Lessons from our Capacity Building Fund, Cont'd

Contract with a Skilled Facilitator

While not every one of the 25 learning networks used their planning/or implementation grant to contract an outside facilitator, most of them did, and we found that such investment paid off handsomely. The reason is that for a network to function optimally, network members must develop collaborative skills: commonly agreed upon norms for the group, support for frank, participatory discussions, and honest engagement and careful listening to one another. These are but a few of the collaborative skills that are a necessary precondition for the healthy functioning of the network.

An outside facilitator is an asset in helping a group develop these skills. Further, the facilitator can help mediate potential tensions that arise from competition or power issues among network members.

Keep Network Members Connected

Photo: Center for Teen Empowerment in action

CBF Planning Grant grantee Center for Teen Empowerment in action

Consistent participation by network members is essential, yet very challenging. To bolster it, network coordination is key so that essential tasks, such as convening meetings and keeping members informed and connected to each other in between meetings, are performed.

In our CBF funded networks, this function has been carried out either by the same consultant contracted to facilitate, or the lead organization responsible for administering the grant award. Regardless of who does it, it is of utmost importance that someone be responsible for network coordination and that this role be clearly defined and delineated by the members themselves.

Engage Different Levels of Each Organization

Busy agendas, multiple demands and staff turn-over can certainly create significant barriers to the forward movement of a learning agenda. Our evaluation showed that engaging several levels of each organization went a long way to accomplishing learning goals and institutionalizing them.

In Holyoke, Mass., for example, Reaching Our Potential, a learning network of 10 organizations from the adult education and work force development field, came together to improve program and service integration. One circle convened executive directors in facilitated conversation about the fields of adult education and workforce development. The other convened teachers in developing an integrated curriculum guide and lesson plans. The last convened staff in developing an integrated referral guide for the City of Holyoke.

Even through Reaching Our Potential experienced challenges in keeping participation constant and consistent due to staff turnover, the multiple levels engaged allowed them to successfully complete their project of integrating program delivery for adult learners in Holyoke. In acknowledging the value of the CBF in helping them achieve their goals, one of the executive directors from a participating organization enthusiastically reported, “I’d like to bring these products [guides] to the board, the mayor, the senators and say, ‘look what happens when you’re funded properly – we have developed a model we can give to the rest of the state.’”

Make Sure the Goals of the Network are Clear and that They Address Real Needs

Photo: Henry Lee Willis Community Center, Inc.

CBF Planning Grant grantee Henry Lee Willis Community Center, Inc.

For participation to be consistent and engaged over time, network members need to have clarity regarding the added value they receive through their contribution or participation in the network. According to one of our CBF funded networks, “one reason these organizations can work together is that there is something they value over their differences.”

Another network participant indicated that “having a larger view or goal enables the organizations to commit to working and learning together.” Thus, the clarity of network goals, understanding how organizations and communities will benefit if goals are achieved as well as understanding that working towards achieving those goals requires collective learning and action, help ease the tension that often arises between organizational needs and overall network needs.

The Process Is as Important as the Outcome

Lastly, know that often the richest and most important learning that participating in a network can yield are the authentic relationships and genuine trust that are built among members, and the strengthened leadership and capacity to work collaborative developed by individual organizations and the network as a whole.

Reaching Our Potential is again an excellent example as demonstrated by their action of coming together in support of a network member who was at risk of losing significant funding. Although the network’s goals were quite different, the mere process of coming together periodically to learn from and reflect with each other about their practice, developed that kind of friendship and trust that galvanized them in support of a peer.

In the words of one of the network members: “We were able to galvanize around [organization] because we knew how important they are to the community; how important a cog they were in the bigger process. Whereas before this, if we tried to reach out we might have been nervous about each other’s program or funding or customers. We’ve come out of it knowing that all of our customers are all of our customers and we are bigger, better system because of that.”

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