The J.W. McConnell Family Foundation

CollaborationFor

Systems ChangeDarcy RiddellJune 16, 2015

“Collaboration is the

human face of systems thinking”

– The Necessary Revolution, Smith et al., 2010

Our systems are increasing in complexity:

• Difficult & messy to define & understand

• Nonlinear

• Unpredictable

• Adaptive and changing

Slide courtesy of BCHC

Title Calibri Bold 28pt

If we are to be innovative about anything in the

future, it must be about how we work together.

~ Al EtmanskiSlide courtesy of BCHC

Title Calibri Bold 28pt

Leadership on Complex Issues

• Requires collaboration of those who have a stake in the

issue and are affected by the issue.

• Requires working across sectors and disciplines

• Calls for new skills, capacities and ways of being Adapted from BCHC

Addressing Complex Issues

1. Create the conditions for solutions to emerge.

2. Begin conducting ‘safe to fail’ experiments.

3. Observe and learn to collectively make meaning

4. Take adaptive action…and repeat

Adapted by Mark Cabaj from Mattessich, P.W., Murray-Close, M. & Monsey, B.R. (1992). Collaboration: What makes it work. St. Paul, MN: Amherst H. Wilder Foundation.

The “Working Together Continuum”

Tamarack Institute for Community Engagement

DISCUSSION:

Why collaborate?

What are the challenges of collaboration?

Innovation Processes:• Explosion of new tools,

technologies, methods for collaboration

• Labs, collective impact, co-production, networks, ecosystems

for systems change

LABSLABSLABSLABSLA…Buzzwords or pathways to greater impact?

Partnership Brokering Skills http://partnershipbrokers.org/

1.Negotiation2.Facilitation3.Synthesising information & record keeping4.Communication & presentation5.Coaching & capacity building6.Institution-building7.Reviewing & revising

Constellation Governance- Tonya Surman, Centre for Social Innovation

Co-Production of public services: Designing & delivering services is a partnership between citizens and professionals.Catherine Needham and Sarah Carr

Generative Social Networks2015 PETER PLASTRIK, Stanford Social Innovation Review

Building a coalition of unusual suspects: Six Key Themes About Collaboration

Attend to power, diversity and trustCreate accessible platforms & reduce dependencyInvest in the skill (it’s not a hobby)Resilient, distributed leadershipFind, empower and mobilize unusual suspectsCollaboration should be scalable and sustainable

Taking a Social Movement Perspective…

A sustained focus on power and inclusion

Who are the essential stakeholders in your system? How could you be

collaborating more effectively?

Legitimacy? Urgency? Power?