Are you a ‘Big-vision’ Organization?
Perspectives from Teach First — a game changer in the UK education ecosystem.
What is a ‘big vision’ organization? — you may ask.
A ‘big vision’ organization is one which aims to change a system, not just deliver a product or service to a customer.
Below are 4 lessons from Teach First (Teach For India’s network partner in the UK) on how to embrace being a ‘big-vision’ organization:
1. Be a force multiplier
In military science, a force multiplier is a factor that dramatically increases the effectiveness of a group of military personnel.
Teach First has played a similar catalytic role for its alumni in the UK, with 60% of alumni staying back in teaching, 70–80 head teachers across the country, as well as alumni who are working on other models of serving people — be it through social worker programs or rehabilitation of young people in youth prisons. Teach First alumni also include Members of Parliament in the UK, as well as the Prime Minister’s secretary.
Infusing your talent and your principles into the larger system is a great way to amplify the impact of your organization and multiply the force that you are able to generate.
2. Give technology its due
Technology is miraculous because it allows us to do more with less, ratcheting up our fundamental capabilities to a higher level.
The above line from Peter Thiel sums up the possibilities of technology,
whether for an organization at the cutting-edge of science, or a charity.
At one point, Teach First realized that they weren’t embracing technology as earnestly as they could. That realization brought about a change in strategy — leading to an overhaul in the organization’s technological infrastructure — which allowed alumni to reap the benefits of additional online training or more streamlined access to opportunities.
Now, they say — “Technology is a strength of Teach First.”
3. Embrace collective action
Collective action is hard, and often at loggerheads with short-term individual priorities.
Collective action involves having to invest your time in something, without the expectation of short-term personal or organizational return. It only works if your vision goes beyond your own mandate.
For an organization like Teach First which has a systemic vision, collective action is almost a non-negotiable — no single organization can ever change a whole system. It always takes a little help from others looking to transform the system as well.
Teach First has moved in this direction by having Collective Action as one of its four strategic pillars, as well as through actively engaging in the work of independent collaborative groups like the Fair Education Alliance, which is helping charities collaborate, generate common currency for organizations to talk, as well as advocating for changes at the government-policy level.
4. Practice internal collaboration
Internal collaboration is often harder than its external counterpart.
When you are running a program everyday, it is natural to get lost in the trees of your own work, and look at the forest of collective action as only ancillary to your goals.
Therefore, from time to time — it is important to pull back a little from your core work — and focus on the larger force multipliers, on seeing how you could collaborate internally towards the larger goal of the organization.
One way Teach First institutionalizes such internal collaboration is to get individuals and teams to agree on national goals which are concrete and definite. This drives individuals to be inspired by the common north star and collaborate more actively.
[About the author: This article was written by the InnovatED team].
