Good collaboration works at multiple levels. First, successful organizations understand that teamwork is a force-multiplier to meet business goals and exceed customer expectations. At the community level, collaboration centers a common agenda and helps build social capital across differences to achieve collective impact. This is especially important for social change efforts where organizations and individuals must reinforce mutually beneficial outcomes to common agendas. Ultimately, the benefits of collaboration are learning, growth, and positive change.
How do you envision collaborative work improving our impact?
Impact is determined by bringing about a positive change in conditions for individuals, communities, and systems. When looked at through the lens of Second Chance Reentry and Talent Development, no single entity can drive elimination of barriers that confront people with records and the formerly incarcerated. Absent collaboration, income inequality, healthcare disparities, and social isolation become the markers of society. We must collaborate in the work or reentry workforce development because it is crucial to reconstructing the social and economic fabric of civil society. We are not simply talking about job placement – we are talking about people thriving in a society that values them.
