Accelerating systemic social change, individual and collective impact

It is often challenging for facilitators and consultants in the field of social innovation and impact to position ourselves faced with the urgency of social needs and the spotlight placed on social entrepreneurs. What is our legitimacy to focus on infrastructure, analysis, concepts and development tools when what seems required is action and individual paradigm shifts? How often have I been frustrated with myself not to seem able to focus on a specific social problem and to develop a practical solution, and to identify as a social entrepreneur?

For the past year, I have been working with a group of changemakers and social change facilitators under the umbrella of ci2i: Collaborative Impact x Innovation Institute, to explore strategies and dynamics to accelerate collaborations for social innovation and impact. Last week, together with 22 people from 7 countries, we experimented with key concepts and tools, as we tried to foster an environment to accelerate discussions and thinking. My colleague Bonnie Koenig has outlined here the key ideas and theories we have explored, and you can also view some pictures of the event and discussions here.  

You might be thinking that this is yet another event or (Un)conference gathering changemakers and creating opportunities for networking and collaboration. And it was certainly exciting to observe the dynamic of mingling and passionate discussions among participants. But, in all humility, what we are trying to get at as ci2i is very different: through tentative experiments such as last week’s, we are mutualizing tools to piece together breakthrough ideas with breakthrough actions and convening a community of changemakers to foster an environment for accelerated and effective social change. We know that we don’t have THE answer, and in understanding the complexity of the systems we evolve in there is no such thing as the one answer. But we will keep exploring, combining and experimenting with our pieces of solution and perspectives and, in all humility, we hope to be contributing to enabling a more open and collaborative infrastructure for changemakers in a thrivable world.  I have to be thankful to Laura Tomasko for giving us a name: we are being social infrapreneurs.