Collective Impact – A Proposed Approach to
Achieving the oneNS Goals
Overview
The oneNS Coalition was formed to move forward on the work of the Nova
Scotia Commission on Building Our New Economy (oneNS) and the vision
and goals set out in the “Now or Never” report. Coalition members are
citizens who have volunteered to contribute their energy to addressing the
challenges we face and to support broad-based action towards achieving the
oneNS goals and to support a measurable shift in attitude amongst Nova
Scotians surrounding: a culture of excellence in education; innovation and
entrepreneurship and global competitiveness; inclusiveness, diversity and
immigration; as well as reduced reliance on government, and sense of
ownership of the oneNS goals.
The Coalition is supported by the Office of Planning and Priorities (P&P).
P&P will be also be supporting parallel and inter-related activities to foster
broad based action. Specifically, the P&P team will be leading and
supporting a “My oneNS” movement designed to support and highlight
grassroots action related to the oneNS project happening across the province.
The initiative will be aimed at collecting, connecting and amplifying the
efforts of individuals, organizations and community groups who are
undertaking projects aimed at addressing the eight focus areas of the
Coalition. It will include a pledge campaign that is interactive and includes
follow-up, to foster engagement and accountability. It will also include
ongoing public engagement and communication, and celebrate opportunities
and successes across the Province. The public relations firm NATIONAL
has been engaged to assist in scoping out these additional engagement and
communication efforts.
oneNS Government Goals and Focus Areas
The oneNS Coalition has distilled the 19 game changers and 12 goals into
three main categories: (1) Attitude; (2) Economic Growth; and (3) People
(Demographics and Education). Within those three main categories, the
oneNS Coalition has 8 core focus areas related to the oneNS Goals and
Game Changers:
1. Attitude (Game Changer II)
2. Economic Growth: Startups and Entrepreneurship (Goal 10; Game
Changers III and IV)
3. Economic Growth: Global Competitiveness and Trade (Goals 4, 13,
16; Game Changers III and VI)
4. Economic Growth: Innovation and R&D (Goals 11, 12)
5. Economic Growth: Sustainable Growth of Rural and Resource
Industries (Goals 15, 16; Game Changers IV and V)
6. People: Immigration and Retention (Goals 1, 2, 3; Game Changer
VIII)
7. People: Education (K-12, Post-Secondary) and Training (Game
Changer VII)
8. People: Workforce Participation, particularly of under-represented
groups (Goals 7, 8, 9)
The oneNS Coaltion is forming Action Teams around each of these 8 focus
areas, and they will be looking at what different stakeholders other than
government – e.g. business, social enterprises, First Nations, universities and
colleges, institutions, volunteer groups, communities and engaged citizens –
can do to advance these areas to achieve the goals. The oneNS Coalition
will require some support from government departments in these areas.
Collective Impact Initiatives
P&P is proposing that the oneNS Coalition consider using a Collective
Impact approach to achieving the oneNS goals, and to drive shared
ownership, accountability and evaluation of success. A “Collective Impact”
approach to social and economic change was first named in a 2011 article by
John Kania and Mark Kramer appearing in the Stanford Social Innovation
Review. Kania and Kramer are partners at FCG consulting with Michael
Porter, a strategy professor from Harvard who has focused on the
competitiveness of firms as well as regions and jurisdictions. FCG is a
leading nonprofit consulting firm specializing in strategy, evaluation, and
research and has completed more than 600 consulting engagements with
many of the world’s leading corporations, nonprofit organizations, and
charitable foundations, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the
Carnegie Corporation of New York, Goldman Sachs, the Greater New
Orleans Foundation, The Heinz Endowments, Royal Dutch Shell, the W. K.
Kellogg Foundation, the Arizona Community Foundation, The Boston
Foundation, the, The Chicago Community Trust, The New York Community
Trust and more.
What is Collective Impact?
Collective Impact is the commitment of a group of actors from different
sectors to a common agenda for solving a specific complex social problem.
In order to create lasting solutions to social problems on a large-scale,
organizations — including those in government, civil society, and the
business sector — need to coordinate their efforts and work together around
a clearly defined goal. It works through many gradual improvements over
time as stakeholders learn for themselves how to become more aligned and
effective and new approaches and strategies emerge that result in lasting
change and impact.
Collective Impact is best employed for problems that are complex and
systemic, rather than technical or complicated in nature. It is a structured and
comprehensive description of the elements needed to create social or
economic change using a multi-stakeholder approach over many years (often
a decade or more). Collective Impact initiatives are tackling some of the
toughest social and economic challenges in the world right now, including
education, healthcare, homelessness, the environment, as well as economic
and community development; and concrete results are starting to arise from
new and emergent strategies to many of these complex social and economic
problems.
The solutions we have come to expect in the social or economic sectors
often involve discrete programs that address a social or economic problem
through a carefully worked out theory of change, relying on incremental
resources from funders, and ideally supported by an evaluation that
attributes to the program the impact achieved and can then be scaled up.
The problem is that such predetermined solutions rarely work under
conditions of complexity—conditions that apply to most major social and
economic problems—when the unpredictable interactions of multiple
players determine the outcomes and even when successful interventions are
found, adoption spreads very gradually, if it spreads at all.
It would be hard to deny that most large-scale social problems are complex.
