Building Resilient Networks and Sustaining Long-Term Collaboratives with Christine Gyovai

Episode 48 Description

Changemaking work is often called being resilient, but what does resilience mean? In this episode of the Yes! We Rise podcast, Christine talks about the intentional approach Dialogue + Design Associates takes in working with collaboratives, cultivating long-term networks, and how to honor and incorporate the value each member has to offer. Learn about the important models and approaches collaboratives can take when faced with a crossroad, and best practices to help a network function well. Woven throughout this episode you will also hear empowering stories of collaboratives already succeeding in the pursuit of their vision through working with others. 

This episode is inspiring, informative, and waiting to be listened to! Welcome.

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Episode 48 Show Notes

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Key takeaways

• A changemaker is someone with a vision and a deep level of resilience. But what is resilience? Discover not only what it means to be resilient, but how this capacity to overcome can transfer to many different areas of life – personally, communally, and globally.
• The “Pearls along the Clinch” – How communities came together forming a long envisioned collaboration and their journey to finally creating the Clinch River State Park in 2018.
• Creating a path forward and how a collaborative can adjust and support themselves when faced with a significant change. There are important questions to ask during seasons of change. These seasons also connect to the different life cycles of a network.
• There are four key models that have been identified in helping networks and collaboratives last for the long haul. In addition to these, it is important to understand the value each member provides. Discover the different roles and their function in a collaborative.
• Understanding the three core domains to address when cultivating a resilient network, the key elements to focus on, and how to utilize a Consensus-Based Decision Process.
• How the Delaware River Watershed Initiative (DRWI), a multi-state collaboration of 65 organizations, works together to protect and restore the Delaware River and its tributaries. 
• The Upper Susquehanna Coalition (USC) and their beautiful mission to protect and improve water quality and natural resources in the upper Susquehanna River Basin. 
• The RE-AMP Network’s powerful collaboration to combat the climate crisis in the midwest.

Notable quotes

“To create change, people need to feel like they belong and that they are part of a growing movement. They need to know their voice matters and that they have the inspiration, agency and ability to transform their communities.” 

“Learning from the struggle that networks will inevitably face is essential to developing the capacity to bounce forward into a more resilient future.” 

“When taking action within a collaborative, it should be clear how it is connected to the overall vision and approach, with articulating clarity about the value the action will bring, the results it will yield, and how it can connect to new people or build new knowledge over time.”

“Collaboratives often begin as a space to work collectively, and at our firm, Dialogue + Design, we firmly believe the collective is more effective. Collective work can also be difficult, messy, and take a long time – but the results of collaborative work often are far more effective and long-reaching than work at the individual scale.” 

“A resilient network is one that can make it through a time of shift, change or a stressor. And it can make it through a crossroads moment and continue working towards its mission in partnership working towards a shared vision. A network can often come through transformed, bouncing forward and can learn from difficulties or significant transitions to become stronger.”

The Yes! We Rise podcast features solutions-seekers, change-makers, and those creating a resilient future. We share stories and strategies to inspire action to build resilience and community transformation. To create change, people need to feel like they belong and that they are part of a growing movement. They need to know their voice matters and that they have the inspiration, agency and ability to transform their lives and their communities. They are the key to a resilient future.

From the Navajo Nation to the mountains of Appalachia, incredible work is being done by community members and leaders. Change is often sparked by inspiration: seeing what others have done, especially in similar situations and places. People see that when someone looks like them or lives in a place like theirs, and has created real, true and lasting change, change that will allow their granddaughters and grandsons to thrive — they begin to imagine what might be possible for them. No longer waiting for someone else to come and save them, they realize they are the ones they have been waiting for. But what creates that spark? What creates that inspiration? Learning through stories and examples, feeling a sense of agency and belonging, and getting fired up to kick ass creates that spark.

We Rise helps community leaders and members learn to forge a new path toward creating resilience and true transformation. One person at a time, one community at a time, one region at a time, the quilt of transformation can grow piece by piece until resilience becomes the norm instead of the exception. Together, we rise.