social change leadership for collective impact: lessons from the us

Social change

leadership for

collective impact:

Lessons from the U.S.

Sonia M. OspinaNYU/Wagner Research Center for Leadership in Action

Wise Practices in Indigenous Community Development Symposium

THE BANFF CENTRE, Alberta, Canada2012

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Collective impact…collective

achievements...

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A collaborative research with 92

community-based organizations and

164 social change leaders

Indigenous organizations in the LCW program

(about 7%) of )

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Structure of my remarks

1. What we did: a collaborative research with leaders in social change organizations

2. What we found: leadership as collective achievement

3. What we learned: Implications for theory and practice

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Leadership for a Changing World: 92 SCOs, 164

leaders The LCW program (2001-2007)

Research & Documentation (2000-2009)

Community Voices Heard, CVH, New York City

CVH is an organization of low-income people, predominantly women with experience on welfare, working to build power in New York City and State to improve the lives of our families and communities.

Coalition of African, Arab, Asian,

European, and Latino Immigrants

(CAAAELI), Chicago CAAAELI aims to strengthen diverse voices of inter-generational immigrant and refugee communities by building alliances through a transformative process to develop grassroots power that impacts public policy

People Organized in Defense of

Earth and her Resources, PODER

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“We seek to empower our communities through education, advocacy and action. Our aim is to increase the participation of communities of color in corporate and government decision making related to toxic pollution, economic development and their impact on our neighborhoods.

LCW organizations are social change organizations

• A nonprofit or public service organization

• Addresses root causes not symptoms of problems

• Increases the power of marginalized groups, communities or interests

• “a grassroots response to systemic social problems.”

(Chetkovich & Kunreuther, 2006: 14)

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How are SCOs distinct from other

nonprofits?• Work in environments of uncertainty and scarcity

• Work with constituency group, not on their behalf• Promote participant self-determination and

autonomy• Engage participants in decision-making and

governance Transform constituents into stakeholders

• Aim to transform unjust power relations that affect constituents

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An ambitious research agenda

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Ethnographic Inquiry:Looking at leadership from the

inside•Continuity

•Context•In-depth focus/thick descriptions

In what ways do communities

trying to make social change engage in the

work of leadership?

In what ways can academics and

practitioners co-produce leadership

research and knowledge that is valid and useful to

both? Co-Operative Inquiry:Co-researchers (in an inquiry

group) generate meaning/knowledge of

leadership in action.

Narrative Inquiry:The LCW participants use their own voices to reflect

about leadership and construct meaning.

Ethnographies

Horizontal Analysis

Inquiry Reports

Research Stream

Leadership Stories

Products

Up to 3 LCW participants’ communities

LCW participants and representatives of their

communities

Up to 2 groups of 6-8 LCW

participants each

Participants(co-researchers)

LC

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Collective Integration

Sele

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Structure of my remarks

1. What we did: a collaborative research with leaders in social change organizations

2. What we found: leadership as collective achievement

3. What we learned: Implications for theory and practice

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… Key findings

• The work of leadership is about awakening the community to its own strength:

• When community members see and feel abundance in the midst of scarcity they are ready to mobilize their collective energy

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… Key findings: From scarcity to abundance

“Collective” appreciative intelligence:

“the ability to see the inherent generative potential in a given situation and act purposively to transform potential into outcomes”

(Thatchenkery & Metzker, 2006)

Appreciative leadership:

“the relational capacity to mobilize creative potential and turn it into positive power…”

(Whitney, Trosten-Bloom & Rader, 2010)

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A lived problem

(systemic exclusion)

Vision ofwellbeing

and social justice

Basic assumptions: theory of change/ knowledge /human beings/powerSocial change values: equality; solidarity; inclusion; democracy: transparency

LEADERSHIP PRACTICES

-Technologies of

Management-Core

organizational tasks

Intermediateoutcomes:Collective Capacity:-Individual-Organiza- Interorg.