Issues such as poverty, health, education, and the environment, to name just
a few, involve many different interdependent actors and factors. There is no
single solution to these problems, and even if a solution were known, no one
individual or organization is in a position to compel all the players involved
to adopt it. In addition, these problems are typically deep-rooted or systemic,
and require concerted effort over the long-term to achieve transformational
change; although short-term wins are helpful in demonstrating a basis for
change, there are no quick fixes to these complex problems. Important
variables that influence the outcomes are not, and often cannot be known or
predicted, in advance. Under these conditions of complexity, predetermined
solutions rarely succeed.
Unlike a doctor diagnosing and treating or curing a patient – which might be
a complicated or technical problem where there are predetermined results
when a disease is understood, medicine has been proven to work and the
benefits are predictable - problems such as reforming the health care system
cannot be accomplished through predetermined solutions. No proven
solution exists, the consequences of actions are unpredictable, and many
variables cannot be known in advance. Similarly, there are no predetermined solutions to the complex economic or demographic challenges
facing Nova Scotia; and no program, policy or government action alone will
lead to the sustained transformational change that is needed and called upon
in the oneNS Report. Furthermore, any solution requires the participation of
countless government, private sector, and nonprofit organizations, as well as
a multitude of individual citizens. In these circumstances, strategies and
approached that result in success are more likely to emerge from continued
and sustained collective efforts following a structured process, rather than
from predetermined strategies and approaches.
Collective impact works differently. The process and results of Collective
Impact are emergent rather than predetermined, the necessary resources and
innovations often already exist but have not yet been recognized, learning is
continuous, and adoption happens simultaneously among many different
organizations. This does not mean that we set out without an intention to
find strategies and approaches to achieve outcomes in a structure manner, it
just means that we do not presuppose what those strategies and approaches
are.
Shared measurement, mutually reinforcing activities, and continuous
communication enable participants to learn and react consistently with the
common agenda to emerging problems and opportunities, while, the
backbone organization supports alignment by the various cross-sector
stakeholders to both the common agenda and rules for interaction. When
properly put into motion, the process of Collective Impact generates
emergent solutions toward the intended outcomes under continually
changing circumstances.
A Collective Impact approach essentially requires a shift in mindset – where
programs and policies are expect to determine solutions which will be
funded, to one where a Collective Impact structure and rules for interaction
is funded which eventually will lead to the development of emergent
solutions.
Emergent strategy, which was first identified by the leading McGill strategy
scholar Henry Mintzberg, still requires that a clear strategic intent guide
strategy and strategic actions, but it acknowledges that specific outcomes
cannot be predicted. It accepts that a realized strategy emerges over time as
the initial intentions collide with, and accommodate to, a changing reality.
The term “emergent” implies that an organization is learning what works in
practice. Organizations that are intentional in examining how their strategy
plays out in the context of surrounding events will learn what parts of their
intended strategy went unrealized, what parts are deliberate, and what parts
were emergent—the result of both their actions and the actions of others—
that lead to a newly realized strategy. And this newly realized strategy will
continue to evolve, incorporating aspects of both deliberate and emergent
strategy.
Leaders of successful Collective Impact initiatives have come to recognize
and accept this continual unfolding of newly identified opportunities for
greater impact, along with the setbacks that inevitably accompany any
process of trial and error, as the powerful but unpredictable way that
Collective Impact works. They have embraced a new way of seeing,
learning, and doing that marries emergent solutions with intentional
outcomes.
In addition, Collective Impact efforts also highlight that the problem is not
necessarily a lack of resources and solutions, but our inability to accurately
see the resources and solutions that best fit our situation. When each
organization views the availability of resources and the range of solutions
through the lens of its own particular agenda, the resulting kaleidoscope
conceals many opportunities. Collective impact efforts, however, sharpen a
collective vision. Having a shared vision allows us to “stop doing” things
that are not aligned with the shared vision, and focus on activities that help
us achieve our shared goals.
Collective Impact is a significant shift from the current paradigm of
"isolated impact" by different actors – i.e., where individual voluntary
organizations, philanthropic groups, social enterprises, engaged citizens or
government initiatives would aim to solve a complex social or economic
problem on their own. Instead, the underlying premise of Collective Impact
is that no single organization alone – including government - can create
large-scale, lasting social or economic change. There is no "silver bullet" or
“quick fix” solution to systemic social or economic problems, and these
problems cannot be solved by simply scaling or replicating one organization
or program. Strong individual organizations are necessary, but not sufficient,
for large-scale social change.
The Structure and Planning of a Collective Impact Initiative
This does not mean that we abandon all plans and structures when seeking
strategies and approaches to address complex problems. Instead, it means
that the focus is on creating an effective structure and rules for interaction to
facilitate concerted action where solutions begin to emerge, are tried and
tested, and measured for impact and results; rather than deriving outcomes
by rigid adherence to preconceived strategies.
Collective Impact is more rigorous and specific than collaboration among
organizations. There are five conditions that, together, lead to meaningful
results from Collective Impact:
1.
Common Agenda: All participants have a shared vision for change
including a common understanding of the problem and a joint
approach to solving it through agreed upon actions.
2.
Shared Measurement: Collecting data and measuring results
consistently across all participants ensures efforts remain aligned and
participants hold each other accountable.
3.
Mutually Reinforcing Activities: Participant activities must be
differentiated while still being coordinated through a mutually
reinforcing plan of action.
4.
Continuous Communication: Consistent and open communication is
needed across the many players to build trust, assure mutual
objectives, and appreciate common motivation.
