Upswell
is a convening organized by the national organization Independent
Sector to bring
together those working towards change in the social sector in the US. The
following are a few themes and tips I took from participating in this convening
recently:
For our
organizations:
To get different results we need to do things differently. One practical way of doing that is to get out of our own bubbles and traditional networks for hiring new members to our teams and seeking new partners.
We can get very distracted by innovation. Holding up and strengthening good efforts that are already happening can
One of the fun parts of being more ‘senior’ in one’s career is having the opportunity to share ‘lessons learned’ over the years. I had the opportunity to participate in one such session in August – blog post here – and another earlier this month. Here are a few of the lessons shared from this latest session:
The ‘why’ is always the most important – why are you undertaking this effort? Form (tactics – what will you do and how will you do it?) should follow function (what is it you’re trying to accomplish?). I’ve often called it the Journalism
If your organization is expanding its international reach, taking time for doing the due diligence to explore and understand new environments is crucial. First steps to take include clearly articulating with your board and senior leadership why you want to engage with a particular country or region and what you are trying to accomplish. Once the answer to these questions are clear, developing a criteria for identifying or determining if a particular area of the world is aligned with your goals is an important next step.
There is a range of steps you can take to conduct your due diligence …
I recently facilitated a session for social sector practitioners on global trends for organizations engaging internationally, and some ideas for how they could incorporate them into their operations or programs in creative ways. Here is some of what we discussed:
Tying to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – organizations can use the SDGs as a gateway to encourage their members to think and act more globally
Some examples:
* The International Coach Federation through its foundation has an initiative to ‘advance social progress through coaching‘ by supporting organizations working on the SDGs.
* The International Federation of Library Associations has …
A couple of years ago Bonnie wrote a series of posts on how our concept of networking has changed in a more globally connected world. We are continuing to see an increase in global networking and in the creation and expansion of new networks. Two new efforts provide interesting examples of how some of these new networks are being created and some of what is being learned.
Civil Society and Testing Change
The Civil Society and Testing Change project is a collaborative effort among a network of organizations and individuals interested in …
