Back in 2006 when we started the work in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky on The Strive Partnership, we came to the realization this work was in great part an engineering challenge as much as anything else. There were many moving parts and they all needed to be “corralled” in such a way that we could focus on what really gets results. About that time, GE Aviation offered to provide us with some basic training in their systems engineering process known as Six Sigma. It was very intimidating at first, but I quickly realized it was similar to the scientific method we all learned in fourth grade: it was fundamentally about agreeing on what you wanted to accomplish, landing collectively on how to measure results, and constantly learning through cycles of improvement.
I came to this realization because we were fortunate to be introduced to one of their trainers who had the unique ability to make the seemingly mundane interesting. He would use videos to help capture the concepts and get you out of your mental models about how to tackle complex problems. We were at a break and started to think about a good analogy for the type of work we were undertaking. One of the team came up with herding cats and we immediately Googled it. Turned out there was a super bowl commercial that captured this perfectly. We have since used it in many trainings as it seems to capture the heart of what the partnership and staff in particular face when taking on this work:
See video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pk7yqlTMvp8
I have been challenged many times on using this analogy for the work. I can understand why. There can be negative associations, as the context in which the analogy is used is not always flattering. For example, on my worst days at home as a parent, I have felt like I may not be doing such a good job at “herding the cats” in the form of our two sets of twins.
Despite this, I have yet to come up with a better analogy and in the end it feels like it holds. I would go so far to say that using this analogy in our work to achieve collective impact is not actually negative at all. It is just the reality of what our system (or lack thereof) has produced. Those of us working on education or any other social issues have perverse incentives to work in silos. We are driven to compete with each other to get a grant or distinguish ourselves from others by highlighting our own strengths at the expense of others working on a common goal. In short, the landscape of supports we have to achieve social impact is the direct result of the systems and incentives we have created.
I would love to hear from you. What’s your take? Is this “herding cats” analogy worth using? Are there others that are better?
This post was written by
Jeff Edmondson – who has written 12 posts on Striving for change.
Jeff Edmondson is the managing director of the Strive Network