5.
Backbone Organization: Creating and managing Collective Impact
requires a separate organization(s) with staff and a specific set of
skills to serve as the backbone for the entire initiative and coordinate
participating organizations and agencies.
Some important lessons from Collective Impact work include the following:
1. This is really long-term work. It can take several years to progress
from common vision and goals, shared measurement, and then
undertaking sustained mutually reinforcing activities and new
strategies, before potential paths forward begin to emerge. This
requires trust, patience and unwavering commitment.
2. Collaboration requires capacity. Supporting infrastructure is one of
the most frequent reasons why both isolated action and collective
action fails. The backbone organization requires a dedicated staff
separate from the participating organizations, as well as a highly
structured process that leads to effective decision-making. There are
no shortcuts to having this kind of structure and process. Creating the
capacity to facilitate a process that empowers cross-sector
collaboration is painful and tedious, but transformational change
requires such an effort.
3. Collective impact requires a shift in perspective. A single
innovative solution is not going to be enough to sustain the kind of
complex social and economic change needed. Instead, Collective
Impact focuses on creating and sustaining collective processes,
measurement reporting systems, and community leadership that
enables cross-sector coalitions and emergent strategies to arise and
thrive.
At the same time as we employ Collective Impact to pursue the oneNS
goals, we would also encourage other Nova Scotians to use Collective
Impact to pursue other social or economic challenges, such as, for example,
complex social or economic problems like poverty reduction or substance
abuse amongst youth. Indeed, other government departments are already
using Collective Impact to address social challenges, including the
Department of Health and Wellness “Thrive” initiative aimed at reducing
levels of obesity and the Department of Community Services initiative
aimed at reducing sexual violence.
The Pre-Conditions for Collective Impact
Three conditions must be in place before launching a Collective Impact
initiative:
(1) An influential champion (or small group of champions) who
commands the respect necessary to bring CEO-level cross-sector
leaders together and keep their active engagement
(2) Adequate human and financial resources to sustain long-term
Collective Impact initiatives; and
(3) A sense of urgency for change.
Together, these preconditions create the opportunity and motivation
necessary to bring people who have never before worked together into a
Collective Impact initiative and hold them in place until the initiative’s own
momentum takes over.
In Nova Scotia, the oneNS Report has started the process of creating a sense
of urgency for change. The oneNS Coalition is an influential group of
challenges, and it is now important to ensure adequate human and financial
resources to sustain a long-term Collective Impact initiative.
Three Phases of Collective Impact
Once the preconditions are in place, there are four distinct phases of getting
a Collective Impact effort up and running.
The first Phase, Generate Ideas and Dialogue, is to generate ideas and
dialogue to seek to understand if there is a sense of urgency, and a consensus
to move forward.
Phase II, Initiate Action, requires an understanding of the landscape of key
players and the existing work underway, baseline data on the social problem
to develop the case for change, and an initial governance structure that
includes strong and credible champions.
Phase III, Organize for Impact, requires that stakeholders work together to
establish common goals and shared measures, create a supporting backbone
infrastructure, and begin the process of aligning the many organizations
involved against the shared goals and measures.
Phase IV, Sustain Action and Impact, requires that stakeholders pursue
prioritized areas for action in a coordinated way, systematically collect data,
and put in place sustainable processes that enable active learning and course
correcting as they track progress toward their common goals.
It is important to recognize that a Collective Impact initiative must build on
any existing collaborative efforts already underway to address the issue.
Collective Impact efforts are most effective when they build from what
already exists; honoring current efforts and engaging established
organizations, rather than creating an entirely new from scratch.
It takes time to create an effective infrastructure that allows stakeholders to
work together and that truly can ameliorate a broken system. The first three
phases alone can take between six months and two years. The scope of the
problem to be addressed, the degree of existing collaboration, and the
breadth of community engagement all influence the time required.
Once the initiative is established, Phase IV can last a decade or more.
Collective impact is a marathon, not a sprint. There is no shortcut in the
long-term process of social or economic change. Fortunately, progress
happens along the way. In fact, early wins that demonstrate the value of
working together are essential to hold the collaborative together.
The oneNS Report essentially fulfilled Phase I, and over the next 12 to 18
months the oneNS Coalition can focus on Phase II and Phase III; i.e.
initiating action (including generating quick or early wins) and organizing
for impact. These two elements can form the basic elements of the 10 year
plan called for in the oneNS Report, following which oneNS can enter into
Phase IV efforts – potentially with new oneNS Coalition leadership in some
cases - towards sustaining action and impact over a 10 year period. That is,
the 10 year plan can lay out the shared vision, common agenda and goals
which will be pursued over a 10 year period using a Collective Impact
approach, with the shared measurement, organizational supports, backbone
organization and working groups put in place and action being initiated over
the next 12 to 18 months. This is not to suggest that the oneNS Coalition
will not take action during the next 12 to 18 months, but it puts their
deliverables in the context of also creating the structure, processes,
leadership, teams, and norms necessary for a prolonged 10 year effort of
sustained action and impact.
Getting Started on a Collective Impact Initiative: Forming Working
Groups
In order to get started on a Collective Impact initiative, the first step in the
Five Conditions is to establishing a common agenda, a shared vision for
change, a common understanding of the problem (drawing initial boundaries
around what is in/out of scope), clear and measurable goals, and high-level
strategies (i.e., a strategic action framework to achieve those goals). In
addition, to create an environment where we can discover and execute
strategies that lead to positive and sustained change, Collective Impact
initiatives utilize working groups that then use the initiative’s common
agenda to further define and execute strategies.
