strategic services

UWW teamed up with Collaborative to facilitate this initial conversation. Bringing in our expertise on not only effective facilitation, but also extensive experience with family engagement, we guided these sites through the initial planning phases and helped them design effective strategies for their outreach. 

Collaborative supported this work through:

• Facilitation of working group discussions to ensure successful consultation and decision-making
• Shaping the content and agendas for three convenings of the Innovation Network
• Building an online, interactive environment that will give participants in the Innovation Network an ongoing platform for continuing to connect, share and learn

Collaborative teamed up with UWW to provide planning and facilitation support as the CILL team developed a work plan. We worked closely with the executive leadership at UWW to design facilitated engagement with local United Way leaders as well as staff to build new workplans.  Our efforts include:

• Facilitating the CEO Summit and staff retreats
• Providing ongoing strategic planning design support
• Coaching overall effectiveness of senior leadership

UWW called on Collaborative’s knowledge and expertise to provide facilitation, research and writing, and strategic planning support for these efforts. We partnered with UWW staff to identify and analyze research on Financial Stability and Health. Based on the research, the Collaborative team developed draft strategies and approaches for UWW to utilize as starting point for strategy sessions. During these strategy sessions, facilitated by Collaborative, the UWW team examined and expanded on Collaborative’s findings. The work also included providing writing and design support for the creation of research reports on the five focus areas in Financial Stability and Health.

Collaborative teamed up the Education Foundation of Collier County (EFCC) to assist the district in developing and implementing its strategic plan. Two phases of work were identified for this 10-month project: Developing a vision and mission document and building operational plans.

In phase one, Collaborative worked with the superintendent, his cabinet, board members, and a strategic planning team of community stakeholders. With each of these groups, Collaborative did the following:

• Facilitated discussions to identify the vision, mission and values for the school district
• Synthesized notes and shared them will all groups to make sure everyone knew what each team was considering
• Developed draft vision document, which was revised several times based on the feedback from each of the groups

In phase two, Collaborative and the EFCC worked with the superintendent to select members for eight operational teams. Each team consisted of a combination of internal and external members, including district staff, principals, teachers and community members. With guidance from Collaborative these teams did the following:

• Developed an overall goal for their operational area
• Created objectives, indicators and strategies for this goal
• Considered implications of these efforts

During these efforts, EFCC conducted focus groups and outreach throughout the community to gain feedback about the draft document, operational team work and the overall process. This comprehensive engagement allowed the community to remain involved throughout the process.  

Collaborative teamed up with EFCC to implement a comprehensive community engagement effort, called Connect Now, which included the following:

• Structure and facilitation of a steering committee representative of all key stakeholders.
• Design, coordination, facilitation and documentation of conversations among residents across all neighborhoods.
• Design, facilitation and documentation of cross-sector community-wide forums that build and solidify a community vision for public education.

Collaborative’s experience leading similar efforts gave confidence and support the leadership effort played by EFCC in creating and moving Connect Now forward.

Beginning in 2008, Collaborative supported the development of an Education Team at UWW. Through facilitation, strategic advice and strategic planning, we assisted this new team in crafting an overarching plan for UWW’s Education Initiative. We designed the make up of team, facilitated the articulation of the focus areas for work, defined the structure of the staff, and determined the most effective way for this team to support senior staff.

As the Education Team built its capacity, Collaborative provided ongoing support:

• Facilitation of Education Team and senior leadership planning and strategy meetings
• Leadership consulting and coaching
• Staff mentoring
• Research to support plan and strategy decision-making

Collaborative worked in partnership with the Alliance, the James Irvine Foundation and ConnectEd—a group charged with advancing practice, policy, and research for Linked Learning—to develop a comprehensive and effective communications plan to help inform national education stakeholders of the impact of California’s Linked Learning Approach. 

The efforts focused on a two-day rollout to Congressional staff, officials from the Obama administration and the larger policy community both to inform them of the specifics of the Linked Learning approach, but also to connect the approach to the larger implications for the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Action. 

Collaborative helped to develop a Hill briefing that included a broad range of stakeholders from California, including representation from the state department of education, the state teachers’ union, a local chamber of commerce, a community-based advocacy group, and a district implementing Linked Learning.