Navigating the Long Game of Changing Systems: Part 2
Part 2: Testing, Learning, and Refining: Early-Middle Years
(Years 3-7…ish)
Collaborating across organizations to address root causes and change conditions at the system level is a messy, long experience. There are so many different approaches - Collective Impact, Systemness, grassroots organizing, and so on - each with their own principles, frameworks, tools, and ways of doing the work “correctly.” Differences of perspective exist across different stakeholder groups - community members, nonprofit organizations, government agencies, the business community, and funding organizations - about how to approach the problem, how long it should take, how much it should cost, and how to get things done. But in our experience working with collaboratives trying to solve “wicked problems”, despite multiple approaches and methods, this kind of work actually tends to follow a fairly predictable pattern.
In part 2 of this three-part series, we’re exploring the life cycles of collaborative efforts and breaking them down into their essential elements, based on research and Elevate’s work in this space. If you missed part 1, check it out here.
—-------------------------
In the early years of a collaborative, the focus is on establishing a strong foundation - building relationships, understanding the landscape, and developing a shared vision. Like any strong partnership, these building blocks are fundamental, can’t be skipped over, and are predictive of long term success.
Once a strong foundation has been established, a collaborative can transition into a phase of more active experimentation. Work on the foundational elements from the early years must be continuous and ongoing throughout the life of the collaborative effort, to be sure. But this second phase - testing out strategies, learning what does and doesn’t work, and iterating based on learning and contextual shifts - is the engine that fuels long-lasting change.
Testing Ideas and Innovations. The central feature of this era is developing and implementing strategies rooted in learnings from landscape scanning, stakeholder input, and best practice. It involves implementing short-term, small-scale pilots with a disciplined focus on collecting data and learning from wins and challenges. Some strategies are major wins, others will be failures, and that’s the point. In this phase, learning is the win - narrowing strategies and efforts to what works in a given context is the priority. This phase can sometimes feel like wandering around in the darkness - it’s the “messy middle” of collaborative work - but this phase is where the magic happens!
Evaluating and Learning. Testing doesn’t work if there isn’t a commitment to collecting data, reviewing it, and determining what works and what doesn’t. Developing clear evaluation plans and processes for learning at the onset ensures those elements are baked into the process of piloting and testing and that resources (time, money, meetings, etc.) are set aside specifically for this purpose.
Adapting and Iterating. With a strong practice of evaluating and learning from action, a collaborative is able to adapt strategies to lessons learned and contextual information and quickly iterate. This process - of testing, learning, iterating; testing, learning, iterating - creates “learning loops” that, over time, lead to work that is road-tested, relevant to local contexts, and moving towards maturity and sustainability.
This process of testing, learning, and iterating can repeat itself multiple times, in what we like to call “learning loops”, each loop building on the learning and momentum from the previous loop. Each loop makes the problem more and more clear, it focuses in more and more on what works, and it lets go of what doesn’t, making way for the real, long lasting changes to emerge and take root.
—-----------------
Next month, we’ll explore what it looks like in the later years of a collaborative, when these “learning loops” start to yield consistent results, and major indicators start to show progress and positive movement. Don’t miss part 3 - subscribe to our newsletter (visit www.consultelevate.com and scroll to the bottom to sign up) or follow us on LinkedIn! And in the meantime, let us know what you think at hello@consultelevate.com. What did we miss, or what resonates with you?