Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard

This post was written by Karen Kiely, COO.

Direct the Rider, Motivate the Elephant and Shape the Path—how can these be the core elements to effecting lasting change?  In their highly acclaimed book, “Switch,” authors Chip and Dan Heath make a compelling case for how to bring about change, be it at the individual , team,  organization or community level.  Harnessing both the rational side of the Rider and the emotional side of the Elephant, as well as clearing the way for success, are essential for making a Switch.  Their change management model is powerfully illuminated by success stories from many realms—individuals, non-profits, corporations, and even countries.

As I think about how to apply these principles to the work of CAP, I am struck by how simple, yet powerful, the model can be.  For example, as we looked at trying to change the behavior of parents to drive improved child attendance, perhaps we needed to Motivate the Elephant by making the change a matter of identity rather than a matter of consequences:  “Be a better parent!” vs. “Get your child to school or else be put on an Attendance Improvement Plan!”  And as we introduce requirements for parents to attend new parenting classes, once again we have to think about how best to Motivate the Elephant and gain buy in by helping parents ‘find the feeling’ and ‘shrink the change.’  One way is by setting smaller, attainable goals within immediate reach and by recognizing accomplishments along the path, instead of only rewarding completion at a culminating graduation ceremony.

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“We are small, but we can do big things.”

Global Gardens teacher Symon (left); helps Ryan and Andrea (right) shape an earthen oven during a summer program at Rosa Parks Elementary School on Tuesday. MATT BARNARD/Tulsa World

   Today’s Tulsa World included a great article about the Global Gardens summer program at Rosa Parks Elementary School.  For those who don’t know Global Gardens uses gardening and hands-on science to empower low-income kids and communities.  Here in Tulsa it has done just that!  The program at Rosa Parks faced the challenge of providing meals to participants after the schools Summer Food Program closes at the end of June.  In previous years, program staff made meals on a single hot plate.  From my own college experience, I know it can be difficult to make a meal for one or two people on a hot plate, let alone 20 kids plus program staff.  While brainstorming what to do to solve this problem one of the kids in the program suggested an earthen oven like those his family in Mexico uses to cook enchiladas, tamales, and even bread.  The staff looked into the idea and put the plan into action.  Soon, they will have a fully functioning earthen oven in their communal garden.

   The one thing that really struck me about this story was how program staff included participants in the problem-solving process and also in the follow through.  This really highlights how programs like Global Gardens empower kids.  It teaches them how to face challenges head on and implement solutions, which is a valuable lesson for every person to learn, not just low-income children.  It also seems that the program is fostering a desire to improve their communities, which is demonstrated in two quotes from participants.

First, from Erendira a fifth grader:

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Exciting Opportunity in CAP’s Innovation Lab

As many of our regular readers know, the Innovation Lab acts as CAP’s research and development team.  We develop deep understandings about our clients, research promising new practices and theories, and work with partners to develop new programs and services.  Over the last couple of years, the Innovation Lab has launched several exciting programs to serve CAP families.  Our workforce development program, CareerAdvance, is currently expanding thanks to a $10 million grant from HHS.  Another program, Healthy Women, Health Futures, is an interconceptional health program for the mother’s of children enrolled in one of CAP’s early childhood education centers.

Now, that you are all thinking, “Wow! How cool would it be to work there!”  I am excited to tell you that we are adding to our team.  We are looking for a new Program Development Coordinator.  This newly created position will be responsible for developing and launching pilot programs that derive from the agency’s Adult Strategy.  The person hired should have at least a Bachelor’s Degree in political science, management, social work, communications or a related field, a minimum of 3 years implementation or program management experience, and supervisory experience.  Experience in successful program design and working with low-income populations are also strongly preferred.

If you or someone you know, fits this description, click here to read the full job description and apply through CAP’s online application process.

To learn more about working at CAP, click here.

To learn more about the Innovation Lab, click here.

To learn more about CAP, click here.