The working groups typically develop their own plans for action organized
around “moving the needle” on specific shared measures. Once plans are
developed, the working groups are then responsible for coming together on a
regular basis to share data and stories about progress being made, and for
communicating their activities more broadly with other organizations and
individuals affected by the issue so that the circle of alignment can grow.
This confers an additional benefit of Collective Impact: as the common
agenda’s center of gravity becomes more apparent to all those working on
the issue, even people and organizations who have not been directly engaged
as a formal part of the initiative start doing things in ways more aligned to
the effort.
Although each working group meets separately, they communicate and
coordinate with each other in cascading levels of linked collaboration.
Effective coordination by the backbone can create aligned and co- ordinated
action among hundreds of organizations that simultaneously tackle many
different dimensions of a complex issue. The real work of the Collective
Impact initiative takes place in these targeted groups through a continuous
process of “planning and doing,” grounded in constant evidence-based
feedback about what is or is not working. Working group leaders also meet
regularly to share successes and failures and to learn from each other.
Working groups are at the heart of how high-level visioning and strategic
planning turns into specific strategies and projects (see Figure 1 for a
representative Collective Impact infrastructure). Once the Collective Impact
initiative’s steering committee has created a common agenda and high-level
framework for addressing the specific social problem, a variety of working
groups gather around individual key elements of that broader plan.
The real work of the Collective Impact initiative takes place in these targeted
groups through a continuous process of ‘planning and doing,’ grounded in
constant evidence-based feedback around what is or is not working.
Working group members meet regularly to review data and discuss their
progress with one another. Working groups also share this information with
and learn from the steering committee, backbone, and other working groups
as needed. Through these discussions, the working groups can adjust
strategies and create action plans to bring those strategies to life.
Without a thoroughly-discussed and rigorously-researched common agenda,
working group leaders will struggle to determine where to focus working
group resources. There are two inputs into the common agenda that are
particularly helpful for determining working group structure: defining and
scoping the problem, and assessing the existing landscape.
A common understanding of the problem that the initiative is working to
address often requires analysis of existing quantitative data (such as
graduation rates or the number of asthma attacks in a geography), and a
qualitative assessment of the problem ideally informed by interviews with
key community stakeholders, including those affected by the problem as
well as those in formal positions of authority.
Analysis of “the problem” should be complemented by an assessment of the
existing organizations, collaborations, and structural elements (e.g., other
sectors, the public policy landscape) that have the potential to play roles in
the effort. Collective Impact is fundamentally not about creating a whole
new initiative, but rather connecting and strengthening existing efforts and
filling gaps. Therefore, deeply understanding the existing landscape is
critical in all stages of Collective Impact, especially before creating a
working group structure. The output of this landscape assessment could
range from a simple list and description of the above elements, or it could be
a more sophisticated “system map” that visually depicts the relationships
between the various elements. Regardless of the format, the goal is to
identify current work that can be built upon. There are many ways that
working groups can build on current efforts: the Collective Impact initiative
could “outsource” working groups to existing collaboratives, connect new
members or otherwise provide backbone support to the existing
collaboratives, or even combine existing collaboratives under one umbrella.
Using data to understand the problem and identifying existing players helps
to identify the highest areas of need and most critical leverage points. To
complement these analyses, Collective Impact leaders must also sense the
momentum and relationships among key players at the grassroots, grass
tops, and political leadership levels. It can be advisable to create working
groups where data suggest there is a critical need, but also in areas that build
on existing momentum to build relationships, demonstrate quick wins
through working group activity, and developing the muscle memory to
tackle thornier issues down the road.
A key to having strong working groups, and a strong Collective Impact
initiative, is to have the right leaders at the table who are committed to
moving the work forward: mapping out the various sectors that should be
represented and the desired seniority of members (e.g., CEO, Director,
Project Manager, those with “lived experience”); identifying champions who
can help recruit those individuals; and determining those individuals who
possess a deep passion for the issue, will dedicate the time and energy
needed for frequent meetings, and will bring others to the table by sheer
determination and perseverance. These leaders need to be committed not
only with their words, but also with their time. They are enablers,
champions, advocates, innovators, early adopters, and conveners – those
who are undaunted by uncharted, ambitious, and complex collaboration.
These traits are especially important for working group co-chairs; the
presence of these co-chairs will contribute to the sustainability of the
working group. It is critical to have people at the table who are committed
to sustaining collaborative work towards a complex problem. Having the
right people at the table in each working group, as well as on the steering
committee, is especially critical in the early phases of an initiative, when
many will be skeptical that “yet another collaborative effort” will produce
sustained results.
Figure 3. Working Group Member Traits
Working groups are most successful when they constitute a representative
sample of the stakeholders. This leads to emergent and anticipatory problem
solving that is rigorous and disciplined and, at the same time, flexible and
organic. Structuring efforts in this way also increases the odds that a
Collective Impact initiative will find emergent solutions that simultaneously
meet the needs of all relevant constituents, resulting in a much more
effective feedback loop that enables different organizations to respond in a
coordinated and immediate way to new informatio
Getting Started: Working Groups in the First Six Months
The first six months of a working group are about deep strategic planning
and relationship building. The common agenda documents a shared vision,
understanding of the problem, specific and measurable goals, and high-level
strategies. In their first six months, working groups take the common agenda
and go deeper into strategic planning, all the while intentionally
strengthening relationships with existing and new partners. Below, we
highlight four specific priorities of working groups in the early months.
