The Harwood Public Innovators Lab: Frequently asked questions answered
Monday, February 27, 2006
(The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation)Over the past few weeks, we've received a
substantial response from people across the
country regarding our Spring 2006 Harwood
Public Innovators Lab, scheduled for May 21-25
in Baltimore, Maryland.
We've received
a variety of questions from people, but certain
ones in particular have come up more than
others. So, to help you out, we've compiled
those questions and answers on our Web site.
If you are thinking about attending the
Lab, we strongly encourage you to check these
out and sign up today.
Frequently
Asked Questions
(A downloadable pdf is avaliable
here)
Q: You say the Lab is
not a training to get skills. What, then, is
the point?
A: There are a lot of
good programs that exist already which can
train you on the nuts and bolts of working in
the public sector. For example, many
organizations offer guidebooks or low-cost,
short training sessions on how to conduct civic
engagement conversations or how to do strategic
planning, or even step-by-step guides to
creating “visioning processes.” Many of
these programs are excellent, and we would
encourage you to look into them if that’s
what you’re after.
The problem
we’ve found in our work, though, is that all
of the trainings in the world won’t help you
or your organization if you approach your work
without the appropriate “orientation”
toward communities (or what we call politics
and public life). For example, you may know how
to conduct a civic engagement conversation, but
how do you know if you’re generating
knowledge that can be used? How do you know if
your actions are building and marshaling the
collective will needed to actually take action
on what you uncover? Do you, and does your
organization, have the basic norms, reflexes,
and habits embedded in your daily work to make
engagement meaningful and purposeful? These are
the kinds of questions our tools and frameworks
help you address.
Q: You’re
asking me for almost a week of my time. We’re
already understaffed and overworked. What
concrete benefits am I going to get from
this?
A: The benefits of the Lab
really exist on four levels. First, it’s a
personal growth experience. The Lab is designed
to give you a fresh perspective on – and
challenge your notions of – some very basic
concepts, like what it means to lead with
authority, authenticity, and accountability; as
well as the impact of your habits, reflexes,
and biases to your work.
Second, your
organization will benefit. You will be able to
take back the tools and frameworks you receive
and use them with other staff. You’ll also
learn about the factors that make up effective
civic-minded organizations, as well as a new
way to think about creating organizational
strategies that align to your community’s
context.
Third, the community you serve
will improve as you put what you’ve learned
into practice and accelerate the important
change work your organization is undertaking.
In particular, the Lab will give you insight
into The Harwood Institute’s “Five Stages
of Community Life,” which will help you
identify what stage your community is in and
calibrate your efforts to that stage.
Finally, the field of public innovation
will benefit from your participation in the
Lab. You will be sharing insights, lessons
learned, and the stories of struggle you face
with a high-end group of public innovators from
around the country representing diverse
sectors, from nonprofits, to the media, to
public agencies, to community and national
foundations.
Q: Our training
budget is very small, and the price of the Lab
is a little steep for us. How can I justify the
expense?
A: We certainly
understand the funding challenge. In fact, one
of the issues that always arises in the Lab
concerns balancing the desire to be strategic
against the need to chase after dollars that
seem to be dwindling every year. It’s a
challenge we at The Harwood Institute
share!
The question, however, is given
the current state of public life, how can you
not afford this expense? It seems to us that
now, more than ever, is the time to be thinking
about the issues we address in the Lab. Our
experience has shown that the insights from the
Lab are absolutely essential to accelerating
change work and getting the most out of the
civic initiatives your organization may be
pursuing. In all of our work over the past 20
years, The Harwood Institute has, in one form
or another, worked with organizations and
communities on these fundamental ideas. Many of
these initiatives were funded by America’s
largest and most prestigious foundations, like
the C.S. Mott Foundation, Pew Charitable
Trusts, and the Kettering Foundation. Often,
this community work lasted for years, involved
heavy labor, and cost millions of dollars. We
are providing you that content now over the
course of 3 ½ days for less than $2,000 (once
travel expenses are added in). The content is
transferable to your entire staff, and if you
activate it within your organization, the
content will permanently impact your work in a
meaningful way. We often hear from people who
are benefiting from the experience years
later.
Finally, if you are concerned
about “selling” the Lab to your supervisor,
consider these ideas:
- The money doesn’t have to come from your
training budget. Does your department or
supervisor have discretionary funds? Also,
we’ve separated travel costs out from the
actual Lab fee. Could you fund travel with a
separate budget?
- If your supervisor is concerned that a lot
of money is going to one individual, offer to
do a staff-wide training when you get
back.
- Agree to produce a memo on how the organization could improve one of its core programs based on what you learned in the Lab. During the Lab, you’ll have time to work one-on-one with Harwood staff to activate what you’re learning in your own organization and community, so this would be a great way to utilize those sessions.
A: People tend to fear change, and that fear often permeates organizations. In fact, a large part of The Harwood Institute’s work in communities involves getting organizations and individuals to be open to change. One thing we know for certain is that when it comes to change work, there is always strength in numbers.
This principle holds for the Lab. Our experience shows that when more than one person comes to the Lab from an organization or community, the chances of what they learn actually being activated and used back home increases. You get to share experiences in the space, collaborate, and co-create strategies to move past mutual problems. You also have allies to champion the work when you return.
We always ask potential Lab attendees to consider bringing co-workers or community partners into the space. It truly enhances the experience. As an incentive, we’re offering a 5 percent ($50) discount for anyone who refers others to the Lab, as well as a 5 percent discount to those who are referred.