champions of change san francisco backbone workshop: phases activity analysis | march 2014
TRANSCRIPT
Champions of Change San Francisco Backbone Workshop: Phases Activity Analysis
| March 2014
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Contents
Summary of Activity
Phase I – Idea Phase
Phase II – Idea to Formation
Phase III – Growth Phase
Phase IV – Mature Phase
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Around 250 Participants Broke Up By Phase to Discuss “The Effective Backbone Organization”
• Each group discussed the following questions:
1. What is going well?
2. What is challenging?
3. What tools are you using to break through?
Phases of Collective
Impact
Phase IIIGrowth Phase
Phase IIIdea to
Formation
Phase IIdea Phase
Phase IVMature Phase
Activity Summary
(Pre Start-Up) (Start-Up to 1 Year) (2 – 3 Years) (4 Years or More)
• Workshop participants broke into four groups based on the stage of development of their collective impact projects
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Participants Identified the Following High Level Themes as “Going Well” in Each of Their Phases
Phase IIIGrowth Phase
Phase IIIdea to Formation
Phase IIdea Phase
Phase IVMature Phase
Alignment with existing
collaboratives
Diverse group of key leaders at the
table
There is a inspiration and
momentum around solving the problem
The initiative has a clear and
compelling goal
Data is beginning to be linked to
governance and action
Diverse partnerships and
stakeholder engagement
Shared measurement
leading to more cohesion and engagement
Influence on policies and policy
makers
Reflecting and building on earlier
successes
Groups speak with a common voice
All community stakeholders are engaged in some
way
Data has been streamlined and
linked to accountability
Group is structured for action and to take advantage of quick
wins
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Participants Identified the Following High Level Themes as Areas That Are “Challenging” in Each of Their Phases
Phase IIIGrowth Phase
Phase IIIdea to Formation
Phase IIdea Phase
Phase IVMature Phase
Shifting leaders’ mindsets to focus
on systems change
Clashing egos from those unused to
this type of collaboration
Finding and attracting funders
Identifying quick wins while avoiding
distractions
Effectively capturing and
utilizing data for action
Sharing power and credit
Meeting fatigue
Moving from planning to action
Unequal progress
Educating funders on the power of the
work
Managing changes in leadership over
time
Ability to evolve the initiative to changing circumstances and
scale
Balancing funding needs to reach
financial sustainability
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Contents
Summary of Activity
Phase I – Idea Phase
Phase II – Idea to Formation
Phase III – Growth Phase
Phase IV – Mature Phase
Phase I – Idea Phase: What is Going Well?
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Alignment with existing collaboratives
Diverse group of key leaders at the table
There is inspiration and momentum around solving the problem
• Alignment with other local, state, and federal initiatives
• Building on and acknowledging previous work
• Loaned executives to lead initiative• Multiple, diverse partners identified with instrumental
resources• Key leaders have signed-on
• Examples from successes in other communities for inspiration
• Kania / Kramer article resonates• Sense of urgency and need• Opportunity / hope
Examples from ExerciseThemes
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Phase I – Idea Phase: What is Challenging?
Shifting leaders’ mindsets to focus on
systems change
Clashing egos from those not accustomed
to this type of collaboration
Finding and attracting funders
• Asking community to accept/support/buy into a cultural shift
• Seeing the forest instead of the trees (big picture thinking)
• Understanding the "language" of collective impact
• Ensuring equal voice / everyone is heard• Competing agendas and priorities (i.e., focus on
sustaining "my" organization vs. collective impact)• Moving/helping partners move beyond their own
mission/interests/issues
• Developing a plan for sustainable funding• Move beyond competing for funding to having seed
funding / startup $• Engage funders effectively
Themes Examples from Exercise
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Phase I – Idea Phase: What Tools Are You Using to Break Through?
• Regular meetings
• Piggybacking collective impact meetings on existing meetings already attended by some partners
• Clear definitions around the problem the initiative is seeking to solve, the roles of the partners, and the responsibility of the steering committee and backbone organization
• File sharing, calendar sharing, etc.
• Asset mapping techniques
• Partnership tools
Tools Suggested By Participants
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Contents
Summary of Activity
Phase I – Idea Phase
Phase II – Idea to Formation
Phase III – Growth Phase
Phase IV – Mature Phase
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Phase II – Idea to Formation: What Is Going Well?
