Building the Architecture of Full Participation

Susan SturmColumbia Law School

Center for Institutional and Social Change www.changecenter.org

www.changecenter.org

Systemic analysis of barriers and levers

2

Unit / Program

IndividualLevel

Relational

Institutional

Inter-Institutional

Ecosystem

• Lack of effective mentors• Non-communication

• Stereotype threat• Disconnection from social

and cultural capital

• Leadership discontinuities• Unexamined routines

• Siloed decision-making• Turf

• Disparities at key transitions• Disciplinary divides

• Hard-wired systemic inequalities• Culture of individualism• Budget cuts

Center for Institutional and Social Change © 2011

The Change Theory of Full Participation

Mindset

MobilizersMechanisms

Center for Institutional and Social Change © 20113

Theory of Change

• Affirmative and concrete• Developmental and re-creative• Multi-level

Collective vision

• Critical and strategic inquiry• Barriers analysis• Discussibility as developmental

Reflection and Integration

• Individuals, cohorts, and hubs• Distributed/barriers• Strategically cultivated and regenerated

Transformative leadership

• Barriers analysis• Action arenas• Projects in motion

Leverage points and spaces for action

• Ongoing work• Areas of innovation• Positive deviants

Strategies and projects

Theory of Action

Collective affirmative vision/

shared goals

Transformative leadership

Hubs/connectors

Leverage points and spaces for

linkage

Deep collaboration with

communities

Strategies for integration and

reflection Mindset

MobilizersMechanisms

Transformative Leadership

Collaborative

Collective vision / shared

narratives

Systems orientation

Re-imagines institutions

Bottom up/Top down

A Developmental and Systems Orientation

• Inquiring about “thriving” at key junctures of activity• Identifying patterns and barriers to prompt collective

attentiveness and action• Identifying action arenas and leverage points—sites

for collective impact• Building capacity to act on knowledge at key pivot

points• Regularly assessing strategies and outcomes with a

developmental orientation

Center for Institutional and Social Change © 2011

Affirmative Vision:The elements of full participation

An affirmative value or goal

Focused on creating settings and institutions

That enables people, whatever their identity, background, or institutional position,

to thrive, realize their capabilities, engage meaningfully in institutional life,

and contribute to the flourishing of others (Sturm 2006, 2010).

Sturm, Eatman, Saltmarsh and Bush 20118

Full participation as a critical and strategic lens:

What does it

mean to thrive in

this setting?

When and

where research thriving occurs?

Thriving by

whom? Who is and is

not thriving?

How does the setting’s design and patterns of interaction affect

thriving?

What projects or initiatives provide

windows of opportunity?

What policies or practices

could enable greater

thriving?

Necessitates ongoing

reflection and change

Strategic Mindset

Identifying full participation action arena and convergence of commitment

Articulating concrete goals connected to full participation vision

Conducting barrier analysis

Mapping stakeholders

Identifying strategies for sustaining engagement

Reflecting, reflecting, experimenting, and revising

Center for Institutional and Social Change © 200910

Action Arenas

Shared interest/concern

Strategic collaborators

Opportunity for action

Action arena

Organizational Catalysts:

• Role operating at convergence of systems

• Positioned to use knowledge where it can influence action

• Legitimacy and commitment • Boundary spanners• Multi-lingual• Situated in a larger change

project

Mechanisms: Strategies Enabling Multi-level Change

LEVERAGING PARTNERSHIPS AND NETWORKS

ENABLING COHORTS

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

CROSS-CUTTING PROJECTS

RECONFIGURING SPACE

Center for Institutional and Social Change © 201113

Leverage points

Funding

Conflict and crisis

Ongoing change project or initiative

Shared space or place

Methodology

Converging relationships

Review processes

Major events or milestones

Leverage points

Key transitions/decisions

Leadership cultivation

Ongoing institutional activities

Conflict and crisis

Building on positive deviants/innovation

Mobilizing Strategic Relationships

Sturm 2012 16

Positive Deviants

Negative Deviants

The Movable Middle

• Identify• Empower• Network• Prototype

• Address• Destabilize• De-legitimate

• Understand• Engage and enable• Motivate and reinforce• Measure and sustain