Collective Impact and the Importance of Partnerships

1. Collective Impact and the Importance of Partnerships

2. Discussion Questions • Why do we need partnerships with other sectors for effective literacy service planning? • What partners need to be involved in literacy service planning?

3. MTCU Expectations • “Planning and coordination should extend beyond Literacy and Basic Skills (LBS) service providers to those other organizations whose mandates complement LBS and who have the capacity to provide some of the additional supports needed” • One of the service categories outlined for Regional Networks is to support seamless client pathways across EO and EDU, MCI and MTCU • “The Ministry’s vision of Employment Ontario (EO) is that there will eventually be a comprehensive system that, in addition to breaking down barriers between “programs”, will also better integrate the supports that clients/learners require to succeed

4. Key Principles Guiding EO Service Delivery Integration • “Service delivery goals, processes, infrastructure and technology are aligned across channels allowing all EO service providers to meet client needs and provide seamless service” Community-Based Coordination • “All EO service delivery is provided throughout the province by service providers that coordinate their work at the community level through participation in the local planning and coordination process”

5. Expanded System Then Now Education Sector Literacy Sector Literacy Sector Employment Sector Immigration Apprenticeship An integrated training and employment system that supports seamless client pathways

6. Discussion Questions • How do we bring partners to the table? • How do we communicate the value of this type of planning?

7. Collective Impact • Introduced as a concept by John Kania and Mark Kramer in a paper in the Stanford Social Innovation Review (Winter 2011) • Focus is on multi-sector collaboration and collective impact • http://www.ssireview.org/images/articles/2011_WI_Feature_Kania.pdf

8. Using Collective Impact as an Organizing Framework What is Collective Impact? “The commitment of a group of important actors from different sectors to a common agenda for solving a specific social problem.” • Click here for a video about Collective Impact

9. The Concept of Collective Impact • Large-scale social change comes from better cross-sector coordination rather than from the isolated intervention of individual organizations • While the need to work collectively to solve complex social issues seems obvious, the reality is that working collectively can be challenging

10. Collective Impact is a disciplined and deliberate approach to working together with a clearly defined goal, focused on 5 conditions • Different sectors have different ways of thinking, different assumptions of how change happens and different languages • There are many incentives to work in isolation

12. Examples of Collective Impact

13. Neighbourhood Legal Services (London & Middlesex) Inc. Child and Youth Network in London/Middlesex

14. Cross-sector collaboration that helps urban youth succeed academically from early childhood through college and enter a meaningful career • More than 300 organizations and institutions participate

15. Five Conditions for Collective Impact There are five conditions necessary to support true alignment and generate powerful results • Common Agenda • Shared Measurement Systems • Mutually Reinforcing Activities • Continuous Communication • Backbone Support

16. Common Agenda To establish a common agenda, a multi-sector group must come together and focus on the following three things: • A common understanding of the problem • Agreement on a common set of strategies for addressing the problem • Agreement to jointly address the problem and hold one another accountable

17. Examples of Common Agendas 1. End Poverty 2. Make Literacy a Way of Life 3. Lead the Nation in Increasing Healthy Eating and Healthy Physical Activity 4. Create a Family-Centred Service System CYN Agenda Every child: • is prepared for school • is supported in and out of school • succeeds academically • enrols in some form of post-secondary education • graduates and enters a career Strive Partnership Report

18. Shared Measurement Systems • It is important to have common ways to measure and report on the success of the common agenda • Collecting data and measuring results consistently on a short set of indicators at the community level is both essential and doable • Great progress is happening in this area • Breakthroughs in Shared Measurement and Social Impact

19. Example: Child and Youth Network • Established desired outcomes for each of the four priorities. Some have a specific target (e.g., reducing the proportion of families living in poverty by 25% in five years). Others have more general targets of increasing the number of children who are ready for school and who stay in school, and improving physical activity levels and eating habits amongst London’s children, youth and families • For each priority, the group has identified the measures they will track to determine their progress. Developing common measurement systems will continue to be a priority over the next three years • CYN 2011 Progress Report

20. Example: Strive • Monitors progress toward its five key goals using ten community-level progress indicators • Annual report to the community documents the current status of each indicator and serves as a catalyst for discussion in the community • Strive 2011 Partnership Report

21. Mutually Reinforcing Activities • Over time, because various players within a system are working collectively, talking regularly and interacting more frequently around shared measurements, they begin to develop a much better sense of the work of various partners • Collective impact depends on a diverse group of stakeholders working together, not by requiring that all participants do the same thing, but by encouraging each participant to undertake the specific set of activities at which it excels in a way that supports and is coordinated with the actions of others

22. Example: Child and Youth Network • Many organizations are working together to improve literacy. Others are working together to enhance healthy eating and healthy physical activity. In these collaborations, each agency brings its own strengths and skills to bear to help achieve common targets • Organizations also offer a myriad of programs and services that are directed at accomplishing the same goals as the Child and Youth Network • Opportunities exist to align CYN initiatives and the approach of these organizations in an effort to support each other. This would leverage the great things that organizations are already doing in the community while making the CYN operate more efficiently