The initiative has a clear and compelling
goal
Data is beginning to be linked to governance
and action
Diverse partnerships and stakeholder
engagement
• Cohesion linked to clear goal• Carefully negotiated common agenda and goal• Focus of the initiative is narrowing and moving
toward action
• Data is being visualized• Data is being to governance• Strong data supports are creating a focused
agenda & affect all other aspects of the initiative
• Diverse partnerships (funders, public, private, non-public)
• Regular public engagement• Peer to peer engagement
Examples from ExerciseThemes
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Phase II – Idea to Formation: What Is Challenging
Examples from Exercise
Identifying quick wins while avoiding
distractions
Effectively capturing and using data for
action
Balancing funding needs to reach financial
sustainability
• Avoiding distractions• Assessing opportunities for early wins vs.
distractions
• Creating a culture that responds to data, not just to look at
• Finding data / info that is not easily captured (ex: on undocumented individuals)
• Culture of territoriality • Reducing competition and increasing power
sharing amongst partners at the table• Switch thinking from how does it benefit me
Sharing power and credit
• Achieving financial sustainability• Balancing funding needs for infrastructure and
partners
Themes
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Phase II – Idea to Formation: What Tools Are You Using to Break Through?
• Memorandums of Understanding
• Building capacity through outside technical assistance providers
• Identifying best practices among initiative members and then scaling them across the entire group
• Identifying and achieving quick wins in order to maintain momentum
Tools Suggested By Participants
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Contents
Summary of Activity
Phase I – Idea Phase
Phase II – Idea to Formation
Phase III – Growth Phase
Phase IV – Mature Phase
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Phase III – Growth Phase: What Is Going Well?
Examples from ExerciseThemes
Shared measurement leading to more cohesion and engagement
Influence on policies and policy makers
Reflecting and building on earlier successes
• Common data indicators• Deeping engagement because of shard
learning and successes• Broader importance of research and data in
work than before
• Connecting the dots for politicians and funders
• Identified policy changes that politicians can champion
• Making a link between process and past outcomes / successes
• Taking time to celebrate successes• Process that acknowledges success along the
way
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Phase III – Growth Phase: What Is Challenging
Examples from ExerciseThemes
Meeting fatigue
Moving from planning to action
Unequal progress
• Too much process• Partners exhausted after long planning
process
• Getting partners to work in-between meetings• Capacity issues of partners• Individuals changing the way they work to
better align with the collaborative
• Unequal engagement across different stakeholder groups
• Hard to balance focus on building structure with focus on making progress on strategies
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Phase III – Growth Phase: What Tools Are You Using to Break Through?
Tools Suggested By Participants
• Online report card around shared metrics
• Utilizing prototyping to test new projects
• Map efforts to determine who is doing what and reinforce activities
• Proactively reach out to those still “not getting it” to bring them in
• Create a “brain-trust” of advisors to help think about next steps
• Create a brand for the collaborative
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Contents
Summary of Activity
Phase I – Idea Phase
Phase II – Idea to Formation
Phase III – Growth Phase
Phase IV – Mature Phase
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Phase IV – Mature Phase: What Is Going Well?
Examples from ExerciseThemes
Groups speaks with a common voice
All community stakeholders are
engaged in some way
Data has been streamlined and linked
to accountability
• Authentic buy-in from being together a long time
• Collective voice has been established that is powerful and adds credibility
• Have right decision makers & systems in place • Have gained stakeholder buy-in• All cross-sector stakeholders are at the table
(funders, those with lived experience, etc.)
• Group is open to what energizes• Don't let the perfect get in the way of the good• Prepared to take advantage of quick wins and
scale them up
Group is structured for action and to take advantage of quick
wins
• Data has been streamlined• Using indicators / results based accountability
gives common language for framing strategies• Sharing data, resources = transparency
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Phase IV – Mature Phase: What Is Challenging
Examples from ExerciseThemes
Educating funders on the power of the work
Managing changes in leadership over time
Ability to evolve the initiative to changing circumstances and
scale
• Educating funders to transition their types of funding
• Long term tension between funders of specific causes and the collective impact funders
• Educating new leaders joining the initiative, especially from new sectors or organizations
• "Leadership churn" - managing change around the table
• Growth of initiative has made it hard to sustain consistent messaging
• Resilience - ability to evolve• Creating "organizational flexibility" to use the
"collective impact" to address any challenge
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Phase IV – Mature Phase: What Tools Are You Using to Break Through?
Tools Suggested By Participants
• Joint fundraising by partners to support the initiative's activities and backbone infrastructure
• Strong use of diverse marketing tools to build awareness and develop common narrative around issue (blogs, newsletters, e-blasts, website, editorials, billboards, etc.)
• Making time for reflection as individual partners and as a group
• Landscape mapping to identify changing realities
• Written theory of change or strategic action plan