Use Data to Further Understand the Problem and Develop an Approach to
Continuous Learning
Data should be at the heart of setting strategies and adjusting along the way.
In working groups’ first six months, data is a critical tool for further
understanding the problem and identifying potential strategies. Data of all
sorts can be used. For example, data can help highlight achievement gaps by
neighborhood, identify resources directed toward a particular issue, or map
populations that receive services and those that don’t.
Data are also at the heart of continuous learning. Working groups will first
define primary and secondary success metrics that are linked to the
initiative’s common agenda. The regular gathering, analysis, and reporting
of this data ultimately allows working groups to learn what’s working and
then point a spotlight on those successful strategies.
Identify High-Leverage Strategies and Quick Wins
After developing a deep understanding of the problem, working groups
should ask themselves, “What are the problems we see, and what are the
high-leverage things we can do together that no one organization could do
alone?” Many of these strategies will be systemic and long-term, but
working groups should also intentionally identify short-term strategies that
demonstrate the power of working collectively. Quick wins are important for
demonstrating the value of collective work, keeping people engaged while
moving through a long term planning process, and for building support
among those who are skeptical of this new approach. Quick wins can range
from providing evidence of tangible progress such as agreement on goals or
a pilot collaboration between organizations, to sharing stories about new
relationships that are being formed within the community.
Build Relationships
Relationships, especially among those who haven’t traditionally worked
together, can be fragile and take time to develop. Working group co-chairs
should aim to build trust by holding meetings in person as much as possible,
carving out time during meetings for informal conversation, ensuring
members attend meetings themselves (instead of a designee), and properly
onboarding new members.
Another key to building relationships and a sense of teamwork is to generate
excitement, but also manage expectations. Most community leaders have
experienced a failed collaborative effort, and many are wary of yet another
one.
Provide Backbone Support, but Build Co-Chairs’ Capacity to Lead and
Members’ Ownership of the Work
Planning agendas, gathering data, coordinating schedules, and conducting
follow-up takes work, and the backbone provides the manpower to do many
of these behind-the-scenes tasks. However, working group co-chairs should
ideally take a strong role in planning and facilitating meetings from the
beginning. If the backbone takes an overly heavy hand, working group cochairs and members will not feel invested in the process, and therefore be
less committed. If co-chairs are not quite ready or able to assume full
ownership, the backbone can coach them over the course of a few meetings
until they take ownership of the working group’s progress.
Collective Impact and oneNS
Backbone Organization
Creating and managing Collective Impact requires a separate organization
and staff with a very specific set of skills to serve as the backbone for the
entire initiative. Coordinating large groups in a Collective Impact initiative
takes time and resources, and too often, the expectation that collaboration
can occur without a supporting infrastructure is one of the most frequent
reasons why it fails. If a Collective Impact initiative is to succeed, everyone
must understand what backbone organizations do and how they can be
effective. In essence, individual organizations could not do the work of
Collective Impact without backbone support.
Backbone organizations serve six essential functions: providing overall
strategic direction, facilitating dialogue between partners, managing data
collection and analysis, handling communications, coordinating community
outreach, and mobilizing funding.
The structure of a backbone organization can depend on the contextual
nuances of the Collective Impact initiative, including:
 The phase of the Collective Impact initiative (for example, whether
the backbone is helping to initiate action, organize for impact, or
sustain action and impact)
 The capacity of the backbone organization (for example, headcount,
areas of expertise, financial resources)
 The geographic reach and scope of the Collective Impact effort (for
example, one neighborhood versus a three-state region, early
childhood learning versus community development)  Structural opportunities and constraints created by a parent
organization (for ex- ample, independent nonprofit versus program
underneath a local chapter of a national network of organizations)
Each structure has pros and cons, and the best structure will be situationspecific, depending on the issue and geography, the ability to secure
funding, the highly important perceived neutrality of the organization, and
the ability to mobilize stakeholders. Backbone organizations also face two
distinct challenges in their leadership and funding. No Collective Impact
effort can survive unless the backbone organization is led by an executive
possessing strong adaptive leadership skills; the ability to mobilize people
without imposing a predetermined agenda or taking credit for success.
Backbone organizations must maintain a delicate balance between the strong
leadership needed to keep all parties together and the invisible “behind the
scenes” role that lets the other stakeholders own the initiative’s success.
Backbone organizations must also be sufficiently well resourced. Despite the
growing interest in Collective Impact, few funders are yet stepping up to
support backbones associated with the issues they care about. Adopting a
Collective Impact approach requires a fundamental shift in the mindset of
many funders who are used to receiving credit for supporting specific shortterm interventions. 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. Funders must be
willing to support an open-ended process over many years, satisfied in
knowing that they are contributing to large scale and sustainable social
impact, without being able to take credit for any specific result that is
directly attributable to their funding.
Even the best backbone organization, however, cannot single-handedly
manage the work of the hundreds of stakeholders engaged in a Collective
Impact initiative. Instead, different levels of linked collaboration are
required.