23. Continuous Communication • This condition is one that is "blindingly obvious" and yet many collaboratives do not continuously communicate well • Developing trust among nonprofits, corporations, and government agencies is a monumental challenge. Participants need several years of regular meetings to build up enough experience with each other to recognize and appreciate the common motivation behind their different efforts • They need time to see that their own interests will be treated fairly, and that decisions will be made on the basis of objective evidence and the best possible solution to the problem, not to favour the priorities of one organization over another

24. Examples • In year five of its process • In the first two years of the initiative, participants met every two weeks • Network meets 4 to 5 times a year • Public website with all agendas, minutes and documents (CYN Website)

25. Backbone Support • Need an organization and staff with a very specific set of skills to serve as the backbone for the whole initiative • Role is to facilitate alignment, coordination and collective problem-solving across multiple organizations and partners • Ensure the strategic coherence of the overall effort • These organizations require a broad set of skills that are rarely held within any one individual

26. Examples • There are a number of organizations helping to play this role within the Child and Youth Network • Eight full-time staff members • Each Student Success Network is assigned a Strive staff member as a coach • Each network has a facilitator to lead the bi-weekly meetings

27. Group Activity Five workstations around the room. For each of the five conditions of Collective Impact, answer the questions: • What would this condition look like in action? • What would we see happening if we were doing this well?

28. Collective Impact and Partnerships • Large-scale social change comes from better cross-sector coordination rather than from the isolated intervention of individual organizations • This means partnerships! • While the need to work collectively to solve complex social issues seems obvious, the reality is that working collectively can be challenging

29. The Importance of Partnerships • Supporting seamless client pathways requires forging partnerships and collaboration among organizations • Integrating all of these partners is difficult and slow work. Collective impact is a marathon, not a sprint

30. The creation of partnerships leads to mutually reinforcing activities • Stakeholders don’t do the same things – they undertake a specific set of activities in which they excel in a way that supports and is coordinated with the actions of others...to achieve the shared vision/goal

31. The London Experience • Almost 5 years into the process • Over 150 different partner organizations • Neighbourhood Child and Family Centres open in 4 locations in 2012

32. Potential Barriers • What are some of the potential barriers to forging partnerships in the Employment Ontario system? • How can these potential barriers be overcome? • How can the concept of collective impact help to bring other partners to the planning table?

33. Pre-Conditions for Collective Impact Strive Executive Committee of 23 CEOs and EDs who are well respected in the region and remain highly involved with the collaborative Child and Youth Network Lynne Livingston is identified as key in making the process successful An Influential Champion - An individual or small group who commands the respect necessary to bring executive level cross-sector leaders together and keep them actively engaged over time

34. Strive’s annual budget is $2 million, while the combined annual budgets of all 300 participating organizations is nearly $7 billion City of London receives $200,000 per year from the Province as a Community Integration Leader 2. Adequate Financial Resourcing - Adequate financial resources to last at least two to three years and generally involving at least one anchor funder to support needed infrastructure and planning

35. Strive Our success in growing a stronger economy and lifting incomes depends on getting better results in education Child and Youth Network Provincial goals of integration and seamless service 3. A Sense of Urgency for Change - A new opportunity or crisis that convinces people that a particular issue must be acted upon now and/or that a new approach is needed

36. Discussion Questions • Do the three pre-conditions for collective impact exist in your community? If not, what can you do to create them? • Which of the five conditions for successful collective impact do you see as a strength of your Network? • What are the important pieces you see as needing to be put in place to strengthen your Network’s work? Why? • What first steps can you take to strengthen your Network’s collective impact?

37. Choosing Potential Members • Need an appropriate cross section of people • Criteria for choosing potential members:

38. Trust and Relationship Building • Trust is a key aspect of establishing partnerships and building relationships • There are characteristic and competence behaviours which create trust

39. Trust is Established through Action • Talk straight • Demonstrate respect • Create transparency • Right wrongs • Show loyalty • Deliver results • Get better • Confront reality • Clarify expectations • Practice accountability • Listen first • Keep commitments • Extend trust

40. Common Mistakes • Failure to take the upfront time needed to develop support • Imposing a vision on members • Designing processes that are not inclusive or open • Failing to inform or involve members in an ongoing and meaningful manner • Leaders who take control and fail to build ownership

41. Reflection • What learnings and reflections do I have from this session? • What are some potential actions for my Regional Network?

42. Wrap Up and Questions

43. References • Collective Impact (Stanford Social Innovation Review) http://www.ssireview.org/articles/entry/collective_impact • Ministry of Training Colleges and Universities. (October 2011). Supporting Learners through Service Coordination and Referrals. Province of Ontario. • Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities. (April 2, 2012). Literacy and Basic Skills: Service Provider Guidelines. Province of Ontario. Retrieved from http://www.tcu.gov.on.ca/eng/eopg/publications/2012_lbs_sp_guidelines.pdf. • Winer, Michael and Karen Ray. (1994). Collaboration Handbook: Creating, Sustaining and Enjoying the Journey. Minnesota: Amherst H. Wilder Foundation.