appreciate common motivation

Creating and managing collective impact requires a dedicated staff and a specific

set of skills to serve as the backbone for the entire initiative and coordinate

participating organizations and agencies

Source: FSG

11

The Five Conditions of Collective Impact

Exploring * Alignment * Tracking Progress * Results

Diverse Voices * Responsive * Community Aspiration

Weaving * System * Supportive * Centered

Trust * Transparency * Ongoing * Engagement

Facilitate * Convener * Coordinate * Movement

SpecializedAgendas

FragmentedMeasurements

IndependentActivities

SporadicCommunication

UnsupportedEfforts

Common Agenda

SharedMeasurements

Mutually Reinforcing

Activities

ContinuousCommunication

BackboneInfrastructure

Community Aspiration

Strategic Learning (& Shared

Measurement)

Six Additions in Collective Impact to 3.0

High Leverage and Systems Focus

Authentic Community Engagement

Container for Community Change

ManagementParadigm

Movement Building Paradigm


Collaboration & Complexity

Some Grounding Ideas

Trust

Turf

LooseTight

Compete Co-exist Communicate Cooperate Coordinate Collaborate Integrate

Competition for

clients,

resources,

partners, public

attention.

No systematic

connection

between

agencies.

Inter-agency

information

sharing (e.g.

networking).

As needed,

often informal,

interaction, on

discrete

activities or

projects.

Organizations

systematically

adjust and align

work with each

other for greater

outcomes.

Longer term

interaction

based on shared

mission, goals;

shared decision-

makers and

resources.

Fully integrated

programs,

planning,

funding.

The Collaboration Spectrum


Simple

Making Soup

Right “recipe” essential

Gives same results every time

Complicated

Sending a Rocket to the Moon

“Formulae” needed

Experience built over time and can be repeated with

success

Complex

Raising a Child

No “right” recipes or protocols Outside factors

influence Experience helps, but doesn’t guarantees

success

What Type of Problem Is It?

Source: Brenda Zimmerman, Director of Health Industry Management Program, Schulich School of Business

KNOWN KNOWABLE UNKNOWABLE

www.tamarackcommunity.ca 14

Working with Complexity

• No one sector, working alone can effectively address complex issues

• Complexity is best addressed with a multi-sector approach

• “Context experts” are as necessary as “content experts” in generating effective solutions to complex issues.


Complexity: Implications for Strategy Making

• Plan then act

• Explicit plans

• Strategy formulation followed by implementation

• Eliminate contradictions

• Look for agreement

• Limit type of action

• Specify paths/policies

• Management by exception

• Act & Learn at the same time

• Consider explicit plans & tacit knowledge

• Strategy formation

• Work with paradoxes

• Generative relationships

• Multiple actions

• Minimum Specs/Simple Rules

• Build on what grows

Simple/Complicated Complex


Collective Impact is NOT…

• Collaboration as usual

• Single sector approach

• A focus on individual programs and single focused solutions

• Short term “quick fixes”


Collective Impact

Example in Action


Collective Impact Example: Erie Together



COUNTY-WIDE ACTION TEAMS

• Early Childhood Readiness & Success

• Aligning Education to Careers

• Balancing Workforce & Economic Development

• Individual & Family Stability



Youth with quality career

exploration by 8th grade

Children reading at grade level

in 3rd grade

Children ready to learn when

they enter kindergarten

High School graduates ready

for next step



Outcome™

4X Higher HSGrad Rate

6X Less Likely CJ involvement3rd GradeReading

BetterHealthOutcomes

Significantly lower costs

Cohort Effect



Erie Together Keystone Outcome

3rd Grade Reading Scores


Collective Impact as a Disruptive Innovation


Collective Impact Mindset Shift

Buy-In Ownership


Content Context




Programs Systems


Exploring Community Change

Transforming Systems


Programmatic Versus Systems Change

• Programmatic interventions help people beat the odds

• Systemic interventions seek to change the odds

Karen J. PittmanCo-Founder, President & CEO of the Forum for Youth Investment

www.tamarackcommunity.ca 30

“Every problem magnifies the impact of the others, and all are so tightly interlocked that one reversal can produce a chain reaction with results far distant from the original causes.

A rundown apartment with mold exacerbates a child’s asthma, which leads to a call for an ambulance, which generates an ambulance bill that cannot be paid, which ruins a credit record, which hikes the interest rate on an auto loan which forces the purchase of a “beater” car that is unreliable, which jeopardizes a mother’s punctuality at work, which limits her promotions and earning capacity, which worsens her anxiety and depression, which increases her time off work, which confines her to poor housing.”

ADAPTED FROM: The Working Poor: Invisible in America by David Shipler

• What programs could be developed to change this family’s individual circumstances?

• What “systems” factors would you change the family AND 10,000 of their peers?

