The Elevate Journal
Navigating the Long Game of Changing Systems Part 3: Embedding and Sustaining Change: Middle-Late Years
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.”
Navigating the Long Game of Changing Systems Part 2: Testing, Learning, and Refining: Early-Middle Years
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.”
Navigating the Long Game of Changing Systems Part I: The Early Years
Collaborating across organizations to address root causes and change conditions at the system level is a messy, long experience. Over the next few months, I’m going to be exploring the life cycles of collaborative efforts and breaking them down into their essential elements, based on my own research, professional experience, and Elevate’s work in this space with partners working to improve systems across a range of issues.
Storytelling: Demystifying a Dynamic Art Form and Tool
Storytelling is a dynamic art form and tool that we engage with across the service areas of our clients, transcending a singular form of use. In both its art form and tool use, the presence of storytelling invites Elevate staff into the operationalization of our mission and values as we partner with our clients in their impactful work.
Engaging Consultants to Increase Your Organization’s Impact
Running an organization is hard. In this blog, we give some helpful pointers on when it’s the best time to hire a consultant, what they can (and can’t) do for you, and so much more!
Elevate Pro Tips for Building Useful Surveys
Surveys are one of the most common data collection tools we encounter at Elevate, and for good reason! Surveys can be a helpful and relatively inexpensive way to gather quantitative (and sometimes qualitative) data from respondents about their attributes, perceptions, knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors. Surveys, when poorly designed, can also generate data that is not useful or usable. Here are some of our recommendations for designing quality surveys.
Facilitating Groups Utilizing Emergent Strategy Principles
At Elevate, we have the pleasure of working with many different groups working toward changing the systemic conditions that are creating and reinforcing marginalization and injustice. We do this in a number of spaces, from early childhood to homelessness to workforce development, and in every situation, we’re challenged by the complexity of the systems, the scope of the challenges, and the nuances of the relationships of the people in the room. These spaces require us to be not only skilled facilitators but also constant learners and scholars of the ways in which systems change can actually be brought about.
Survey Demographic FAQs
When designing survey tools with our clients, we often receive many questions surrounding the demographic portion of the questionnaire. Demographic questions can be tricky for a number of reasons, and there is no real consensus around best practices. In this post, we will share Elevate’s answers to some demographic FAQs that are backed by literature and our own experience in consulting.
Unpacking What We Mean by “Learning Culture”
You have likely heard or read about the idea of a learning culture. If you heard about it from us, you may have seen the stars in our eyes as we talked about our earnest belief that shifting organizational cultures to center learning can transform the nonprofit landscape, leading to more engaged and fulfilled staff, stronger relationships across agencies, and ultimately, better outcomes for clients.