CommitmentWays to Instill Ownership in Consortium Activities

ACL WebinarWednesday September 16, 2009

11:00 AM

Phil DiChiara, Managing DirectorThe Boston Consortium for Higher Education

t/phil/acl

Commitment: Defined as….

• … a voluntary sacrifice of time and a commensurate display of interest in an effort to contribute to the greater good.

• … a sense that the success of the collaboration is dependent upon my contribution and that my contribution will be impactful.

• … a sense that others will miss my participation if I do not fulfill an (unspoken) obligation to the group/social network.

• And…in the best case…an unwillingness to let go of the opportunity despite competing interests including time constraints, resource limitations and vexing complexity.

You know it when you see it…

• People get to the meeting on time and take time to chat afterward

• There is laughter, anxiety and a sense of connectedness among the participants.

• People ask what took place in their absence

Ownership as Commitment

• “The Pledge” By Board Members– Is not transferable: Must be re-won with each new

Board member by a slow process of thoughtful restatement of the business and social case reflecting your mission.

• As Emotional Binding– Once the pledge is understood, the glue comes

from Relationships between and among Board and other internal communities.

Deconstructing Magic

• Ownership/commitment as a combination of attributes that, together, must attain critical mass in order to become self-sustaining

– Establishment of an appropriate Group Energy Level– A Topic of Genuine Interest and Importance to the group’s

professional life.– The Chemistry of the group– Convenience and comfort of the engagement time and space– Support of management /supervisor– Availability of resources– Shared vision and mutual agreement of timeline

Qualified Facilitation is Key

• Consortium facilitator’s role is to fine-tune these and other attributes to insure optimal productivity a rewarding experience.

• Participants can avail themselves of stressful and unproductive meetings at their own campus…why would a consortium want to do the same?

• Intellectual rigor and a continual focus on results need not be boring.

Processes Both Obvious and Subtle

• Ask for a modest sacrifice and step it up over time.– “steal thunder’, under-sell but over-deliver the social nature of

learning,

• Reward the effort– Serve lunch or breakfast, change meeting times to meet changing

needs, provide resources

Frame the effort in ennobling terms– Repeat it at every meeting, use metaphor to explain

• Discuss and communicate cause and effect– Link to school strategic mission

• Provide Opportunities to Develop Collaborative Skills– The teachable moment….

And yet it still seems illusive…!

• Activity Below the Board Level is the (reinforcing) feedback loop of the system

• Results are the evidence of commitment and ownership

• Absence of Results..and therefore commitment… may be due to:– Lack of accountability to Consortium initiatives– Unclear Expectations– Failure to reward collaborative leadership– Lack of support from the executive level– Missing skills necessary to collaboration

Examples of Success at the Boston Consortium for Higher Education

• Projects• Employment Managers CoP• IT Training CoP• Internal Audit Business Unit• Homeland Security Training

• Mega-Projects• HMI, TPE, MEWA

• Knowledge Sharing• Telecom CoP• Benefits Programs

The Oft-Repeated Vernacular at The Boston Consortium

• “Dialog leads to Relationships….Relationships lead to Trust….and Trust reveals Opportunities”

• “Data isn’t information; Information isn’t Knowledge; and Knowledge isn’t the Wisdom to Change”

• “The Managing Director Doesn’t Get a Vote….”

• “It’s just that darn Consortium….”

Please Share with us how YOU create commitment!

References

• Richards, Dick; The Art of Winning Commitment; NewYork: Amacom, 2004

• Ghemawat, Pankaj; Commitment: The Dynamic of Strategy, Second Edition; Free Press, 1991

• Klein, Howard, and Thomas Becker, John Meyer, Editors; Commitment in Organizations: Accumulated Wisdom and New Directions: Siop Organizational Frontiers Series; Taylor and Francis; 1st edition, 2009

• Raelin, Joseph A., Creating Leaderful Organizations; San Francisco: Berrrett-Koehler, 2003

• Raelin, Joseph A., Work-Based Learning; San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2008