The backbone organization will support the working groups. In addition,
once the working groups are activated, their work continues to be complex;
including analyzing the data, understanding the problem and assessing the
existing organizations, collaborations, and structural elements that have the
potential to play roles in the effort. As a result, each working group requires
its own de facto backbone. P&P will act as the initial backbone for the
Coalition during Phase II and III, although a third party or private sector
backbone could emerge during these phases and/or for Phase IV. The
backbone support for each of the Coalition working groups need to be
identified for Phase II and III, and in the absence of a suitable alternative the
corresponding government working group may play that role.
Working Groups
The oneNS Coalition has also began the process of forming working teams
around 8 Areas of Focus which are directly linked to the goals and game
changers in the oneNS report, namely:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Start-ups and Entrepreneurship
Innovation and R&D
Global Competitiveness and Trade
Sustainable Renewal of Rural and Resource-based Industries
Education and Training
Immigration and Retention
Workforce Participation
8. Attitudes and Culture Shift
The shared vision and common understanding of the problem have been
ratified by the Nova Scotia Commission on Building our New Economy as
presented in their final report “Now or Never: an Urgent Call to Action for
Nova Scotians.” In addition, through the formation of the oneNS Coalition
we have also undertaken the initial steps of building a steering committee,
and with the support of P&P we have started to create an infrastructure.
The initial working groups will initially focus on initiating action and quick
wins (Phase II) and organizing for impact (Phase III) in preparation for a ten
year effort of sustained action and impact (Phase IV); as a result, the
constitution and leadership of the working groups for Phase II and III could
evolve and change prior to the start of Phase IV, and indeed they could also
change during Phase IV. During Phase II and III, it is important to consider
the preceding advice when considering how to choose the members and
leadership working group for those phases but also when determining the
members and leadership of the working groups for Phase IV so that persons
are identified and recruited who are best positioned for and suited to the
tasks at hand and that have the time and passion to be dedicated to the
initiative.
In addition to the Coalition working groups, government will also have
corresponding working groups. Government has three objectives over the
next four years; one of which is to make material progress in leading,
supporting and working with Nova Scotians in advancing steadily toward
the 19 goals set out in the oneNS Report (which are stretch goals to be
achieved over the next 10 years). In pursuit of this vision, this Government
has adopted the following four strategic priorities:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Fiscal Sustainability
Economic Growth
Education
Demographic Stability
Government’s strategy is very much aligned with the oneNS Commission
Report and the oneNS Coalition’s areas of focus. As part of that,
Government staff teams will also be formed to support government’s
strategy related to both the 8 Coalition areas of focus and the 4 government
priorities (which are highly aligned). Government staff teams are being
formed (or existing working teams are being utilized) to support
government’s strategy related to 8 key areas (7 of which are the same as the
oneNS Coalition working groups, and Fiscal is the additional one). This
ensures coherence between government’s strategy and the oneNS
Coalition’s strategy, but it also provides an important source of research,
analysis and information for the corresponding oneNS working
groups. Although third party or private sector backbone support for working
groups would be preferable, it may be that the government working groups
will perform this role in supporting the oneNS Coalition working groups.
Next steps are to confirm agreement of approach with the oneNS Coalition,
form the oneNS Coalition working groups and the corresponding
government working groups, and then to proceed with the “heavy lifting” of
initiating action and quick wins (Phase II) and organizing for impact (Phase
III) in preparation for a ten year effort of sustained action and impact (Phase
IV). This includes defining the team, forming a strategic framework,
developing strategies and defining a measurement plan.
The working teams will utilize a planning tool to assist in laying out the
structure and plan for implementing strategies to help reach the initiative’s
goals and to guide the structure and planning around the actions and
strategies proposed by each working group. These will be filled out
gradually and will evolve over time given the working group’s needs, but
will be used as a tool to organize the work and to communicate the work
with the oneNS Coalition. The tool will include the following:
1) Define the Team: Identify the members of the working group,
including roles such as co-chairs, members, and leads of individual
strategies/actions. This roster will evolve, as new strategies are
identified and new ideas emerge for who needs to be involved for
successful planning, adoption, and implementation of strategies.
2) Form a Strategic Framework: Successful strategic frameworks
include a number of key components: a description of the problem
informed by solid research; a clear goal for the desired change; a
portfolio of key strategies to drive large scale change; a set of
principles that guide the group’s behavior; and an approach to
evaluation that lays out how the Collective Impact initiative will
obtain and judge the feedback on its efforts. Strategic frameworks are
not static, and they evolve over time.
3) Develop Strategies: The working group will develop strategies to
support the adoption and implementation of the working group goal.
These strategies will include tasks, people responsible, timelines and
will provide an accountability structure for accomplishing the work,
and will include short term, long term, and policy-related strategies.
Strategies could include a wide range of actions and different
approaches to improving outcomes for the target population, but
should:
• Be Evidence-Based: grounded in research that demonstrates
potential for dramatic change
• Build on Momentum: have potential to make progress quickly and
builds on existing momentum
• Be Systems-Changing: serve as starting point for broader systemslevel change
• Move at Scale: have potential to significantly move one or more
topline indicators for the initiative at scale
• Be Collaborative: benefit from collaboration - geographic or across
the continuum
• Identify Leadership: have a clear lead organization with the
commitment and capacity to move
4) Define Measurement Plan: A measurement plan will guide the
collection, analysis and use of data in support of effective
implementation and continuous improvement of the proposed
priorities and strategies. The measurement plan will include how and
when data will be collected and analyzed to support decision making,
planning, and learning.
