expanding leadership beyond your walls collaborating for collective innovation laurie preece melissa...

Expanding Leadership Beyond Your WallsCollaborating for Collective Innovation

Laurie PreeceMelissa JaggersFord NGL ConferenceOctober

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Collaborating for Collective Innovation

Laurie Preece

• Community Coach, Alignment USA• Former Executive Director, Alignment Rockford

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Collaborating for Collective Innovation

Melissa Jaggers

• Associate Executive Director, Alignment Nashville• Coaching/Technical

Assistance, Alignment USA

Collaborating for Collective Innovation

Alignment USA Network

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Collaborating for Collective Innovation

Learning Objectives

1. What are systems? 2. What is systemic/transformational change?3. What are the key elements of a

collaborative leadership mindset? 4. Why share power, decision-making and

recognition?5. What are the steps to an aligned agenda?6. Why open and frequent communication?7. How do you safeguard the collaborative process?

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Collaborating for Collective Innovation

What is a System?

• sys·tem /’sist m/ noun: a group of related parts that move or work together

e

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Collaborating for Collective Innovation

Transportation System

• sys·tem /’sist m/ noun: a group of related parts that move or work together

e

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Collaborating for Collective Innovation

Community Educational System

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Collaborating for Collective Innovation

Score = Community/System

“Each institution is autonomous and has to do its own work the way each instrument in an orchestra plays only its own part. But there is also the score, the community. And only if each individual instrument contributes to the score is there music. Otherwise there is only noise. And this…is about the score.” Peter F. Drucker, 1999

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Collaborating for Collective Innovation

What is Systemic Change?

INCREMENTAL Focus: problem-solving Evolutionary Existing culture Question little Adjust status quo Few stakeholders Leader-directed Current structure Narrow focusPower consolidation

SYSTEMIC Focus: vision & strategy Revolutionary Create culture Question everything Disrupt status quo All stakeholders Diverse perspectives Change environment Broad focus Power distribution

©Alignment USA – Sydney Rogers & Laurie Preece

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Collaborating for Collective Innovation

When Expertise is Not Enough

“The capability of individuals is not proving to be our primary difficulty…It is not clear how we could produce substantially more expertise than we already have. Yet our failures remain frequent. They persist despite remarkable individual ability.’’

The Checklist Manifesto, Atul Gawande

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Collaborating for Collective Innovation

Optimizing Parts

“Anyone who understands systems will know immediately that optimizing parts is not a good route to system excellence.”

The Checklist Manifesto, Atul Gawande

Collaborating for Collective Innovation

True Complexity

“Under conditions of true complexity-where the knowledge required exceeds that of any individual and unpredictability reigns – efforts to dictate every step from the center will fail. People need room to act and adapt. Yet they cannot succeed as isolated individuals, either – that is anarchy. Instead, they require a seemingly contradictory mix of freedom and expectation – expectation to coordinate, for example and also to measure progress toward common goals.”

The Checklist Manifesto, Atul Gawande

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Collaborating for Collective Innovation

Collective Impact

1. Common agenda2. Shared measurements and systems 3. Mutually reinforcing activities4. Trust and continuous communication5. Backbone or intermediary

organizations

6. Community-wide tactics7. Fidelity of implementation

Stanford Social Innovation Review, Winter 2011: “Collective Impact” by John Kania and Mark Kramer

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Collaborating for Collective Innovation

Ford NGL Strands

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Collaborating for Collective Innovation

Collaboration

• co·lab·or·ate /k ‘la b rat / verb: to work with another person or group in order to achieve or do something

e e _

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Collaborating for Collective Innovation

Why is Co-labor-ating So Hard?

CHALLENGES

1) Work across boundaries

2) Build trust fast

3) Share risk/benefit

4) Make it work with all stakeholders

5) Link resources into networks

REALITY

1) No authority

2) Inertia, suspicion & bureaucracies

3) Self-serving nature

4) Collaboration viewed as a last resort

5) Legacy attitudes about resources

©Alignment USA – Sydney Rogers & Laurie Preece

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Collaborating for Collective Innovation

Collaborative Leader Mindset

• Resources as shared instruments of action• Authentic leadership without passive

aggressiveness• Transparent decision-making• Codified relationship between

decision-making rights, accountability and rewardsRon Ricci and Carl Wiese, Copyright ©2012 Cisco Systems Inc.

