Innovating from 'The Middle Space (TMS)'
by Gary Nelson, September 19, 2012
Applying business and social science concepts to day-to-day management of social institutions, Gary Nelson offers a proven, practical method for engaging people in the redesign and revitalization of social institutions — community self-governance dialogues. The dialogues create opportunities for individuals and families to proactively participate in developing a strategic plan for how their institutions are managed, run, and evaluated. This dialogue method ultimately empowers people to take control of their own lives. He also reveals how active participation in these open dialogues ignites creative ideas and new energy for the redirection and reshaping of those institutions.
Describes the work that organizations can do to redesign internal interactions among sections, always with an eye to improving services and working relationships with clients. It reviews how a self-assessment was used as the basis of organizational change efforts in four North Carolina departments of social services, and it provides sample self-assessment tools and guidelines for using them.
A narrative based on real community dialogues that have used Nelson's model to create productive coalitions of citizens and organizations. Together, the participants in the dialogues identify high-priority problems, agree on desired outcomes, plan how to obtain them, assign tasks, and begin work.
A narrative describing how a public human services agency can employ Nelson's model to change its own culture to become more responsive to its clients and to other organizations in its environment. Using the assessment of organizational culture described in Volume 1 to determine how to change, the agency takes steps to improve its performace and model collaboration for the community it serves.
A workbook that organizations can use to prepare for the in-house dialogue described in Volume 3.