Changing the Way We Do Business

Broader partnerships.

Bolder strategies.

Bigger goals.

Better data.

This morning began with a little field trip to the Hill, where I attended a Congressional Briefing on coordinating child and youth policies at the state and federal level. The Forum for Youth Investment -- an "action tank" -- and its Ready by 21 National Partnership hosted the event, which featured a panel of practitioners who have been working for sometimes more than a decade to align policies across agencies that affect children.

Remarkably, 29 states already have at least one coordinating body such as a P-20 Council or a Children's Cabinet (nearly 10% of states have three or more coordinating bodies, which might be a symptom of collaboration fatigue -- one of the panelists even mentioned how you need a coordinating mechanism for the coordinating bodies!).

The four Bs above are the building blocks for coordinating youth policies, according to the Forum. They're remarkably similar to the five steps for achieving large-scale cross-sector "collective impact":

Common Agenda
Shared Measurement System
Mutually Reinforcing Activities
Continuous Communication
Backbone Organization

Developing common language and complementary goals are key policy recommendations for any alignment effort. I wonder, though, whether progress is sometimes impeded by the tension between being unique/indispensable as an organization/entity and aligning efforts under a shared vision. For instance, "no excuses" charter schools have proliferated nationwide, but although they all share the same underlying values, they each find different acronyms and guiding principles to use. Is this because they are all vying for a perceived zero-sum pool of funding and all must therefore be unique?

Getting back to the event, I really buy into the Ready By 21 Theory of Change, which is very much in sync with the "all sectors, working together" model:

"Doing business differently" is one of those often-repeated truisms, and it's been popping up everywhere this week. Just yesterday at the National Conference on Volunteering and Service, Melody Barnes gave the White House Council for Community Solutions a shout-out. About the Council, the Social Innovation Fund, and other domestic policy efforts of the Obama Administration, she said:

"The Administration's emphasis on results has resonated among communities, philanthropies, and corporations across the country, spawning a new focus on innovation, evaluation, and the metrics for success. It's time for government to do business differently... and we are."

Yes. We. Can.