New Decade, New Us

Context Partners was formed in the spring of 2010, with the desire to connect the insights from social innovation to organizations who could have a positive impact on the world around us. 10 years later, we’ve seen the world and market change rapidly. Design thinking and community building are no longer foreign concepts to organizations — in fact, many are building those capacities in-house. Meanwhile, we’ve also matured and evolved our processes, our organization, and our vision for things to come.

Last summer, we gathered to discuss what we wanted from the next decade of Context Partners. True to our roots, we covered walls, windows and tables with sketches and notes — questioning who we are and what we wanted to become. Amid the chaos was a yellow Post-It: “What if growth isn’t the goal?” We glossed over it at first, but it was persistent, and it ultimately led us to some major changes.

For the vast majority of organizations, growth is an unavoidable topic and often the ultimate pursuit. More people means more work, which means more money, and that all leads to greater impact. That’s what we’ve been working toward, right? If not growth, then what? Well, we’ve decided to call BS on that narrative when it comes to Context Partners. We’re doubling down on the notion that success and growth aren’t mutually exclusive, and this shift in focus has led us to make a radical change to our organizational structure: transitioning our business model from a studio to a small collective.

So, what does that mean for Context Partners going forward? Well, with regard to the work we do, it doesn’t change much. We still want to work with visionary clients on projects that improve how people work together to do good in the world. The shift to a collective has more to do with how we approach our work. Clients can expect dedicated teams made up of the best talent needed for the work: whether a small core team of staff, or a larger team of experts, advisors, and implementers that represent the specific areas of need and even regions.

As we continue to explore this new model, we’ll be actively searching for and inviting collaborators, clients, and partners. We will be:

• Looking for a few members to join the core team.
• Looking for clients that we can partner with to do amazing work.
• Looking for collaborators, contributors, and affiliates.

From the outside this may seem like a big shift, but for our team and our current clients, it’s business as usual. We’ve been slowly evolving for months, and if our clients have noticed a change, it’s that they’ve had more access to senior leadership and practitioners (our Core). Continuous iteration, improving the way we work together and with our clients, has always been essential to our success and that of our clients. We’re looking forward to the year (and decade) ahead, and we’re grateful for the continued opportunity to partner with such amazing folks, tackling some of the world’s greatest challenges. Cheers!