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One of the hallmarks of complex problems is that they are a set of interrelated problems with root causes that are extremely difficult to untangle.
Unlike a difficult technical challenge, you cannot simply break a complex problem into its component parts, solve each of those parts independently, and then assume the collection of solutions will produce the societal outcomes you are seeking.
And yet this is precisely the approach we often take when trying to create a better future. When we advocate for one solution without understanding how it affects solutions in other parts of the system, we impede progress toward the overall vision. When these disconnected efforts ultimately fail to produce the societal outcomes we are seeking, the tendency is to point fingers at what we perceive as bad actors and bad policies rather than a flawed understanding and approach to the problem itself, which only serves to once again focus on our attention and resources on things that are unlikely to produce systemic change.
We work with philanthropic and community-based organizations, financial institutions, and government offices to bring more experimentation, upstream thinking, and strategy to your efforts so you can avoid or mitigate unintended consequences and improve collective impact. This workshop is a fit for organizations struggling with these questions:
What are we missing? Why isn’t our region or our beneficiaries seeing improved economic mobility?
Do we have a job growth strategy or a good job growth strategy?
How do we know if our programs are unintentionally causing harm? And what can we do about it?
How can we do more upstream work to prevent problems from developing in addition to helping those already impacted by an unfair system?
An understanding of how the four system imbalances–Jobs, Access, Skills, and Desirability–work together to impede economic mobility.
A framework for conducting a self-diagnosis of the strengths, weaknesses, and gaps in your ecosystem.
How to gauge whether your education and economic development activities are helping or hurting the most underserved populations in your community.
A list of questions that will help you and your stakeholders to build consensus and alignment and facilitate better collective impact.
An understanding of how the four system imbalances–Jobs, Access, Skills, and Desirability–work together to impede economic mobility.
How to gauge whether your education and economic development activities are helping or hurting the most underserved populations in your community.
A framework for conducting a self-diagnosis of the strengths, weaknesses, and gaps in your ecosystem.