Transcript Collective Impact - Stronger Families Alliance

Collective Impact
Collective Impact – Who coined the phrase? Why is it an
important development in the social innovation field?
“Collective Impact” - Approach to social change first named in Stanford Social
Innovation Review 2011.
Overwhelming response to article – Second article published 2012
“Channeling Change: Making Collective Impact Work”
• Stanford Innovation Review premier journal in the social innovation area,
articles published have high rigor re: primary research and peer review.
• “Collective Impact” is not new – Instead it is a structured and comprehensive
description of the elements needed to create social change using a multistakeholder approach.
What is Collective Impact?
Collective Impact involves the commitment of a group of
important actors from different sectors to a common
agenda for solving a specific social problem.
Collective impact offers no silver bullets. It works through
many gradual improvements over time as stakeholders
learn for themselves how to become more aligned and
effective.
What is Collective Impact?
Collaboration is not new. Collective Impact initiatives are distinctly
different in that they involve:
• Centralised infrastructure
• A dedicated staff
• A structured process
And five key conditions:
1. A common agenda
2. Shared measurement system
3. Continuous communication
4. Mutually reinforcing activities
5. Presence of a back-bone organisation.
The Role of the Backbone Organisation
The backbone organisation serves six essential
functions:
1. Provides overall strategic direction
2. Facilitates dialogue between partners
3. Manages data collection and analysis
4. Handles communication
5. Coordinates community outreach
6. Mobilises funding
Cascading Levels of Linked
Collaboration
What the US research finds: Structure
“We have observed markedly similar patterns in the way
successful collective impact efforts are structured across
many different issues and geographies”
1. Forming of a CEO level committee which create the
common agenda, define the boundaries of the effort and
set a strategic framework.
2. Committee then meet regularly to oversee the progress
of the effort.
What the US research finds: Structure
3. Once strategic direction set, different working groups are
formed around each of the primary strategies
4. Each working group meets separately but communicate &
coordinate through a processes / communication driven
by the backbone
5. Work groups can change over time
6. Backbone provides periodic and systematic assessments
of progress made across working groups and feeds back
to the CEO level committee.
What the US research finds: Functioning of subgroups
1. Implementation takes place in the sub groups through a
continuous process of:
(i) planning
(ii) doing
(iii) evidence based feedback
(iv) communication of sub group activities to broader
audience
What the US research finds: Functioning of subgroups
(i) Planning in subgroup: Plans to implement shared
objective / shared measure
(ii) Doing: Takes place within each person’s organisation,
the whole sub-group together, small groups within
subgroup
(iii) Evidence based feedback in sub-group: Sharing data
and stories of what is working
(iv) Communicating to broad audience: Creates bottom up
engagement and involvement “order for free”
Essential intangibles: The soft stuff
“We, as well as others, have written extensively about the
profound impact that getting the soft stuff right has on
social change efforts. “
Essential intangibles: The soft stuff
•Relationship and trust building amongst diverse stakeholders
•Leadership identification and development
•Creating a culture of learning
•Welcoming meeting environment – Food!
Leadership style that supports Collective Impact
1. Adaptive leadership abilities
2. Ability to mobilise people without imposing a
predetermined agenda
3. Credit for success is attributed to the Collective
Impact group
Where Part A
fits into the
Stronger
Families
Alliance