(Click here for Part 1) For collaboration to work, one has to be willing to enter uncomfortable territory of not having the answer. People can feel it when they are asked to collaborate but the plans and answers are already determined. It feels quite different when instead of pushing an idea or agenda on the… Read more
Tag: Networks
Navigating Uncertainty to Gain the Real Value of Collaboration
Investing in Collaboration A client recently called us her “network therapists.” She works for a foundation and was helping launch a network. The foundation saw that if organizations in a region could work in a networked way they could achieve greater impact and have a stronger political voice. However, the organizations had to find the… Read more
Network Thinking Partner: An Interview with Janne Flisrand
Since 2014, I have had the pleasure of working with Janne Flisrand in the role of a coach/thinking partner supporting her role as a Network Weaver for a new national network, called Network for Water, Energy and Health in Affordable Buildings (NEWHAB.) She also has her own consulting practice called Flisrand Consulting. I recently interviewed Janne as an opportunity to… Read more
Using Events to Close Triangles
We have been experimenting with a technique to encourage and strengthen network connections at conferences. In this great blog post from our colleague, Janne Flisrand of Flisrand Consulting, she shares how it works and her experience using it at a recent conference. Janne is a network building facilitation consultant, based in Minneapolis. This is cross-posted… Read more
Crafting a Value-Add Strategy for a Network or Collective Impact Initiative
Several clients recently have asked us to help with strategic planning. The more I have worked with networks and cross-sector initiatives, I have seen the limits of the traditional way of thinking about strategy. Typically, a strategy will be for one organization to look out at the world, assess “strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats” and… Read more
The Multi-Dimensional Benefits of a World Café
I recently co-facilitated a “taster” to explore a variety of ways of designing meetings to more fully engage the collective intelligence of the group. One of the techniques we explored was the World Café. About half of this group had participated in it before and here were some of their key concerns: World Café had… Read more
Invest in the Field
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
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
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
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