A Possible Game-Changer for Diversity & Inclusion Efforts: Collective Impact

My colleague, Lisa Whitten of SUNY Old Westbury, and I presented a workshop on the Collective Impact approach to creating change at the Academy of Management conference in August of 2014. Collective impact represents a disciplined and ambitious approach to making deep, societal change through collaboration of organizations across different sectors–such as government, education, and the private sector. We noted that many intra-organizational diversity & inclusion practices attempt to create more inclusive work environments. But few collaborate with a diversity of external organizations to address root causes of exclusivity–such as societally-based sexism and racism. At our session we addressed applications and challenges of this approach.   Given the complexity of the forces aligned against true inclusion, we believe that this multi-disciplinary approach involving a number of stakeholders is a fruitful one.

Has anyone in the private sector attempted a collective impact change effort? What were the results?

Our session description can be found here: session description