Lessons in Collaboration from Denver

Last month the Switchboard team had the opportunity to travel to Denver, Colorado to attend the Posner Center‘s Lessons in Collaboration Symposium. We were very excited to have the opportunity to engage with the Posner Center, a sister-organization to The Global Switchboard, that convenes, connects, and catalyzes the international development community in Denver to collaborate for greater impact.

Collaboration is not always easy–it involves setting aside your brand and your individual identity and stepping into a collective journey. But the problems tackled by a diverse collective effort are often longitudinally impactful, more resourced, and better-informed. Check out the following Stanford Social Innovation articles on collective impact:

• “Collective Impact”
• “Understanding the Value of Backbone Organizations in Collective Impact“

At the Symposium we heard from a broad array of speakers, including Joan Parker, President and CEO of Counterpart International, who left us with the following lesson on collaboration that we would like to share with you:

Collaboration is a common audacious goal, embarked upon by audacious people that have a vision for how their community can be better.