The intended long-term impacts of Living Collective Wisdom are to help large-scale change efforts improve and sustain their positive impact in the world, while increasing participants’ ongoing experience of joy, generosity, and wellbeing.
For us, these two foci are inextricably intertwined: large-scale change efforts can better sustain and improve their impact in the world when they consciously tend to the wellbeing of participants and partners as an ongoing, integral part of their work together.
We regularly assess and reflect on C4CW’s impact using a variety of measures, including data gathered from online surveys, pre- and post-assessments, and individual and small group interviews with theme analysis. What follows are examples of data assessing the impact of some of our early Academies. Note that these early Academies focused only on the leadership core competency of Living Collective Wisdom.
Data from Early Academies
In a two-year initiative with 11 non-profit organizations, participants surveyed by an evaluation firm reported that their engagement with C4CW increased their organizations’ capacity to realize their mission and goals and nurture a healthier working environment for staff. In particular, participants reported statistically significant increases in: (1) their organizations’ capacity to effectively address adaptive dilemmas; (2) their understanding of foundational concepts of Living Collective Wisdom; (3) their capacity to embody a majority of the self leadership commitments and all of the collective leadership commitments; and (4) their experience of generosity towards others and oneself. The Angell Foundation’s Organizational Spirituality Initiative: Telling the Story, Final Report. Watsonville, CA: Applied Survey Research, 2015.
In a three-year initiative with a cohort of behavioral health organizations, participants reported an increase in their organization’s capacity to have a positive impact on the people they serve, reflect on the impact of its work using data, and adapt to challenges. They also reported an increased capacity to better adapt to current policy and fiscal changes affecting the larger system; to nurture a stronger and more positive internal environment; and to more effectively collaborate among each other and with the system’s funder. Cultivating Cultures of Collective Wisdom: Assessing the Impact and Lessons Learned from the Wisdom Transformation Initiative. Hermosa Beach, CA: Center for Collective Wisdom, 2016.
Partner Reflections
As part of the two initiatives referenced above, we conducted video interviews with staff members from participating organizations. In the following videos, participants reflect on their experience with the leadership core competency of Living Collective Wisdom, and with the processes designed and facilitated by C4CW.
Dino Ferrare was a senior leader with a large non-profit organization serving people who are homeless across Los Angeles County. In this video, he describes his organization’s experience in the Organizational Spirituality Initiative (OSI), funded by The Angell Foundation. In particular, he shares how their engagement with C4CW helped his organization to successfully evolve through significant changes while also improving the experience of joy at work.
