Expanding Leadership Beyond Your Walls Collaborating for Collective Innovation Laurie Preece Melissa Jaggers Ford NGL Conference October

Laurie Preece Community Coach, Alignment USA Former Executive Director, Alignment Rockford

Melissa Jaggers Associate Executive Director, Alignment Nashville Coaching/Technical Assistance, Alignment USA

Alignment USA Network

Learning Objectives What are systems? What is systemic/transformational change? What are the key elements of a collaborative leadership mindset? Why share power, decision-making and recognition? What are the steps to an aligned agenda? Why open and frequent communication? How do you safeguard the collaborative process?

What is a System? sys·tem /’sist m/ noun: a group of related parts that move or work together e

Transportation System sys·tem /’sist m/ noun: a group of related parts that move or work together e

Community Educational System

Score = Community/System “Each institution is autonomous and has to do its own work the way each instrument in an orchestra plays only its own part. But there is also the score, the community. And only if each individual instrument contributes to the score is there music. Otherwise there is only noise. And this…is about the score.” Peter F. Drucker, 1999 .

What is Systemic Change? INCREMENTAL Focus: problem-solving Evolutionary Existing culture Question little Adjust status quo Few stakeholders Leader-directed Current structure Narrow focus Power consolidation SYSTEMIC Focus: vision & strategy Revolutionary Create culture Question everything Disrupt status quo All stakeholders Diverse perspectives Change environment Broad focus Power distribution ©Alignment USA – Sydney Rogers & Laurie Preece

When Expertise is Not Enough “The capability of individuals is not proving to be our primary difficulty…It is not clear how we could produce substantially more expertise than we already have. Yet our failures remain frequent. They persist despite remarkable individual ability.’’ The Checklist Manifesto, Atul Gawande

Optimizing Parts “Anyone who understands systems will know immediately that optimizing parts is not a good route to system excellence.” The Checklist Manifesto, Atul Gawande

True Complexity “Under conditions of true complexity-where the knowledge required exceeds that of any individual and unpredictability reigns – efforts to dictate every step from the center will fail. People need room to act and adapt. Yet they cannot succeed as isolated individuals, either – that is anarchy. Instead, they require a seemingly contradictory mix of freedom and expectation – expectation to coordinate, for example and also to measure progress toward common goals.” The Checklist Manifesto, Atul Gawande

Collective Impact Common agenda Shared measurements and systems Mutually reinforcing activities Trust and continuous communication Backbone or intermediary organizations Community-wide tactics Fidelity of implementation Stanford Social Innovation Review, Winter 2011: “Collective Impact” by John Kania and Mark Kramer

Ford NGL Strands

Collaboration co·lab·or·ate /k ‘la b rat / verb: to work with another person or group in order to achieve or do something e e _

Why is Co-labor-ating So Hard? CHALLENGES 1) Work across boundaries 2) Build trust fast 3) Share risk/benefit 4) Make it work with all stakeholders 5) Link resources into networks REALITY 1) No authority 2) Inertia, suspicion & bureaucracies 3) Self-serving nature 4) Collaboration viewed as a last resort 5) Legacy attitudes about resources ©Alignment USA – Sydney Rogers & Laurie Preece

Collaborative Leader Mindset Resources as shared instruments of action Authentic leadership without passive aggressiveness Transparent decision-making Codified relationship between decision-making rights, accountability and rewards Ron Ricci and Carl Wiese, Copyright ©2012 Cisco Systems Inc.

Collaborative Leadership Roles Assess the environment for collaboration Create clarity of model and agendas Built trust, transparency and predictability Share power and influence Develop people and organizations Encourage self-reflection Build and share common knowledge Build social leadership identity Dr. Jill Jameson, Center for Excellence in Leadership

Collaborative Leadership Roles Assess the environment for Alignment

Collaborative Leadership Roles Create clarity of model

Alignment IS… …a system designed to support a public school’s strategic plan for student success by aligning community resources

