Solving Difficult Collective Impact Challenges

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Solving Difficult Collective Impact Challenges

New Virtual Learning Sessions

Doing collective impact well means managing complexity in strategy and implementation across a network. It requires managing change for network members who need to change their work to align with the collective impact initiative’s priorities. And it means addressing differences and even conflicts amongst the group.

The Collective Impact Forum is launching Solving Difficult Collective Impact Challenges, a new virtual learning series that will cover adaptive leadership and other practices to help manage and solve for complexity, change, and conflict within their coalitions. Participants have two options for engaging in this new learning opportunity (details outlined below).

Dominique Samari and Paul Schmitz

Workshop Leads:

Dominique Samari, Cofounder, P3 Development Group, and Technical Advisor, Collective Impact Forum

Paul Schmitz, CEO, Leading Inside Out and Senior Advisor, Collective Impact Forum

What kinds of challenges does Solving Difficult Collective Impact Challenges help address?

These are some examples of challenges we have seen that these tools can help to address. (This is not an exhaustive list):

Members don’t fulfill commitments and avoid accountability;
Members have competing interests or even conflicts where they sabotage the collective or refuse to work with each other;
There are power dynamics within the collective between grass-tops and grass-roots members that are shutting members down, diminishing trust in the process, and leading to member attrition;
There is a lack of trust with key partners who refuse to share data or information on their programs and outcomes with the group;
Differences in the group in committing to and centering equity in the collective;
A small group of members meet together outside the collective’s meetings and make decisions to exclude others and pursue funding for work that conflicts with the agenda;
Members refuse to change their work to align with the agenda, participating in the collective but continuing programs or activities that undermine the shared strategies.

If you are working through similar challenges as above and looking for more tools and practices to face them, we welcome you to explore either of our upcoming learning opportunities below:

Option 1

Workshop: Solving Difficult Collective Impact Challenges
June 26 - Online

This three-hour virtual workshop will be a mix of presentation, personal reflection, and small group discussion, and will focus on adaptive leadership practices and other tools to work through complex challenges.

Attendees will gain from this session:

Ability to better articulate and frame challenges within the collective impact work in order to generate solutions;
Ability to apply adaptive leadership practices and other tools to collective impact challenges.

Who should participate in this workshop? This workshop will be aimed at backbone staff or individuals in leadership roles (e.g., steering committee or workgroup co-chairs) in collective impact efforts. Partners who are members of collective impact efforts and want to learn these skills are also invited.

Registration: $199 per person. Group rates available.

Learn More and Register

Option 2

Workshop + Implementation Lab Series: Solving Difficult Collective Impact Challenges
June 26, July 9, July 23, August 6 - Online

For those who want to go deeper, we are offering both the June 26 workshop and an accompanying three-part Implementation Lab series for a small cohort. (No more than 30 people.)

This experiential lab series is designed for teams of two people per organization/collaborative, and that team will join a small cohort for the three-part implementation lab series. Lab participants are asked to bring a current challenge in their collective impact work and utilize the tools, peer support, and facilitator coaching to develop options and plans for solving it.

Attendees will gain from these sessions:

Identify and analyze an adaptive challenge that is impeding progress of your collective impact initiative;
Learn a series of frameworks and tools to help solve complex, adaptive challenges;
Generate solutions to your challenge and develop a plan for how you will engage others to test, implement, and evaluate those solutions

Who from our community is the Implementation Lab Series designed for? The Lab Series is designed for the collective impact backbone team (i.e., the person who leads facilitation and support for the collaborative). The second participant can be another member of the backbone team or an actively engaged partner or leader (e.g., steering committee member or workgroup co-chair, etc) who will help apply the Lab Series learnings in the community work.

Why is it important for a team of two people to join from the same collaborative or organization? Often complex challenges require more than one person to address them, and this series is designed to equip two team members from the same organization or collaborative with tactics and recommendations you can work on together as a team to face your challenge.

Registration: $1,500 per team of two people that includes all four sessions.

Learn More and Register

Want to Learn More?

If you want to learn more about these offerings and if it's a good fit for you, please reach out to the Collective Impact Forum's Jennifer Splansky Juster.

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