Shared Vision and Common Agenda
People often expect that the Collective Impact process begins by finding
solutions that a collective set of actors can agree upon. They assume that
developing a common agenda involves gaining broad agreement at the
outset about which predetermined solutions to implement. In fact,
developing a common agenda is not about creating solutions at all, but about
achieving a common understanding of the problem, agreeing to joint goals to
address the problem, and arriving at common indicators to which the
collective set of involved actors will hold themselves accountable in making
progress. It is the process that comes after the development of the common
agenda in which solutions and resources are uncovered, agreed upon, and
collectively taken up. Those solutions and resources are quite often not
known in advance. They are typically emergent, arising over time through
collective vigilance, learning, and action that result from careful structuring
of the effort. If the structure-specific steps we have discussed here are
thoughtfully implemented, we believe that there is a high likelihood that
effective solutions will emerge, though the exact timing and nature cannot
be predicted with any degree of certainty.
Although the oneNS Coalition has a shared vision and common agenda,
there is still much work to be done in establishing oneNS as a Collective
Impact initiative. Given the complexity of the challenges and issues at each
working group level, it is important to consider how the broader oneNS
shared vision and common agenda translates to each of the working groups;
i.e., a shared vision and agenda for each working group must be determined
based on a common understanding of the problem (drawing initial
boundaries around what is in/out of scope), with clear and measurable goals
and high-level strategies.
Shared Measurement
Shared measurement—the use of a common set of measures to monitor
performance, track progress to-ward goals, and learn what is or is not
working – is one of the most difficult aspects of Collective Impact initatives.
The traditional paradigm of evaluation, which focuses on isolating the
impact of a single organization or grant, is not eas- ily transposed to measure
the impact of multiple organizations working together in real time to solve a
common problem.
Developing a shared measurement system is essential to Collective Impact.
Agreement on a common agenda is illusory without agreement on the ways
success will be measured and reported. Collecting data and measuring
results consistently on a short list of indicators at the community level and
across all participating organizations not only ensures that all efforts remain
aligned, it also enables the participants to hold each other accountable and
learn from each other’s successes and failures.
Shared measurement systems also require strong leadership, substantial
funding, and ongoing staffing support from the backbone organization to
provide training, facilitation, and to review the accuracy of data.
Having shared measures is just the first step. Participants must gather regularly to share
results, learn from each other, and refine their individual and collective work
based on their learning. Many initiatives use standardized continuous improvement
processes, such as General Electric’s Six Sigma process or the Model for
Improvement. Regardless of the continuous improvement approach chosen, the
backbone organization plays a critical role in supporting the process of learning and
improving throughout the life of the collaborative.
P&P is proposing that the oneNS efforts as a whole, and at a working group
level, will be measured and evaluated using an Adaptive Learning approach
to engage a large number of organizations working on different aspects of a
single complex issue in an ongoing, using facilitated process that establishes
comparative performance metrics, coordinates their efforts, and enables
them to learn from each other. Benefits include improved alignment of goals
among the different organizations, more collaborative problem solving, and
the formation of an ongoing learning community that gradually increases all
participants’ effectiveness.
The evaluation and measurement approach will invoke the following
principles:
 The process of designing and managing the shared measurement
system is participatory and transparent
 Quality data on a set of meaningful indicators is available to all
partners in a timely manner
 Sufficient funding and resources are available to support the
technology platform, training, and technical support
Ongoing Approach Evaluation: Proof of Concept
A proof of concept (POC) is a demonstration, the purpose of which is to
verify that certain concepts or theories have the potential for real-world
application. POC is therefore a prototype that is designed to determine
feasibility, but does not represent deliverables. Throughout our efforts, we’ll
conduct multiple experiments/ approaches as fostering broad based action on
the goals set forth in the oneNS report. We’ll carry out evaluation of PoC via
multiple tools (e.g. Sensemaker, traditional surveying, developmental
evaluation, economic indicators).
Ongoing Project Evaluation:
The My oneNS initiative will be subject to intense ongoing evaluation,
adopting a Lean Startup approach to piloting initiatives and concepts.
Community / Sector Based Self-Evaluation:
This evaluation will be designed to identify areas of focus in which to
develop further community based action, create new connections between
other sectors, locations, organizations.
Mutually reinforcing
Citizen-lead activities:
Tie-ins of individual activities will be continuously linked back to areas of
focus (goal will be to turn the areas of focus into the framing language of
strategic planning for the province).
Coalition-lead activities:
Coalition action teams will be working on the 8 areas of focus with the goals
of developing new private sector-lead activities within their own spheres of
influence, while also collaborating with the public service in preparing to
present a 10 year plan on how Nova Scotia will meet the goals presented in
the “Now or Never” report.
Coalition Support Team activities:
The Coalition Support Team will develop an approach that allows for
multiple efforts to coexist within a broader framework in order to allow
those efforts that have the greatest results in moving us closer to the “Now
or Never” goals are amplified. While at the same time, those efforts that are
less effective naturally drop off and do not continue to draw valuable
resources.