Alignment IS NOT… …a program …a parent organization …a school governance model

Alignment Team Process Tactical Planning

Collaborative Leadership Roles Built trust, transparency and predictability . A collaborative leader invests time in developing sound relationships. Without healthy relationships then diving into the data can stall or reverse progress. Egos inflate and historical rivalries are resurrected. Everybody has to be willing to give up something. While what’s best for transforming the system may not be what’s best for all organizations IN THE SHORT RUN, IN THE LONG RUN, what’s best for the community has to guide decision-making. A saying seen on the highway: ‘’Temporary inconvenience – Permanent improvement’’ When decisions are based on data that all have access to and understand, then all collaborative leaders should support decisions where the data leads. Leveraging moral authority may be needed at this point. John Kania cautions that while designing solutions, the relational is as important as the rational.

Culture of Communication Embedded in Process (mechanical) Open/Transparent/Pithy (artful)

Culture of Communication

Collaborative Leadership Roles Share power and influence

Community Engagement Struggle Awareness Back & Forth Tactic Plan Pilot Tactics Success or Failure

Collaborative Leadership Roles Develop people and organizations

Collaborative Leadership Roles Encourage self-reflection

Collaborative Leadership Roles Build and share common knowledge

Collaborative Leadership Roles Build social leadership identity

Steps to an Aligned Agenda Convene Stakeholders in ‘’A-Teams’’ Analyze Relevant Data Select Strategy & Craft Common Vision Define Desired Outcomes & Assessment Plan Design Tactics & ITP ©Alignment USA

Steps to Resource Alignment Community Organizations Respond to ITP™ ©Alignment USA

Backbones Safeguard Process Process Experts Adaptive Leaders 1 Focus attention to create urgency (storytelling) Apply pressure without overwhelming Frame issues (opportunities/difficulties) Mediate conflict Move collaborators from advocacy to collective impact 2 1 Stanford Social Innovation Review, Winter 2011: “Collective Impact” by John Kania and Mark Kramer 2 Alignment Nashville

From Advocacy… The backbone organization has an apt name. It’s role is to support and protect CI activities as a spine and ribs protect internal organs. It is one of the necessary elements to launch a collective impact effort. It does not deliver direct services; it doesn’t fee the hungry or clothe the naked. The backbone organization is focused every day on moving a collective impact effort forward – so that collaborative leaders and collaborating organization can continue to operate their organizations AND engage in innovative solution design. Without the backbone organization there are risks that: Collaborators will burn out Boards of collaborating organizations will resent the time commitments and may pull out There won’t be process experts Power will not be balanced among all parties (somebody in the orchestra will be tooting their own horn…) Strategic Focus may be lost Administrative tasks may be neglected Facilitation skills won’t be specialized Responsibility for communication may be diffused or neglected Responsibility for data and reporting may be diffused or neglected

From Advocacy…

…to Collective Impact

Risks Without A Backbone Loss of stakeholder diversity and balance Loss of strategic focus Collaborators may burn out Collaborating organizations may pull out Loss of process expertise Administrative tasks may be neglected Facilitation skills may not be specialized Communication may be neglected Data/Assessment may be neglected ©Alignment USA – Sydney Rogers & Laurie Preece

Learning Objectives What are systems? What is systemic/transformational change? What are the key elements of a collaborative leadership mindset? Why share power, decision-making and recognition? What are the steps to an aligned agenda? Why open and frequent communication? How do you safeguard the collaborative process?

Reference List Stanford Social Innovation Review, Winter 2011: “Collective Impact” by John Kania and Mark Kramer Stanford Social Innovation Review, Digital Edition: ‘’Collective Insights on Collective Impacts” Center for Excellence in Leadership, “Investigating Collaborative Leadership for Communities of Practice in Learning and Skills”, 2006, Dr. Jill Jameson The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right, 2009, Dr. Atul Gawande The Collaboration Imperative, 2011, Ron Ricci and Carl Wiese Drucker Institute Churchman, C. W. (1967). “Wicked problems” Management Science, 14(4), B-141 and B-142

©Alignment USA – Sydney Rogers & Laurie Preece Thank you! Laurie Preece LauriePreece@Gmail.com Melissa Jaggers Melissa@AlignmentNashville.org ©Alignment USA – Sydney Rogers & Laurie Preece