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Our Real Social Network

Using social networks to leverage social change is not a new idea, but it has definitely become more and more popular with the increased attention on websites such as Facebook and Twitter.  The only problem with the focus on Facebook and Twitter is that a person’s actual social network can look much different from their online social network.  In general, a person’s Facebook friends are more varied than those friends and family that have contact with on a regular basis.  Because in reality, we all have Facebook friends who we haven’t spoken to in months or even years.  In my case, they are people I had one class with while in college, or we were on the same softball team in high school.

The challenge for innovators looking to use social networks to leverage social change is to move beyond the web-based idea of social networks.  But, how do we identify a person’s social network without the help of Facebook and Twitter telling us who the person is connected to.  One new idea is to look at who a person calls or texts on a regular basis.  TechCrunch recently highlighted a new mobile phone based application that does just that.  It uses a person’s mobile phone contacts to show what conferences each are attending.  While this may not be useful for those looking to create social change, but what if it could connect people based on other social factors, like connecting people who were studying for the GED or people interested in becoming more financially capable.

The mobile phone application may not work in all situations, but it is one way to move past the idea of social networks existing only in cyberspace.

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An Innovation Generation?

Hi, my name is Elizabeth, and I am a Millennial.

But, what does being a Millennial mean?  According to the Pew Research Center, it means American teens and twenty-somethings are “confident, self-expressive, liberal, upbeat and receptive to new ideas and ways of living.”  Receptive to new ideas, that is the one that I have been struggling with over the past couple of weeks since I first saw the research.  Does this mean the Millennial Generation is more innovative?  I am not entirely sold on this idea.  Previous generations have done some pretty innovative things.  I mean, Al Gore did invent the Internet, without which this blog would not be possible.  I kid.  But, really, previous generations have cured diseases, sent people to the moon, and developed technologies that allow for instant intercontinental communication.  So, can you really say one generation is more innovative than another? 

In hopes of gaining some clarity – and increasing comments – I am posing these question to the readers of this blog:

• Do you think generational differences have an effect on social innovation?
• Do different generations approach social innovation differently?
• Do they define social innovation differently?
• Is one generation inherently more socially innovative than another? 

All insights are welcome!  If my questions only raise more questions, feel free to post those too!

To gain more insight into what it means to be a Millennial, click here.

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Nuestro Barrio…A Financial Education Telenovela

Yes, you read the title correctly, and no, I am not making this up.  Over the past couple of weeks, I have been up to my ears in research on innovative approaches to serving underbanked communities.  One of those innovative approaches is using sources of entertainment such as video games and television shows to deliver financial education to adults.  Financial education is an important element to moving the underbanked into the financial mainstream because it address the information gap that can act as a barrier to greater use of mainstream financial services.  But financial education is not always delivered in a way that is accessible or engaging to the underbanked community.  Doorways to Dreams (D2D) has launched two financial education video games — Celebrity Calamity and Groove Nation — to reach out to the younger portion of the underbanked community.  The games teach players lessons about credit card usage and the importance budgeting through a series of game related situations.  But, the video game approach still requires the participant to take the initial step of seeking out financial education. 

Nuestro Barrio, on the other hand, targets the Latino portion of the underbanked community that may not seek out financial education for various reasons.  The Community Reinvestment Association of North Carolina (CRA-UNC) designed the show in a way that would deliver targeted financial education to the Latino community without individuals having to seek it out from financial institutions or community organizations.  Because the show is distributed through commercial television stations, the show and therefore the information is much more accessible.  Over the course of 13 episodes, viewers learn about homeownership, credit, predatory lending, and financial services through the experiences of Latinos on the show.  When I first read about the program, I wondered if it would really work.  Could viewers attracted to a show for its entertainment value really learn and retain financial literacy from a telenovela?  Research from the Center for Community Capital at UNC suggests it does work.  Researchers found that the show was appealing to viewers, led to increased financial literacy, and induced behavioral change. 

To read the full results of the Nuestro Barrio research from the Center for Community Capital click here.   

