“Proposition 22: The normal expectation ought to be that success will be very difficult to achieve in cross-sector collaborations.” - John Bryson, et al., "The Design and Implementation of Cross-Sector Collaborations"

Collaboration is emerging as a popular vehicle to solve complicated problems that our communities face. So much, in fact, that organizations are boarding the train without a map, a travel bag, and even a destination. Worse yet, they have not considered the repercussions of boarding the collaboration train. Collaborations require a high level of understanding and resource investment. There are resources, frameworks, and institutes dedicated to study of cross-sector collaboration, but all collaborators heed the proposition above, “success will be very difficult.”

You may ask, “Why worry?”

It is as likely that a “wrong” collaboration can lead to detrimental reverberations through all sectors, as that the “right” collaboration can lead to positive system-wide change.

Regardless of the player considering cross-sector collaboration - CEO, government official, or nonprofit CEO/board executive - the goal is that each sector understands that there are strengths, weaknesses, and skills that should be collectively leveraged to engineer an integrative solution aimed at their community target. So what are the problems?

The Problems:

• Sector institutional logics: Each sector has a…

Today’s world is an IT world, and nonprofits that do not recognize and accept the inevitability of this fact may find themselves fading into the background of the public’s consciousness. IT provides nonprofits with a host of tools for building capacity, thereby exponentially increasing the potential for mission fulfillment. However, Gordon (1998) notes the existence of a wide gap between available IT capabilities and nonprofits’ current usage, and he suggests that bridging that gap will improve capacity building. For example, of 165 nonprofits examined in October 2015, only 58% provided links to their Facebook and Twitter accounts from their websites and vice versa (Koenig). Even when nonprofits have websites and social media site (SMS) accounts, they demonstrate a disturbing propensity for failing to respond to direct questions from the public. The life-blood of nonprofits flows through the veins of an interested community, which makes monitoring SMS and responding to posts an essential element of nonprofits’ effective capacity building.

The causal relationship between IT usage and capacity building correlates to the definition of capacity building – “the ability of nonprofit organizations to fulfill their missions in an effective manner” DeVita and Fleming (2001). This requirement for efficacy demands that nonprofits begin thinking of the adoption of IT as a strategic investment rather than an operational expense. Only when the strategic planning…

I am a proud 2010 graduate of The American Express Leadership Academy at the ASU Lodestar Center. As such, in January, I was granted the opportunity to apply to attend the second annual American Express Leadership Academy Alumni Summit. I was selected as one of 50 network delegates from around the globe to convene in New York on April 4 and 5 to participate in a variety of workshops and panel discussions designed to enhance alumni relationships and vital leadership skills. Today I am pleased to have the occasion to fulfill my pledge to share my experience and newfound knowledge, further supporting the development of the sector’s leadership pipeline. 

What is the number one skill you think 21st century leaders need for social impact? Do you feel Cultural Intelligence (CQ) should be a core competency incorporated in hiring practices? As a graduate of any leadership program, how do you intend to carry forward and/or implement shared ideas, skills developed, resources acquired and lessons learned to benefit your community? Do you feel you have a powerful online network which appropriately reflects your industry? Are you contributing to advancing the sector’s impact on society? This is a mere sample of some of the questions and topics tackled by world class leaders and partnership organizations in our limited time together.

In addition to thought-provoking…

Virtual meetings are part of working in 2016. Especially for smaller businesses and nonprofits, which need to do more with less, meeting virtually is a necessary evil. In order to get more out of your virtual meetings, lead proactively; know the weaknesses of the virtual meeting going in and plan ahead to mitigate their impact.

Problem: No body language means less emotion and memory

How do we know what other people mean and how they're taking what we say? In a face-to-face meeting it's body language that gives us most of this information. In a virtual meeting, we are relying on far less information, and we can't seal those memories with emotion or an understanding of the other person's intent—because we never got that from the meeting.

Bottom line: we remember less.

Solution: Put a face on it

Use video to keep your team connected. This also makes the everyday exchanges about family and health more possible. Not sure that small talk is worth using video? Consider research that shows small talk makes you smarter and creates lasting business connections. And remember that while body language communicates the most when it comes to emotion, the face is next in line for expressing emotion.

Problem: We are sitting through meetings…

Edible school gardens have been popping up like summer squash over the past 20 years––and in recent years with First Lady Michelle Obama cheering them on. The idea goes back to 1995, when Alice Waters, the pioneer of the “slow food” movement and owner of Chez Panisse Restaurant, created the first “edible schoolyard” in a vacant lot near the Martin Luther King Middle School in Berkeley, California.

A nice idea? Of course. But with increased testing and heightened security, and many other demands on schools and teachers today, are gardens just a green frill, or are they a good use of a school’s time and money?

The anecdotal stories are compelling: benefits overwhelmingly outweigh the costs in the usual cherry-picked examples.

Leaders of the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona, who have helped 30 Tucson schools––mostly public schools in low-income areas––grow gardens through its Farm-to-Child Program,…