One of the potential benefits of working in a network is the capacity to learn together quicker. Harold Jarche calls this “social learning” – the idea that learning and work happen as interconnected groups (e.g., networks.) In times of rapid change, we need information and feedback about innovations and what works and doesn’t to flow… Read more
Author: btener
Lighting the Spark of Intrinsic Motivation
This experience may be familiar to you: I attend a meeting and walk in feeling I have a full plate and do not want to take anything more on. As we get deeper into the conversations and explore an area of mutual interest and what can be done, an excitement builds about possible work we… Read more
Roles in the Transition from Old to New
We are pleased to share this guest blog post by Peggy Holman, which originally appeared as a guest blog on Jesse Lyn Stoner’s blog. Like a great wave, cultural stories carry us along, creating a coherent view of our world. For example, the phrase the “American Dream” evokes a story that has inspired generations to… Read more
Networks for Systems Change – Five Stories
The scale of complex systems we are working to change is much larger than one organization. Collaborative networks are emerging as a new way to organize work at a larger scale and create collective impact. We have found the best way to learn about these approaches is to explore stories of leading examples, as they… Read more
Keystone Habits to Create a Highly-Collaborative Environment
How do you create a culture or otherwise encourage people to work in networked, collaborative ways? I have recently been asking a variety of social change leaders this question, in a series of interviews as part of putting together a field guide on collaborative networks with the Garfield Foundation’s new Collaborative Networks Initiative. A theme… Read more
Humility as a Core Leadership Quality
A recent New York Times Fixes column about promising social change initiatives highlighted the story Blue Engine, an initiative in New York City schools that has a new model to boost the rates of high school students getting into college. Instead of going with the tide of reformers focusing on individual teacher accountability and pay… Read more
A Systemic, Strategic, and Networked Approach to Economic Development
Vermont is using an innovative approach and philosophy for creating economic development and growing local jobs through the food system. Building on consumer demand and interest in local foods and farming, in 2009, Vermont’s legislature passed a law directing the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund (VSJF) to develop a Farm to Plate Strategic Plan. The goals… Read more
A Dangerous Unselfishness
“Let us develop a kind of dangerous unselfishness.” – Dr. Martin Luther King In the movie Groundhog Day, Bill Murray plays a TV weatherman who travels to a small town and gets stuck there in a snowstorm. He goes to bed and the next morning he wakes up to the same day and has to… Read more
Collaborating from the Place of Common Ground
While the news is full of partisan politics, an alternative model is emerging for how to make progress in addressing large scale challenges: collaborative networks. Through network initiatives, parts of a system can come together, find common ground, and pursue solutions and collective action from those points of agreement. The Energy Action Network (EAN) in… Read more
Words of Wisdom…Quotes that Lead in New Directions
True to the name of our business – New Directions – we look for the maps, ideas, and ways of seeing and working together that can enable us to create a thriving future distinct from the harmful ways of the past. The following is a compilation of quotes, insights, and good questions gathered along the… Read more