To learn more about Nuestro Barrio click here. 

For more information about Doorways to Dreams financial education games click here.

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Inspiration in an unlikely place

Homemade soccer ball in Kenya c. 2005- http://tiny.cc/9wXN0.

This past week I attended the Southwest Regional Leadership Forum hosted by the Sarkey’s Foundation in Norman, OK. I honestly didn’t expect to come back completely re-energized and inspired to take on the world… but I did. One thing I’ve learned recently from the book Made to Stick by the Dan Heath and Chip Heath is that there is elegance in brevity and simplicity. So rather than give you my entire 2-day rambling brain dump, I am going to share some links and  insights with you concerning the key speakers. I need to save some other stuff for other posts! 

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Fablab in KW Neighborhood

So, awhile back we posted about our experience at the Boston Fablab and how we might work to bring one to Tulsa. Well, fast forward and Kendall Whittier Inc is seriously pursuing the idea of putting one in the KW neighborhood. There will be a community presentation on Oct 5 at 7pm at Educare at 2511 E. 5th Pl. Please join us if you can make it, Micah and I will be there in a supporting role to share our experiences and help answer any questions about what this could do for the KW community and potentially Tulsa. The Tulsa World did a piece on it in yesterday’s paper. Check it out!

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Challenges, Social Connections, and Early Childhood

We here in the Innovation Lab recently launched our second “Innovation Challenge” to CAP employees. These challenges are meant to leverage the creativity of all of our staff so that we can identify problems and solutions that would never have occurred to us in the safety of the group cube. Our last challenge sought ideas about building strong connections among the people we serve: What challenges do we face that could be solved by building better connections between the people we serve?

The motivation behind the latest challenge was T.J. Sexton’s research into social networks and “co-production.” “These relationships build connections among families and enlist them as partners to contribute their creativity and ambitions in achieving our shared goals.”

Upon my recommendation, T.J. ordered a book I’d heard about called Unanticipated Gains, which reviews the benefits of social connections at child care centers. Since I suspect he’s taking his time wading through it (T.J. being a very busy innovator), I thought I’d help out and link to a video interview with the book’s author, Mario Small.

Allow Early Ed Watch to provide you the summary:

In the video, Small says that he found that mothers with children in childcare centers were less depressed and exchanged more information about child rearing. They also found out about resources like health clinics and museums that catered to children. Instead of being thought of as simple drop-off spots for babysitting, Small argues, “the centers have quite a few benefits for the social networks and social well-being of the mothers.”

Small talks, too, about how certain characteristics of centers can encourage or discourage parents to get to know each other. For example, he says, child care centers that set specific drop-off and pick-up times are better at enabling parents to meet, talk and compare experiences.

Small mentions that parents with children at child care centers had more friends than other disadvantaged parents. I’m not sure of the extent to which this is really true within our own early childhood program, based on some surveys I’ve conducted, but that’s the point of the innovation challenge: we want to identify problem areas that would benefit from stronger connections between parents. If you work for CAP, read about the challenge on InsideCAP and submit an idea to us. (Soon! The deadline is tomorrow.) If you don’t, you are always welcome to contribute your ideas as comments right here.

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Moveable Oases for the Food Desert

Some of the innovation gang headed over to a local taco stand for lunch to enjoy the weather and much talked about experience by the local media of late. When we came back, I had an a-ha moment of why doesn’t Tulsa introduce some sort of traveling fruit and vegetable truck in our food deserts? Since I’ve been largely bereft of the blog over the past few months, I realized that Micah had already thought of this in his post New Oases in the Food Desert. You really can’t anything past this sharp set.

However, I still would like to elaborate on this concept by offering a potential fusion of the New York green cart concept, the traveling taco stand, and the bookmobile. In Micah’s post, he offers that the NYC carts work because the carts have virtually no overhead  expense and the city has a high walking density. His question at the end of the post asks what incentives can we provide to expand the use of flexible, low-overhead options for bringing fresh produce to neighborhoods across Tulsa?

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