Continuous Communication:
To foster broad-based action, the team must be intentional about “meeting
people where they are at”. Communication will be carried out via multiple
mediums, both formal and informal across the myoneNS network. Our
communication strategy will ensure that there are appropriate structures and
processes in place to engage stakeholders (internal and external), keeping
them informed and inspired. Below are some preliminary tactics:
Social Media
Active use of social channels to steer conversation to eight
Areas of Focus and amplify efforts underway by myoneNS champions
(individuals and organizations)
Web
Actively updated onens.ca website highlighting activities of the
Coalition and myoneNS champions (video vinettes, blogs)
Dashboard providing high level analytics on progress in action
areas
Interactive map plotting activities/ events/ initiatives related to
eight Areas of Focus
Traditional Media
Leverage earned media to focus attention around eight Areas of
Focus
Pursue opportunities for weekly columns/ recurring spots on
popular programs “e.g. recurring spot on CBC Information Morning Don Connolly's myoneNS”
Grassroots
Leveraging networks of the backbone organization staff, play
active role in connecting individuals and groups across the province to
assist in furthering their myoneNS-related goals through in person
meetings with organizations and individuals carrying out oneNSrelated initiatives
Backbone Organization:
There are six common activities to support and facilitate Collective Impact
which distinguish this work from other types of collaborative efforts. Over
the lifecycle of an initiative, the background organization:
1. Guides vision and strategy
2. Supports aligned activities
3. Establishes shared measurement practices
4. Builds public will
5. Advances policy
6. Mobilizes funding
Backbone Organization Team (BOT)
The team will be made up of 4 dedicated staff members from the Office of
Planning and Priorities as well as multiple part-time contributors from both
the public and private sectors. Part time team members will be selected on
the basis of their skill sets and their ability to contribute to one or more
aspects of a particular project.
The BOT will operate with a tri-sector leadership approach, not getting
caught up on which division/organization a particular contributor represents
and instead being more interested in the unique skillsets and contributions
they bring to the table. We will also employ a servant-leadership style,
playing a very quiet and behind the scenes role, lifting up others who are
doing the work so they get the well deserved credit for the data-driven work
they are doing on the ground.
The Nitty Gritty on My oneNS
Purpose
To support and highlight grassroots actions related to the oneNS project, a
“My oneNS” logo is being made available to assist individuals and groups in
sharing their efforts towards oneNS Goals.
The logo will be made available for all to use. High-resolution formats of the
logo will be posted across multiple formats (.eps, .jpeg, .png) on the
oneNS.ca website and free for download. Users of the logo will be asked to
fill out a brief form with their contact info, nature of their event/ initiative,
and its location. This data can be used to pull together an informal map, and
provide a member list from which to carry out evaluation. By downloading
the myOneNS logo, users agree to have their project/ initiative shared, and
authorize the oneNS team to put them in contact with others in the region
who might be able to help them in carrying it out.
Use of the logo does not imply the endorsement of the highlighted project/
initiative by the oneNS Coalition or the Province of Nova Scotia.
In short, it is not our job to carry out specific projects, but it is our
responsibility to encourage people to be bold and take action. We do this by
helping them navigate red tape, amplifying their efforts, and brokering
relationships that will help them achieve their goals.
Assets
Language on what it is
The "My OneNS" toolkit is designed to support and highlight grassroots
action related to the oneNS project happening across the province.
Individuals, organizations and community groups who are undertaking
projects aimed at tackling the 8 areas of focus of the Coalition
(http://onens.ca/about/areas-of-focus/) and more broadly, improving
attitudes, empowering people and pursuing economic growth in the province
of Nova Scotia are invited to use the My oneNS logo for use in promoting
their event/ initiative.
Download Form
Before being given a link to download hi-res formats of the logo, visitors
will be asked to fill out a form with the following fields:
First Name
Last Name
Organization (If applicable)
Name of Initiative
Photo of Initiative/ your organization's logo
Please describe your initiative/ event in 250 words or less
Where will your event be happening? (Address, Postal Code
please)
When will your event be happening? (Time, Date)
Needs of the initiative? (Where possible, we will endeavour to
connect you with relevant resources in your community [e.g.
expertise, space, technology])
How can others get touch with you? (phone, email, website,
social links)
-phone
-e-mail
-website
-facebook
-twitter
Graphics Package
[Tyler to input]
Marketing
The myoneNS initiative will be driven by a grassroots approach, wherein
PESU team members reach out to their networks to identify noteworthy
initiatives happening in the province that correlate to the oneNS Coalition
Areas of Focus.
Deliberate, geographic, personal outreach to people and organization’s
across the province to invite them to share their story
-Simply put, reaching out to our contacts and to groups we discover via
social media, traditional media that are working on "Ivany Report" related
work and making an effort to connect them with similar projects underway
Ask for referrals – (e.g. who in your network is doing something cool that we
should talk to?)
My oneNS map
The PESU has developed an online oneNS map via Google Maps that it is
using to catalogue activities and events by
geography. https://www.google.ca/maps/@45.1994618,62.9271123,8z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!6m1!1szopIspHZZX1c.kRrOqrifvrf8
Goal will be to begin to use this as a tool for assessing activation across
province and to begin to map networks forming around myoneNS
initiatives.
Process (Launch)
Soft launch
- Currently carrying out informal outreach to PESU's contacts to vet concept,
build early buy in
- Currently cataloguing efforts related to Now or Never occurring province
wide
Build the program
-Creation of One Pager style brochure, web page/brochure that outlines the
"myoneNS" program and invites people to join
September full launch
-Broader outreach leveraging networks across the province, including a
"myoneNS" video campaign
Current Program
Web Page
Logos Download
Map
Midterm
Showcase / Vignettes