Our Roots
This project was inspired by concerns that were expressed by community members, business leaders, and policy makers about the intractable nature of Hawaii’s toughest problems. As they saw it, the greatest potential for improving the status quo was to involve stakeholders from multiple sectors in well-managed deliberations to create lasting change.
The Omidyar family convened a small group of diverse practitioners with Hawaii ties to mine their respective wisdom and capture their collaborative problem-solving practices with the intention of sharing them broadly. The members of the Cross-Sector Collaboration (CSC) Study Group included Peter Adler, Robbie Alm, Tusi Avegalio, Linda Colburn, Kem Lowry, and Diane Zachary. They embarked on the journey with the heartfelt desire to offer their knowledge for the greater good of Hawaii, and it is their commitment to the process that culminated in the Collaborative Leaders Network (CLN) and website—the next leg of that journey.
The six-member CSC Study Group took the time to deconstruct complex, multi-party collaborations and analyze what worked in their own practices, resulting in the development of individual strategy maps that are the foundation for the CLN website.
These strategies represent just a few approaches to cross-sector collaboration; it is the hope of all involved with the CLN that other practitioners and leaders will be inspired to share their own ideas and knowledge to create an interactive repository of wisdom … with the common goal of improving the quality of life in Hawaii.
Toward that end, CLN’s mission is to support collaborative facilitation that helps Hawaii’s leaders achieve high-quality and durable outcomes.
A Collaborative Effort
The formation of Collaborative Leaders Network occurred with the help of many individuals working together on a shared vision to improve the quality of life in Hawaii. Beyond the six-member study group, there are many who have guided and supported our efforts. These include nearly 50 people we interviewed early on who helped us better understand Hawaii’s unique collaborative landscape, along with dozens of others since then who have graciously shared their time, ideas, and suggestions.
The list is quite long, but some of those we are indebted to include Annelle Amaral, Peter Apo, Puanani Burgess, Dawn Chang, Lou Chang, Donna R. Ching, Lily Bloom Domingo, Kuumeaaloha Gomes, Elizabeth Kent, Olin Lagon, Marina Piscolish, and Ramsay Taum.
Special thanks to Pam and Pierre Omidyar for their generous funding; Jeff Alvord for believing in this project and taking the risk to allow it to take shape; Mike Mohr for his continued focus on driving impact; Sam Kaner for his great skill in extracting the wisdom of our practitioners; Miki Lee for her tireless coordination to keep us moving forward; Jeff Mohr for his dedication to crafting the CLN website; and Jana Wolff for her incredible skill with words.
Because there is much more learning and conversation to come on the topic of collaboration, the list of friends and contributors will continue to expand. We are deeply appreciative of those who have been on this journey with us so far and those who will join us as we move forward.
Collaborative Leaders Network has applied for recognition under Internal Revenue Code section 501(c)(3).