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Collaborating for Collective Innovation

Collaborative Leadership Roles1. Assess the environment for collaboration2. Create clarity of model and agendas3. Built trust, transparency and

predictability4. Share power and influence5. Develop people and organizations6. Encourage self-reflection7. Build and share common knowledge8. Build social leadership identity Dr. Jill Jameson, Center for Excellence in Leadership

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Collaborating for Collective Innovation

Collaborative Leadership Roles1. Assess the environment for

Alignment

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Collaborating for Collective Innovation

Collaborative Leadership Roles2. Create clarity of model

Collaborating for Collective Innovation

Alignment IS…

…a system designed to support a public school’s strategic plan for student success by aligning community resources

Collaborating for Collective Innovation

Alignment IS NOT…

…a program…a parent organization…a school governance model

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Collaborating for Collective Innovation

Alignment Team Process

TacticalPlanning

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Collaborating for Collective Innovation

Collaborative Leadership Roles3. Built trust, transparency and

predictability

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Collaborating for Collective Innovation

Culture of Communication

• Embedded in Process (mechanical)• Open/Transparent/Pithy (artful)

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Collaborating for Collective Innovation

Culture of Communication

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Collaborating for Collective Innovation

Collaborative Leadership Roles4. Share power and influence

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Collaborating for Collective Innovation

Community Engagement

Struggle

Awareness

Back & Forth

PlanTactic

Pilot Tactics

Success or Failure

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Collaborating for Collective Innovation

Collaborative Leadership Roles5. Develop people and organizations

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Collaborating for Collective Innovation

Collaborative Leadership Roles6. Encourage self-reflection

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Collaborating for Collective Innovation

Collaborative Leadership Roles7. Build and share common knowledge

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Collaborating for Collective Innovation

Collaborative Leadership Roles8. Build social leadership identity

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Collaborating for Collective Innovation

Steps to an Aligned Agenda

Convene Stakeholders in

‘’A-Teams’’

Analyze Relevant

Data

Select Strategy & Craft

Common Vision

Define Desired Outcomes &

Assessment Plan

Design Tactics & ITP

©Alignment USA

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Collaborating for Collective Innovation

Steps to Resource Alignment

Community Organizations

Respond to ITP™

©Alignment USA

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Collaborating for Collective Innovation

Backbones Safeguard Process

• Process Experts• Adaptive Leaders 1

o Focus attention to create urgency (storytelling)

oApply pressure without overwhelmingo Frame issues (opportunities/difficulties)oMediate conflict

• Move collaborators from advocacy to collective impact 2

1 Stanford Social Innovation Review, Winter 2011: “Collective Impact” by John Kania and Mark Kramer2 Alignment Nashville

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Collaborating for Collective Innovation

From Advocacy…

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Collaborating for Collective Innovation

From Advocacy…

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Collaborating for Collective Innovation

…to Collective Impact

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Collaborating for Collective Innovation

Risks Without A Backbone

• Loss of stakeholder diversity and balance• Loss of strategic focus• Collaborators may burn out• Collaborating organizations may pull out• Loss of process expertise• Administrative tasks may be neglected• Facilitation skills may not be specialized• Communication may be neglected• Data/Assessment may be neglected

©Alignment USA – Sydney Rogers & Laurie Preece

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Collaborating for Collective Innovation

Learning Objectives

1. What are systems? 2. What is systemic/transformational change?3. What are the key elements of a

collaborative leadership mindset? 4. Why share power, decision-making and

recognition?5. What are the steps to an aligned agenda?6. Why open and frequent communication?7. How do you safeguard the collaborative process?

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Collaborating for Collective Innovation

Reference List

1. Stanford Social Innovation Review, Winter 2011: “Collective Impact” by John Kania and Mark Kramer

2. Stanford Social Innovation Review, Digital Edition: ‘’Collective Insights on Collective Impacts”

3. Center for Excellence in Leadership, “Investigating Collaborative Leadership for Communities of Practice in Learning and Skills”, 2006, Dr. Jill Jameson

4. The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right, 2009, Dr. Atul Gawande

5. The Collaboration Imperative, 2011, Ron Ricci and Carl Wiese

6. Drucker Institute7. Churchman, C. W. (1967). “Wicked problems” Management Science, 14(4), B-141 and B-142

Thank you!Laurie PreeceLauriePreece@Gmail.com

Melissa JaggersMelissa@AlignmentNashville.org

©Alignment USA – Sydney Rogers &

Laurie Preece