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Commitment Ways to Instill Ownership in Consortium Activities. ACL Webinar Wednesday September 16 , 2009 11:00 AM Phil DiChiara, Managing Director The Boston Consortium for Higher Education t/ phil / acl. Commitment: Defined as….
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CommitmentWays to Instill Ownership in Consortium Activities ACL Webinar Wednesday September 16, 2009 11:00 AM Phil DiChiara, Managing Director The Boston Consortium for Higher Education t/phil/acl
Commitment: Defined as…. • … a voluntary sacrifice of time and a commensurate display of interest in an effort to contribute to the greater good. • … a sense that the success of the collaboration is dependent upon my contribution and that my contribution will be impactful. • … a sense that others will miss my participation if I do not fulfill an (unspoken) obligation to the group/social network. • And…in the best case…an unwillingness to let go of the opportunity despite competing interests including time constraints, resource limitations and vexing complexity.
You know it when you see it… • People get to the meeting on time and take time to chat afterward • There is laughter, anxiety and a sense of connectedness among the participants. • People ask what took place in their absence
Ownership as Commitment • “The Pledge” By Board Members • Is not transferable: Must be re-won with each new Board member by a slow process of thoughtful restatement of the business and social case reflecting your mission. • As Emotional Binding • Once the pledge is understood, the glue comes from Relationships between and among Board and other internal communities.
Deconstructing Magic • Ownership/commitment as a combination of attributes that, together, must attain critical mass in order to become self-sustaining • Establishment of an appropriate Group Energy Level • A Topic of Genuine Interest and Importance to the group’s professional life. • The Chemistry of the group • Convenience and comfort of the engagement time and space • Support of management /supervisor • Availability of resources • Shared vision and mutual agreement of timeline
Qualified Facilitation is Key • Consortium facilitator’s role is to fine-tune these and other attributes to insure optimal productivity a rewarding experience. • Participants can avail themselves of stressful and unproductive meetings at their own campus…why would a consortium want to do the same? • Intellectual rigor and a continual focus on results need not be boring.
Processes Both Obvious and Subtle • Ask for a modest sacrifice and step it up over time. • “steal thunder’, under-sell but over-deliver the social nature of learning, • Reward the effort • Serve lunch or breakfast, change meeting times to meet changing needs, provide resources Frame the effort in ennobling terms • Repeat it at every meeting, use metaphor to explain • Discuss and communicate cause and effect • Link to school strategic mission • Provide Opportunities to Develop Collaborative Skills • The teachable moment….
And yet it still seems illusive…! • Activity Below the Board Level is the (reinforcing) feedback loop of the system • Results are the evidence of commitment and ownership • Absence of Results..and therefore commitment… may be due to: • Lack of accountability to Consortium initiatives • Unclear Expectations • Failure to reward collaborative leadership • Lack of support from the executive level • Missing skills necessary to collaboration
Examples of Success at the Boston Consortium for Higher Education • Projects • Employment Managers CoP • IT Training CoP • Internal Audit Business Unit • Homeland Security Training • Mega-Projects • HMI, TPE, MEWA • Knowledge Sharing • Telecom CoP • Benefits Programs
The Oft-Repeated Vernacular at The Boston Consortium • “Dialog leads to Relationships….Relationships lead to Trust….and Trust reveals Opportunities” • “Data isn’t information; Information isn’t Knowledge; and Knowledge isn’t the Wisdom to Change” • “The Managing Director Doesn’t Get a Vote….” • “It’s just that darn Consortium….”
References • Richards, Dick; The Art of Winning Commitment; NewYork: Amacom, 2004 • Ghemawat, Pankaj; Commitment: The Dynamic of Strategy, Second Edition; Free Press, 1991 • Klein, Howard, and Thomas Becker, John Meyer, Editors; Commitment in Organizations: Accumulated Wisdom and New Directions:SiopOrganizational Frontiers Series; Taylor and Francis; 1st edition, 2009 • Raelin, Joseph A., Creating Leaderful Organizations; San Francisco: Berrrett-Koehler, 2003 • Raelin, Joseph A., Work-Based Learning; San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2008