An Exercise in Systems Change


Transforming Systems

Moving Beyond System Alignment

• System alignment is often a beneficial outcome of Collective Impact Initiatives

• System alignment alone is not likely to lead to high impact strategies or systems-changing outcomes


Strategies to Get to Systems Change

• Policy – advocating for policy change at local orprovincial levels to improve the systems

• Enhancing Services – Bring in previously unnoticed practice, movement or resources to enhance existing local services

• Learning Through Prototyping – Start small with willing partners, learn from the experience and then expand

• Increasing Coordination – Re-aligning existing programs and stakeholders to maximize system efficacy


• Patient capital

• Persistence for longer term systems change

• Align funders across sectors to common agenda

• Legitimize the work of the collaborative table

• No playbook, support and advance the skills and capacity of collaborative partners

Things to Consider in Collective Impact


• Comments?

• Questions?



Practical Tools to implement Collective Impact and improve your collaborative outcomes.

Putting Theory into Action

• Define the challenge to be addressed.

• Acknowledge that a collective impact approach is required.

• Establish clear and shared goal(s) for change.

• Identify principles to guide joint work together.

Common Agenda

Grounded in a citizen survey:• Small Town Feel• Protecting the Headwaters• Rural Roots• Community Safety• Economy• Poverty• Health & Social Services• Arts and Culture• Community Involvement

http://headwaterscommunities.org

Building a Common Agenda

http://headwaterscommunities.org/

Building a Common Agenda Prior History Positive or Negative Impact

Pressing Issue Galvanize leaders across sectors

DataDetermine what you need to understand impact of the issue on community

Community Context

Is there community buy in? Determine community leverage opportunities

Core Group Determine who needs to be involved in core group

ConvenerTrusted leadership to facilitate collaborative efforts

Community Engagement

Determine how to engage the broader community in the effort

Strategies Assumptions

Influential Factors Problem/Issue/Opportunity Desired results (outputs, outcomes and impact)

Community needs/assets

5

2

1

6

3

4

Source: Kellogg Foundation, 2004

Common Agenda: Theory of Change Tool

All residents have access to affordable housing and experience

a sense of community


Exploring Authentic Community Engagement



A Definition

Authentic community engagement is the intentional

process of co-creating solutions in partnership with

people who know best, through their own experiences,

the barriers to opportunity.

Source: Voices for Racial Justice


“I can’t save the world on my own…it will take at least three of us.”

- Bill Mollison, A Permaculture Movement Founder

The Importance of Community Leadership


“Given the task of rejuvenating a region and the choice of $ 50 million, or $ 2 million and 20 committed local leaders, we would choose the smaller amount of money and the committed leaders.”

- McKinsey & Company (1994)

The Importance of Community Leadership


The Spark of Resurgent Cities

• Leadership and multi-sector collaboration are common characteristics of resurgent cities

• The catalyst for resurgence involved “leadership on the part of key institutions or individuals, along with collaboration among the various constituencies with an interest in economic development”

• The instigators of city revitalization “took responsibility for bringing about improvement.”

Source: Lessons from Resurgent Cities, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston

https://www.bostonfed.org/publications/annual-reports/2009/lessons-from-resurgent-cities.aspx



Six Functions of Community Leadership

1. Make things happen

2. Create Vision

3. Inspire Others

4. Facilitate relationships & collaboration

5. Instill a Positive Mindset

6. Foster leadership in others Source: Bank of IDEAS

“You can’t move your town to a different location, but you can move your town’s attitude in a different direction.”

- Heartland Center for Leadership

Development



Harnessing the Extraordinary Power of Ordinary People

“Neighbours are powerful producers of the common good. Citizenship is the foundation of a strong community. Every story of community is focused on connecting the assets of residents that were previously disconnected.”

- John McKnight

“Human ingenuity and creativity in the face of adversity is what defines us as a species. It’s something we can count on, not a speciality reserved for a few.”

- Al EtmanskiSix Patterns to Spread Your Social Innovation

http://aletmanski.com/books/


Asset-Based Community Development

Organizational Mindset Shift



The Progression of Citizen Power



The Community Engagement ParadoxThe internet and social media have made it easier than ever to mobilize support quickly around ideas and mobilize grassroots support for lasting systems change

BUT, at the Same Time….

• The complexity of issues;

• Scarcity of Funding; and,

• Shrinking public attention spans

Has made the job of community changemakers more difficult than ever.



Loneliness: A Growing Reality• A 2015 Angus Reid Survey on Belonging found that:

▪ 32% of Canadians report a very strong senseof belonging to their community;

▪ 38% of Canadians report they “don’t feel theyhave a stake” in their local community

• 2014 Stats Can data reported that:

▪ 1 in 5 older Canadians describe themselves as“lonely or dissatisfied with life”; and,

▪ 64% of Canadian post-secondary students reported feeling very lonely within the last 12 months



Benefits of Engagement for Individuals• A 2003 Harvard study showed that the higher a

community’s “social capital the lower its mortality rates, from violent crime AND from heart disease

• Humans are hardwired to live in community but evidence shows that our actual experiences of community have been steadily declining since the 1960s.

