Public Innovators Lab

A special note from Rich Harwood:

• What is the Public Innovators Lab?
• What are public innovators?
• Quiz: Am I a public innovator?
• What happens at the lab?
• What will I get out of it?
• How will I keep track of what I learn?
• Should I come?
• How will I maintain my momentum once I go home?
• How much is it?
• Dates, location, and how to register

Tired of business as usual in your community? Want to help create real, lasting change?

Then join us for the Harwood Public Innovators Lab. The Lab is an intensive, three day experience that will help you create new pathways to accelerate change and engender authentic hope in your communities - finding ways to get past the negative conditions in public life that stand in the way of progress. During the Lab you will examine how you can see, think about, and engage in your work from three important perspectives - how you engage communities; how you think about your organization's role in change; and what you need to do as an individual to be effective and stay true to your own values.

What are public innovators?

Many people do good work across the country in public life and politics, and yet there are a small percentage of people who stand out because of the meaningful change they are able to generate. More prevalent than social entrepreneurs and less heralded, these engines for the public good are one of the great untapped resources in our nation.

At The Harwood Institute, we call these people public innovators.

Public innovators are pragmatic idealists - they hold a deep understanding of the reality of their community and at the same time incessantly tap their imagination to see a path for a brighter future. Public innovators are dogged in their determination to make progress; and they are risk-takers, when necessary. They have learned to innovate from within whatever structure they operate.

Public innovators also understand that real and sustainable change only occurs in a community over time, as the effects of civic actions ripple out and eventually connect with one another. Their knowledge of the community guides their strategies and helps them calibrate when it's time to push ahead and when to be patient.

We have found that public innovators hold no specific title, and there is no single mailing list or Web site to find them. Instead, public innovators can be found in a range of public, private and nonprofit organizations in a variety of roles.

In a highly divisive, fragmented and even cynical society, public innovators believe in the possibilities for change in public life and politics and in the ability of people to tap their own potential to make a difference and join together to forge a common future

Quiz: Am I a public innovator?

1. Do you find yourself guided by a set of deeply rooted aspirations and ideals? Do you work tirelessly in your professional and personal life to make these ideals a reality?
2. But are you also deeply pragmatic? Do you find that you're just as interested in seeing results as you are in articulating your ideals?
3. Do you have experience taking risks; and do you appreciate the possible downsides from taking such risks?
4. Do you find that what you say and do is rooted in a deep understanding of the community or region where you do your work?
5. Do the people you serve regard you as an authentic leader?

If you answered yes to three or more of these questions, or if you would like to be able to answer yes, then the chances are that you are an existing or emerging public innovator. The Public Innovators Lab will enable you to deepen and expand your abilities to see, think about, and engage with being ruthlessly strategic in creating change and authentic hope in community and public life.

What happens at the lab?

You will spend four days with colleagues from around the country immersed in learning about and applying the sensibilities and practices that have helped hundreds of public leaders connect with their community and affect change and engender authentic hope. And you will learn what it takes to re-orient yourself in public life, discover new frameworks for working on current challenges, and network with a growing body of public innovators like yourself.

Here is a schedule of what you'll do at the Lab.

• Session 1: Identifying Aspirations
  Articulate what is means to act on your aspirations in public life and identify the necessary steps to create more productive conditions for making progress
• Session 2: The 3 A's of Public Life
  Examine the importance of the 3 A's of Public Life "Authority, Authenticity, and Accountability" and discover their relationship to creating change and authentic hope
• Session 3: Public Capital
  Learn about the Public Capital Framework and understand the key factors that make communities work and enable them to change
• Session 4: Open Q&A
• Session 5: Understanding Community Rhythms
  Understand the five stages of community life, the strategic implications for moving communities forward, and apply the stages to your community
• Session 6: Taking Effective Civic Action
  Find the "sweet spot" of civic action by learning how to align your programs and actions so that they address community concerns and build community at the same time
• Session 7: Reflection Discussion: Being a Public Innovator
  Engage in a discussion about the personal challenges and opportunities that confront you in being a public innovator
• Session 8: Authentic Civic Engagement
  Make your civic engagement efforts vibrant and robust by learning about and applying the 5 Principles of Authentic Engagement
• Session 9: Personal Challenges
• Session 10: Personal Covenant
  

What will I get out of it?

The core modules of the Harwood Public Innovators Lab are designed to help you as a public innovator act even more effectively in your community, organization, and as an individual leader. We will focus on what it means to be ruthlessly strategic in what you do and how you can create authentic hope.

You will come away with:

• A working understanding of key Harwood Institute frameworks that will enable you to identify strategies for creating change and authentic hope in communities and public life
  
• Knowledge on how to align your personal and organizational work to the context of your community, which will help you save time and money and help you achieve success for the long term
  
• A coherent theory of how change occurs in communities and public life, which will help you set change strategies that will work, manage expectations, and engender authentic hope
  
• A proven approach to tackling negative conditions - and not just the superficial symptoms - that slow progress on public challenges, which will help you undertake and make meaningful change
  
• A renewed connection to your own personal aspirations and commitment to your work, which will give you a clearer and deepened sense of purpose
  
• New friends and colleagues who share your aspirations for public life, which will give you access to a growing national network of public innovators
  
• A deeper sense of possibility and hope, which will help propel you and others forward

How will I keep track of what I learn?

Great question! Over the years we've designed and really honed what we call the Personal Learning Journal. You will receive your own copy when you attend the Public Innovators Lab. It contains each of the frameworks we use in the Lab as well as lots of room for you to take notes and draw connections to your own work. You'll be able to take the Personal Learning Journal home as a personal resource to tap as you engage in your own work.

Should I come?

The Public Innovators Lab is designed for people who are seeking to accelerate progress in their communities and who are open to examining new sensibilities and practices for creating change and authentic hope. Of course, it's not for everyone.

Senior staff from organizations doing public work such as foundation staff, community-based nonprofit leaders, national nonprofit organizational leaders, and public agency practitioners will benefit the most from the content and interaction during the Lab.

How will I maintain my momentum once I go home?

There are a number of ways we will help you take advantage of what you learn at the Public Innovators Lab:

• You will have your Personal Learning Journal (see above)
  
• We will hold periodic teleconferences, webcasts, and other easy-to-access events to reinforce key ideas, frameworks, and tools that you learned at the Lab or which we think might be helpful
  
• We will help you stay connected with other public innovators who attended your Lab, as well as connect you with other public innovators in the Harwood network
  
• You will receive our The Harwood Public Innovator, our weekly e-letter on news about issues and ideas relevant to public innovators
  

How much is it?

The cost of participating in the Lab is $995, which includes registration fees, breakfast, lunches and dinner Tuesday night, and all of your Lab materials. Transportation, lodging, and some meals are separate. This is a small price to pay to gain access to intellectual capital that literally cost tens of millions of dollars to develop, funded by some of the nation's largest and most prestigious foundations. The insight you gain from this experience can potentially save you far more than your investment by helping you build programs for long-term success instead of those that often fade away after one or two years.

In some cases, discounts up to 10 percent can be arranged with membership organizations willing to actively promote the Lab. Please contact Cindy Page at (301) 656-3669 or cpage@theharwoodinstitute.org if you are interested in participating in the discount program.

Dates, location, and how to register

Click here to register!

Location: Baltimore, MD
Date: March 17 - 20
Registration: Click here

For more information contact:
Cindy Page at cpage@theharwoodinstitute.org or call at (301) 656-3669.

If you are interested in registering for the Feb 5 - 8 lab in Austin call Cindy at the above number.