Why Being Field-Minded Matters
A single organization or approach will never end malaria or tackle climate change alone. Systems change on major social and environmental issues takes a sustained, organized team effort–an entire field of people and organizations working in a coordinated way to address the root causes of an issue.
Systems change requires leaders and organizations to think in terms of fields
Fields need infrastructure. Field-building investments strengthen the capacity, relationships, and alignment in the field as a whole. Like roads and public spaces that enable people to connect and collaborate to build a thriving community, these critical infrastructure investments facilitate and amplify the impact of everyone in a field. Funders and field-building intermediaries can help cultivate this infrastructure.
Fields need organizations to view their individual strategies through a field lens. Organizations that take a field lens to their strategies plan work and partnerships that have the potential to advance larger systems change goals. They see and act within a bigger picture. They understand their fields’ needs and the intersecting systems within which they operate, and how they can creatively deploy their own assets and collaborate with others to achieve these goals.
Fields need organizations to transition in ways that strengthen their fields and reduce harm–whether launching or ending major areas of work to engaging in strategic collaborations or winding down organizations. This is also true for organizations working on shorter time horizons. Limited-duration initiatives and funders spending down their assets who take a field lens to their investments can plant the seeds for impact that will continue to yield dividends after they conclude their work.
Being field-minded is more important than ever
Economic, political, and technological upheaval and shifts in the funding landscape have raised both the stakes and the challenge of achieving systemic impact.
This means that fields–and the organizations and individuals that comprise them–need to be more effective, creative, and collaborative in overcoming new constraints and obstacles.
A field-level orientation to strategy and partnerships is also critical to attract and maximize limited dollars, whether raising funds or seeking co-investors.
We help leaders craft field-minded strategies and organizational transitions–and ensure they have the capacity to deliver on them successfully
Developing and delivering on field-minded strategies and organizational transitions requires knowledge and ways of working that are underrepresented in the social sector–with implications for everything from strategy and organizational development to fundraising and grantmaking.
We bring years of experience successfully creating and funding strategies and organizations that build field capacity. We help leaders apply a field-minded lens to strategy and organizational transitions to unlock progress toward their systems change impact goals.
Learn more about our experience, services, and client impact stories in field-minded strategy, organizational transitions, and capacity building.