• It is estimated that 6 million Canadians are socially isolated and loneliness is as harmful to health:• It has the same health impact as smoking 15 cigarettes

a day• Social isolation can be twice as deadly as obesity;• Increases the risk of dementia by 64%



Benefits of Engagement for Neighbourhoods• When neighbours know each other

they are better able to help one another in times of emergency

• Research shows people who feel a sense of community are more likely to act for the common good;

• A deliberate & intentional effort is needed to re-learn the skills to build community



Benefits of Engagement for Municipalities• Being efficient and effective is necessary but not

sufficient for municipalities to be considered GREAT communities

• Municipal attention needs to broaden to consider social infrastructure. In the future, “the most profound and powerful long-term innovations in cities will be social.”

• Enhancing cities’ social infrastructure involves meaningful engagement of citizens as leaders and partners in shaping its future.

• Residents must be engaged differently – beyond their roles as taxpayers and voters for their sense of being responsible citizens to be restored


“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

- Albert Einstein

How I See

Options I Perceive

Choices I Make

How I See + Options I Perceive = Choices


Multi-Sector Collaboration & Complexity

Harnessing Collective Wisdom

The Scallop Principle

• Each one of us is an eye (I); the whole discerns through us.

• The corollary: when we don’t hear from any eye (I), the whole is at greater risk.

Stances that support the arising of collective wisdom• Suspend certainty• See the whole• Seek diverse perspectives• Welcome all that is arising• Trust in the transcendent



Lasting Community Change: A Collaboration Between 3 Innovators

Disruptive Innovators• “Passionate amateurs” who are motivated by necessity and inspired by love.• They challenge the current way of doing things• Can be perceived as “a threat” to the system

Bridging Innovators• They are critical intermediaries between disruptive innovators to organizations

and institutions • They are astute at spotting promising ideas• They use their relationships to lend credibility to the disruptive innovator and

translate his/her ideas to the system

Receptive Innovators• Innovators within organizations • They are able to translate promising ideas into reality within existing systems• They use their insider knowledge of key levers to advance promising innovations

within the system

Source: Al EtmanskiSix Patterns to Spread Your Social Innovation

http://aletmanski.com/books/



7 Building Blocks for Authentic Engagement

1. Set appropriate expectations

2. Always educate

3. Close the loop

4. Build relationships

5. Recognize different kinds of expertise

6. Establish ownership

7. Take an asset-based approach


Set Appropriate Expectations

Community Engagement Continuum

One level is not better than the others. Consider:• Complexity• Timeline• Budget• Goals• Community

expectations• Public interest

Trust is broken down when expectations are different from reality.



Always EducateInform your community in ways that

cut through the clutter:

• Videos, infographics

• Plain language, humour, surprise

• Explain why it should matter to

them

• In the right channels

• Through word of mouth

• Having a great idea and demonstrating positive results is key to community change

• Effectively communicating your ideas and results is AS IMPORTANT for building momentum, continued engagement and impact

• Effective communication requires a message that “sticks” with people. A sticky message is:• Understood• Remembered • Changes something for the receiver


Make Your Message “Sticky”



6 Principles to Create a Sticky Message



Always Close the Loop

• Thank the community for their participation

• Tell them how their feedback is being used

• Show the impact of their contribution

• Always educate

• Be creative and have fun in how you report back



Tips for Closing the Loop



Adopt the Lens of Assets

“Like all magnificent concepts ABCD ignites the imagination. It’s impossible to look at the world in the same way once you see it through the lens of ABCD.”

- Al Etmanski



5 Community Assets

“The gift that the composers of

ABCD – John McKnight and Jody

Kretzman – have given us is that

they present our caring and

ingenuity back to us in such an

elegant way that we can

appreciate its beauty and respect

its power.”- Al Etmanski

1. Individuals

2. Associations

3. Institutions

4. Physical Space

5. Exchange



Residents and their Gifts



The Tools of Community

CONTROL CONSENT

PRODUCESGOODS & SERVICES

PROVIDES CARE

CLIENTS OR CONSUMER CITIZEN

NEEDS CAPACITY

“Institutions and associations are both important “tools” for the work of communities. Each has it particular purpose. What doesn’t work is when we use the wrong tool.”

- John McKnight


• Comments?

• Questions?


Tools to Put

Theory into Practice

Find more Tools at:https://www.tamarackcommunity.ca

https://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/collectiveimpact



Personal Asset Inventory Tool

• Individuals bring a wealth of personal assets to the collaborative table

• The Personal Asset Inventory Tool is a simple and fun way to inventory the group’s collective skills & abilities

• Once revealed, the group can determine how best to move their collective work forward.



Personal Asset Inventory Tool

• Create an inventory of personal assets

• Reflect on the following question:

How can we use our collective assets to strengthen youth leadership at TCHC?

Synthesize the top 3 insights from your group’s dialogue to share



The Stakeholder Wheel of Engagement


Reflecting On Today

Share highlights you are leaving with…



"In every community there is work to be done. In every nation, there are wounds to heal. In every heart there is the power to do it.”

– Marianne Williamson

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