Tools & Resources

This tool will help you to map and interpret stakeholder dynamics in your initiative. This tool can be useful at the start of an initiative when you are working out the ‘lay of the land’, if things go wrong, if there is conflict, or if you are not making progress.

This resource helps practitioners to reflect on how ready or well positioned they are to work in an adaptive, systemic way.

John Kania talks about 'System Leadership' as the leadership required for systems change and identifies leadership as the biggest distinguishing factor of successful Collective Impact efforts. This is an excerpt of a video interview in 2020 with John Kania by CFI Director, Kerry…

This resource supports practitioners to think through key moments for community members as they participate in the initiative being developed (e.g. from first contact, to participation, to leadership).

This resource describes the difference between leaders who need to be the centre of attention and leaders who create the conditions for collaborative outcomes.

This resource describes different approaches to leadership and identifies those best suited to collaborative community impact and systems change.

This resource is a framework for focused conversations with groups in order to reach agreement and/or clarify differences.

M.Q. Patton, an American evaluator whose approaches and tools are recognised and used to evaluate place-based initiatives, has identified a useful set of principles for evaluation, which are Effectiveness Principles. More resources including a webinar  on the…

This resource is a compilation of tools and techniques for working in groups and facilitating meetings and workshops.

This resource describes Australia’s unique leadership culture and shows how leaders working in this context can support the change they want to see in the world.

This resource describes the core capabilities of system leaders and describes the means by which they may be acquired.

This resource identifies different levels of thinking and intervention regarding systems, emphasising that most of what occurs, particularly root causes, sit below the surface.

This resource helps individuals think systemically about social change, explore what is happening below the surface on issues they care about, and determine how they and their organizations can pursue large-scale change in a disciplined and holistic manner.

There are many more tools and approaches that can be used to engage with and learn about your community, have a look through the following websites for inspiration: 100 Conversations, appreciative inquiry, there are also a number of arts-based methods that can be useful…

This resource is a video of Liz Skelton unpacking the key concepts required for diagnosing and working with power, including changing our organisations’ relationship with power.