Strategic work to construct and leverage power

Long-term Outcomes:Changing -Mental models

- Policies-Structures

-Relationships

A framework of social change leadership in SCOs

W o r l d v i e w: “g r o u n d e d h u m a n i s m”

Leadersh

ip drivers

Change

Variations in theories of social change

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LCW Indigenous Awardees advanced

change through the “preservation”

strategy

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In what ways do communities trying to make

social change engage in the work of leadership?

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The work of leadership

Developing many leadership practices that help the organization

Reframe discourse

Bridge difference

Unleash human energies

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Reframing discourse

challenging existing ‘templates’ and mental models that contribute to make up or reinforce the problems that the organizations are addressing

Gwich’in Tribes Steering Committee

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“The caribou is not just what we eat, but who we are. It is in our dances, stories, songs and the whole way we see the world. Caribou is how we get from one year to the other”. Sarah James

People Organized in Defense of

Earth and her Resources, PODER

“…redefining environmental issues as social and economic justice issues, and collectively setting our own agenda to address these concerns as basic human rights.”

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Prompting Cognitive shifts (Foldy, Goldman & Ospina, 2008)

• About the “issue” • How an audience views the problem and/or

the solution

• About the constituency (those experiencing the problem)• How the constituency sees itself• How one part of the constituency sees

another• How an outside audience sees the

constituency

Bridging difference

…connecting different worlds and worldviews in ways that make alliance building and collaboration possible

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Columbia River Inter-tribal Commission

The Columbia River Inter-

tribal Fish Commission

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to protect reserved treaty rights through the exercise of the inherent sovereign powers of the tribes

The CRIFC 's mission is to ensure a unified voice in the overall management of the fishery resources, and as managers,

Underlying assumptions of

cross-boundary work• Recognizing the strategic value of

difference• Difference: not a problem but a key resource; • (and managing the paradox of unity/diversity)

• Balancing (real & pervasive) power inequities• commitment to try to “even the odds” (in favor of

the vulnerable)

• Leveraging the power of networks• Networks=strategic tools AND manifestations of

community (and shapers of identity)

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Unleashing human energies

…creating the conditions to reclaim the right to selfhood and full humanity

…and to recognize one’s power and expertise to direct one’s life

…learning and

unlearning …

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How?

Creating transformative learning spaces where participants can build their strengths

•Harness lived experience (and develop people’s voices)

•Draw strength from culture and identity 

•Distill knowledge and practice skills29

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Leveraging the power of all

practices together: PODER goes to

Court• “…there was a time that we were all sisters and brothers,

the night sky our ceiling, the earth our mother, the sun our father, our parents were leaders and justice our guide…”

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Leveraging

power

Reframing discourse + Bridging difference +

Unleashing human energies =

Preparedness, readiness, willingness to engage in action to bring the future into the present

Leadership practices leadership capital

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Structure of my remarks

1. What we did: a collaborative research with leaders in social change organizations

2. What we found: leadership as collective achievement

3. What we learned: Implications for theory and practice

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Distinct sets of competencies

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Implications for leadership theory

• Few studies of SCO in the mainstream literature• Missing relevant voices (and stories) people of

color, low-income communities, indigenous groups…• We can learn a lot about the human condition

from their experience!

• New interest on “relational forms of leadership” and the collective dimensions of leadership• Leaders in SCOs have been doing it for years!• We can learn a lot about leadership from their

experience!

Closing thoughts

From Peter Senge:

“Ultimately, leadership is about how we shape futures that we truly desire, as opposed to try as best we can to cope with circumstances we believe are beyond our control.”

“Look to the periphery, to people and places where commitment to the status quo is low and where hearts and minds are most open to the new.”

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Donald Sampson’s words

to young people

…you are the ones who will lead us into the future. Open your hearts and your minds. Touch the earth, the mother of all of us. Begin to feel the beauty in the rhythm from a spiritual stance. Try to understand the land, the plants, the wildlife, not only from a scientific standpoint, but as your relatives, your brother and sister.

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I have hope for a new Native American relationship with this land and with our natural resources, a hope that lies deep in the heart of our children and which will lie in the hearts of all of our future generations.

Thank you!

Want to learn more?

Research Center for Leadership in Action,

NYU/Wagner

www.wagner.nyu.edu/leadership

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