Resource:

Gottlieb, Hildy. 2009. The Pollyanna Principles: Reinventing “Nonprofit Organizations” to Create the Future of our World.” Tucson, AZ: Renaissance Press.

Purpose:

To assist us in

1) discriminating what it is we should be focused on, and

2) identifying other organizations and individuals who share our vision.

When:

We went through this process in August 2009, and captured these notes then.

What:

Identify

1) our vision (what we would like to see in the world, something bodacious enough to pass the ‘so what?’ test),

2) the conditions that must be in place in order for that vision to be realized, and

3) roles that Social Actions could play in creating those conditions.

Vision:

What we would like to see in the world. Bodacious enough to pass the ‘so what?’ test ("So what if this vision were realized? Would things really be different? If not, what would REALLY have be to going on in order to realize the world you're striving for?

1st iteration: A world in which people seamlessly draw on their creativity, connections, capital, and capacity to act in order to contribute to the communities in which they belong.

2nd iteration: A world in which people profoundly contribute to the communities in which they belong.

3rd iteration: A world in which people feel a profound sense of belonging to overlapping and multiple communities and that sense is fed by their ability to contribute by drawing on their capacity.

[We paused here to consider which elements of this iteration were identifying conditions, and which were identifying the vision. “Overlapping and multiple communities” were conditions, and we noted the governmental, corporate, and other organized institutions that would need to be structured in a way that contributed to that sense of belonging.]

4th iteration: A world in which human empathy, creativity, and generosity are the principle bases on which identity is formed.

5th iteration: A world in which people’s identities are principally based on their inherent empathy, creativity, and generosity.

6th iteration: A world in which people are rewarded on the basis of their inherent empathy, creativity, and generosity.

7th iteration: A world in which people are rewarded and have fully developed capacities for generosity, empathy, creativity and participation in communities.

8th iteration: A world in which the flow of generosity, empathy, creativity, and participation in communities is multi-directional and ubiquitous

[Pausing here in this exercise, and using this language for now. It feels close enough to what our vision for Social Actions is that we're ready for the next step in this exercise.]

9th iteration: A world in which expressions of generosity, empathy, and creativity are multi-directional and ubiquitous.

10th iteration: A world in which expressions of generosity, empathy, and creativity manifest in meaningful action are multi-directional and ubiquitous.

11th iteration: A world in which expressions of generosity, empathy, and creativity are happening everywhere and take the form of meaningful action.

[Keep reading, but also catch Social Actions' "final" vision statement in the sidebar to the right!]

Conditions:

What conditions must be in place in order for Social Actions' vision to be realized? For this exercise, we placed each of the words "generosity, empathy, creativity, and participation" in the center of a whiteboard. In turn, we filled the surrounding space with the conditions that had to be in place in order for a "multi-directional and ubiquitous flow" of each to be realized. Following is a list of those conditions, although it should be noted that each has distinct variations depending on the word in play.

Conditions, Take 1

• (Generosity empathy creativity participation) are easily availabile
• Examples for generosity: you have change or small bills in your pocket; the online interface to give is there where you already are
• There are social and financial rewards for (generosity empathy creativity participation)
• There are ready reminders that one can always be (generous empathetic creative participatory)
• The impacts and effectiveness of being (generous empathetic creative participatory) are visible and positive
• (Generosity empathy creativity participation) are newsworthy
• People, communities, and institutions are flexible and open to meaningful feedback
• The infrastructure is present to enable and faciliate (generosity empathy creativity participation)
• Political and economic and social systems, as well as technologies
• A culture of innovation permits (generosity empathy creativity participation) to resonate in the communities in which they are happening

Conditions, Take 2

           Playing with this language a little bit, turning the above statements into actions:

• Making (generosity empathy creativity participation) easily availabile
• Buiding social and financial rewards for (generosity empathy creativity participation)
• Generating reminders that one can always be (generous empathetic creative participatory)
• Making the impacts and effectiveness of being (generous empathetic creative participatory) visible and positive
• (Generosity empathy creativity participation) are newsworthy
• Encouraging people, communities, and institutions to be flexible and open to meaningful feedback
• Building an infrastructure that enables and faciliates (generosity empathy creativity participation)
• Contributing to, and encouraging, a culture of innovation that permits (generosity empathy creativity participation) to resonate in the communities in which they are happening

At this stage, we worked in a Google doc to fill out all of the organizations and activities we could think of that were creating those conditions. As we did that, we began to recognize that -- from our perspective -- the presence of innovation and collaboration were pre-conditions to our vision AND pre-conditions to all of the conditions listed above. We also began to recognize that filling out this 4x8 matrix (generosity, empathy, creativity, and participation across the 8 condition-creating activities listed above, became quickly overwhelming. We were effectively mapping out a great deal of human activity.

To bring that work to a manageable level, we're going to limit our matrix to those organizations and activities that are innovative and collaborative, while keeping in mind that we're deliberately editing the matrix in this way. It will represent a much more limited picture of the community that Social Actions contributes to and is surrounded by. But it will assist us in identifying those who share not only our vision, but the importance we place on the presence of innovation and collaboration as pre-conditions for enabling that vision to be realized.

Roles

Of all of the possible roles that must be played in order for those conditions to be created, which would Social Actions like to play?

To answer this question, we circled around to the Hedgehog exercise explained here. In the meantime, we can't help but try out an interim mission statement: To curate innovative and collaborative projects that make the world more generous, empathetic, creative, and participatory.

Before settling on that, though, we'll see what the Hedgehog exercises tell us...

And adding a reminder to "walk the talk" where the need for analyis and critical thinking is concerned. Thinking here of Lucy Bernholz's post (see Christine's comment & reference to Marnie Webb's post).