Champions of Change San Francisco Backbone Workshop: Phases Activity Analysis
| March 2014
Contents
Summary of Activity
Phase I – Idea Phase
Phase II – Idea to Formation
Phase III – Growth Phase
Phase IV – Mature Phase
2
Around 250 Participants Broke Up By Phase to Discuss
“The Effective Backbone Organization”
Activity Summary
•
Workshop participants broke into four groups based on the stage of
development of their collective impact projects
Phases of
Collective
Impact
•
Phase I
Idea Phase
Phase II
Idea to
Formation
Phase III
Growth Phase
(Pre Start-Up)
(Start-Up to 1 Year)
(2 – 3 Years)
Phase IV
Mature Phase
(4 Years or More)
Each group discussed the following questions:
1. What is going well?
2. What is challenging?
3. What tools are you using to break through?
3
Participants Identified the Following High Level Themes as
“Going Well” in Each of Their Phases
Phase I
Idea Phase
Alignment with
existing
collaboratives
Phase II
Idea to Formation
Phase III
Growth Phase
The initiative has a
clear and
compelling goal
Shared
measurement
leading to more
cohesion and
engagement
Diverse group of
key leaders at the
table
Data is beginning
to be linked to
governance and
action
Influence on
policies and policy
makers
There is a
inspiration and
momentum around
solving the problem
Diverse
partnerships and
stakeholder
engagement
Reflecting and
building on earlier
successes
Phase IV
Mature Phase
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
4
Participants Identified the Following High Level Themes as
Areas That Are “Challenging” in Each of Their Phases
Phase I
Idea Phase
Phase II
Idea to Formation
Phase III
Growth Phase
Shifting leaders’
mindsets to focus
on systems change
Identifying quick
wins while
avoiding
distractions
Meeting fatigue
Educating funders
on the power of the
work
Moving from
planning to action
Managing changes
in leadership over
time
Unequal progress
Ability to evolve the
initiative to changing
circumstances and
scale
Clashing egos from
those unused to
this type of
collaboration
Finding and
attracting funders
Effectively
capturing and
utilizing data for
action
Balancing funding
needs to reach
financial
sustainability
Sharing power and
credit
Phase IV
Mature Phase
5
Contents
Summary of Activity
Phase I – Idea Phase
Phase II – Idea to Formation
Phase III – Growth Phase
Phase IV – Mature Phase
6
Phase I – Idea Phase: What is Going Well?
Themes
Examples from Exercise
•
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
7
Phase I – Idea Phase: What is Challenging?
Themes
Shifting leaders’
mindsets to focus on
systems change
Clashing egos from
those not accustomed
to this type of
collaboration
Finding and attracting
funders
Examples from Exercise
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
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
8
Phase I – Idea Phase: What Tools Are You Using to Break
Through?
Tools Suggested By Participants
• 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
9
Contents
Summary of Activity
Phase I – Idea Phase
Phase II – Idea to Formation
Phase III – Growth Phase
Phase IV – Mature Phase
10
Phase II – Idea to Formation: What Is Going Well?
Themes
The initiative has a
clear and compelling
goal
Data is beginning to be
linked to governance
and action
Diverse partnerships
and stakeholder
engagement
Examples from Exercise
•
•
•
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
•
•
11
Phase II – Idea to Formation: What Is Challenging
Themes
Identifying quick wins
while avoiding
distractions
Effectively capturing
and using data for
action
Balancing funding
needs to reach financial
sustainability
Sharing power and
credit
Examples from Exercise
•
•
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)
•
•
•
Achieving financial sustainability
Balancing funding needs for infrastructure and
partners
•
•
Culture of territoriality
Reducing competition and increasing power
sharing amongst partners at the table
Switch thinking from how does it benefit me
•
12
Phase II – Idea to Formation: What Tools Are You Using to
Break Through?
Tools Suggested By Participants
• 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
13
Contents
Summary of Activity
Phase I – Idea Phase
Phase II – Idea to Formation
Phase III – Growth Phase
Phase IV – Mature Phase
14
Phase III – Growth Phase: What Is Going Well?
Themes
Shared measurement
leading to more
cohesion and
engagement
Examples from Exercise
•
•
•
•
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
15
Phase III – Growth Phase: What Is Challenging
Themes
Examples from Exercise
•
•
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
Meeting fatigue
Moving from planning
to action
Unequal progress
•
16
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
17
Contents
Summary of Activity
Phase I – Idea Phase
Phase II – Idea to Formation
Phase III – Growth Phase
Phase IV – Mature Phase
18
Phase IV – Mature Phase: What Is Going Well?
Themes
Examples from Exercise
•
Groups speaks 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
•
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.)
•
•
Data has been streamlined
Using indicators / results based accountability
gives common language for framing strategies
Sharing data, resources = transparency
•
•
•
•
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
19
Phase IV – Mature Phase: What Is Challenging
Themes
Examples from Exercise
•
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
20
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
21
collectiveimpactforum.org