Creating Space 2013Survey Findings

AUGUST| 2013

Content

• Key Insights• What Worked/Didn’t Work?

– Value Proposition– Insights and Tools– Design Elements– Next Steps For Participants– Areas Of Improvement

• Who Are The Participants?– Participation– Age– Ethnicity– Sector– Years Involved in Leadership– Area of Leadership Work

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KEY INSIGHTS

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Key Insights – About the Meeting• Participants mostly valued the opportunity to:

– Connect with others who can be resources for their work (70%)– Learn new tools and ideas (62%)– Recharge and reflect (59%)

• Participants took back to their work ideas and tools around collective leadership, and also about some meeting design elements from the meeting itself (i.e. open space).

• The most effective elements of the meeting design included:– Mix of Participants (85%) – Space/Location (80%)– Milano’s Facilitation (72%)– Mixed Team of Facilitators (72%)– The design challenge was also mentioned as an interesting approach/tool

• In terms of next steps, participants indicated that they are mostly likely to:– Visit the LLC site (80%), – Participate in an LLC webinar (77%), – Participate in learning circles (72%), – Register for the newsletter (62%), – Attend future Creating Space meetings (60%)

• Participants mentioned some key areas of improvement, including: more one-on-one conversations, more tangible tools, better welcome to new participants, make sure meeting description matches the content, and having a better strategy to discuss equity

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Key Insights – About the Participants

• Most of the participants (73%) were new to the conference• Most of the participants were in the 45-54 age range (35%) and 35-44 age range (26%)• Most of the participants were Caucasian (68%), followed by African American (19%)• Most of the participants work in the nonprofit sector (53%). • The second largest category was academia (19%)• Most of the participants have been involved in leadership work for 10-15 years (36%) or more

than 15 years (25%)• In terms of their leadership work, participants mentioned that the key areas include:

– Social sector leadership (65%)– Network leadership (57%)– Cross-sector leadership (49%) – Community leadership (46%)

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WHAT WORKED/DIDN’T WORK?

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“I valued the diversity of people, perspective, and experiences. I particularly valued their ‘on the front line’ view. There was a real richness

to grappling with issues and challenges from an experiential perspective rather than a theoretical perspective.”

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Value Proposition• Connections

– LLC creates the space for relationships to develop, and also provides the space for conversation and learning. The conversation catalysts, as always, were catalyzing.

– Great opportunity to network and meet others who are thinking about leadership growth through many different lenses.

– For me, relationship building and the conversations that occur both during Creating Space and then offsite are invaluable. I learned a great deal over a dinner with a group from Detroit.

• Diversity– The wonderfully diverse mixture of researchers, consultants, programs, funders,

and community organizers present.• Modeling Leadership

– The caliber of Milano and Alvin's contributions, the opportunity to hear from a mix of regular contributors and new contributors to Creating Space, Deborah's modeling her leadership transition and the time to focus intensively on leadership as a set of issues.

– The conference models conscious self organizing and respect for learning.

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Value Proposition

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Share, test, and improve your approaches to leadership development

Try some new things in your work

Get exposure to new ways of learning

Have difficult conversations that contribute to learning about racial equity

Learn about the resources of the Leadership Learning Community

Reflect and recharge

Learn about new tools, ideas or practices that could be helpful to your work

Meet people who can be valuable resources for your work

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

Opportunities

Percent (Helpful or Very Helpful)n=39

“I have a renewed sense of commitment to promoting equity through our work. I feel that I have a much better sense of who makes up the

Leadership Learning Community, and how we might facilitate networking and resource sharing among the community.”

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Insights and Tools Gained• Collective Leadership

– I realize that what we're doing with the Community Learning Exchange is needed in other collective leadership work. So, we're working on better ways to communicate and connect with those who can benefit from this work.

– I came to Creating Space already convinced of the power of collection action/impact. This experience reinforced that idea and I continue to integrate that into my thinking and work.

– How we design for new approaches to leadership development that build on more of a collective sense of leadership learning (rather than honoring individual approaches only).

• Meeting Design– I convened a program staff meeting to share about the design/facilitation that I

experienced and brainstormed ideas of how to use these tools in our programs.– I will use an open space format as part of conference design next week.

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“The people -- presenters, facilitators, and participants -- were smart, warm, and fascinating. As were the unstructured conversations and the group conversations where

we could veer into our own stories and uncharted places. As it turned out, that happened in my reflection group around the white privilege conversation -- at the end of the second day. We told our stories. That led to a breakthrough in our conversation.”

