Future Forward Final Stretch

Ten months into our Future Forward process and nearly six weeks since our last experiment update, we’re coming around for the home stretch. It took some doing to schedule the remaining engagements for our process, but we were finally able to align everyone’s calendars. Here’s a recap of recent and upcoming meetings:

  • 10/16, Stepping Into Power rescoping call
  • 10/20, Funders’ Table rescoping call
  • 11/19, Joint MVP
  • 11/20, Future Forward Debrief

Two experiments are being designed, “Stepping Into Power” and “We Are the MVP.” Each is the third experiment exploring, respectively, the Leadership Development Products and Funders’ Table ideas.

Microsoft Word - Stepping into Power ES aw.docxStepping Into Power seeks to figure out how to demonstrate the value of this new type of leadership development program as a strategic resource for the strong families network by presenting a demo to a test cohort. The program is not only a potential revenue stream for Forward Together, but could critically advance the work of Strong Families by cultivating the mindsets, skills, and practices that leaders need to truly step into power.

We Are the MVP is the final run of the funder’s table experiment, seeking to better understand how a funders’ table could harness relationships and leverage strengths to find resource abundance by running a prototype meeting with the Brain Trust as the funders’ table. In debriefing our second experiment and thinking where to go next, we realized that the Future Forward Brain Trust has been a prototype Funders’ Table, and perhaps the best way to explore how we could partner differently to unlock more resource sustainability was to just set the table and invite Forward Together to come.

If all this isn’t exciting enough for you, there’s a twist! The Funders’ Table will be the test cohort for the “Stepping Into Power” demo, and “Stepping Into Power” will be the heart of the agenda for the prototype Funders’ Table meeting. Both hypotheses will be tested concurrently in a single four-hour joint MVP on November 19, 2015.

We’re busy now designing our mashup MVP so that we can make the most of our “lab time.” Happy Halloween!

I was working in the lab, late one night, when my eyes beheld an eerie sight.
For my monster from his slab, began to rise, and suddenly, to my surprise:
(He did the mash.) He did the monster mash. (The monster mash.)

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