CEO and Founder jdcPARTNERSHIPS, Founder + Lead Facilitator, Luminare Group and Founder, Equitable Evaluation Initiative
"I could not understand why, after what was often more than a yearlong engagement (strategic planning), there was an absence of clarity on the “to what end” — the soul of the organization (how it hoped to be in the world) and how it understood itself and its unique contributions in the ecosystem." Thus was birthed a 20+ year practice in which strategy is co-created, designed for emergence, embeds an evaluative mindset, and is about clarity not certainty. I want to thank Jill Casey for playing along with me since the onset. Special shout out to Hallie Preskill Rosalie Torres whose writings on evaluative inquiry and learning organizations confirmed for me that there was a different way. #jdcmusings
We insufficiently acknowledge that “we, the humans, are what changes.” WOW. That just landed and I’m going to sit with it. Thank you, as always, Jara Dean-Coffey (she/her/hers) for sharing your keen observations on what we need to acknowledge in order to get into alignment with our purpose.
Jara Dean-Coffey (she/her/hers) this is such a brilliant and useful piece, and of course the model underlying it. I have started all of my strategic planning processes with Theory of Change development for the past 15 years and I would not do it any other way! I am working on some of my own models and tools that integrate strategy and learning processes now that I have my own consultancy (www.sunburst-strategies.com) -- please reach out if you'd like to talk shop!