Design Elements

• Design Challenge– The most transformative experience for me was the final day's design challenge activity. I wish that this

activity had come earlier in the process. This exercise really challenged the groups to "dig deep" in addressing an issue. It helped us get to know each other in a deeper way. I believe that had this happened on the 2nd day (in the afternoon) it would have enhanced the remainder of the Creating Space experience.

• Diversity of Design Team– The design team was wonderfully diverse and clearly worked really well together and had prepared and been

extremely thoughtful about the design. The poetry was a fantastic inclusion!– The opportunities to hear from others in the room. The flexibility of the design team. It would have been

transformational had the facilitation been more observant of group dynamics and intervened in ways that got the participants to engage with each other in real time.

• Time for Conversation– I felt that the design allowed us to listen and absorb content through the 'Talk Shows,’ then I especially

appreciated the chance to discuss the content within the smaller table groups. The transformative learning moments occurred most for me during the conversations in groups and pairs.

– I think the work in small groups was very powerful - participants in my groups shared ideas, tools, strategies, and were also open to others. I think the overall design and approach allow that to happen.

– As a person of color who has been involved in community work for most of my life, it was encouraging to see the issue of white privilege get an examination with a diverse group of leadership professionals. I wish we'd had even more time to unpack it because I think it is important for folks who don't quite understand how it plays out in communities.

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Most Effective Elements

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Design challenge on the final day

Overall design of the event

Integration of art

Reflection groups

Opening reception

Open Space groups

Use of a mixed team of facilitators

Milano Harden's facilitation

Physical space and location

Mix of participants

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%

CS Elements: 10 Most Effective Elements

Percent (Helpful/Very Helpful)n=39

“I have connected with a number of people I met and am having follow-up for different reasons...I even found a coach for myself!”

Next Steps

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n=39

Follow the conversation around CS through social media

Learn more about LLC as a consulting partner

Participate in self-organizing opportunities

Register for the LLC newsletter

Attend a LLC webinar

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Next Steps

Percent (Likely/Very Likely)

“[We needed] more structure around the process for exploring equity and race with conference participants. I felt with the varying levels of

understanding, relationships, and needs that it could have used something other than open space.”

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Areas of Improvement

Meeting Design• During the panel discussions, nothing was actually answered, everything was thrown back to

the group as a question from the panelists themselves.• I do not think it did contribute to transformative learning--it was way too busy and so driven

by some participant individual agendas.• The group, especially some repeat attendees, were re-processing stuff they are stuck in.• More time for small group and one-on-one conversation.• More tangible how-to's around program development/growth.• Openness to the group's needs through self-organizing MIGHT have contributed greatly,

though I think those who came in (like myself) from groups that are not political/activist in nature really struggled to find connections in the room.

• As a newcomer it felt like there was knowledge, familiarity, and understanding that those who attended before had that I was not adequately invited into.

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Areas of Improvement

• Promotion– Make sure that the conference description is accurate and matches the content. I was

surprised by the conversations on racial equity - a very important topic, but it's not what I thought I was signing up for.

• Equity and Diversity– I think the "equity" conversation was completely consumed by racial issues.– More diversity--the group was mostly African American and Caucasian, and no

significant attention to LGBTQ.

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WHO ARE THE PARTICIPANTS?

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Participation

21

Not Sure

Yes

No

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

Participated in CS Before

n=37

Age Range

22

35%

26%

24%

15%

Age Range

45-54 35-44 55 or older 25-34

Ethnicity

23

Latino/ Hispanic

Asian American

Native American

African American/ Black/ African

Caucasian

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

Ethnicity

Percent n=37

Sector

24

53%

19%

17%

11%

Sector

Nonprofit SectorAcademia/ EducationConsulting Firm (or In-dependent Consultant)Foundation

n=39

Years Involved in Leadership

25

36%

25%

22%

17%

Years Involved in Leadership

10-15 yearsMore than 15 years6-10 years2-5 years

n=39

Areas of Leadership Work

26

Youth leadership

Advocacy and policy making leadership

Education leadership

Grassroots leadership

Movement-building leadership

Personal leadership sustainability

Community leadership

Cross-sector or multi-stakeholder leadership

Network leadership

Nonprofit or social sector leadership

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%

Leadership Work: 10 with Highest Percent

n=37