Fourth in a series about investing strategically in generative networks.
In earlier blogs we described three conditions for a funder to decide to invest in a generative network approach:
- The funder’s goal is system change.
- The funder is simultaneously pursuing multiple challenging strategies for achieving system change.
- The system’s situation involves a great deal of uncertainty, and solutions are not known.
In this blog we focus on the third condition: t he system’s situation involves a great deal of uncertainty, and solutions are not known.
Generative networks are especially useful in tackling complex, unpredictable, large-scale, “wicked” problems like climate change, homelessness, or education-system performance, which won’t yield to a “silver-bullet” solution. In these kinds of problems, there is great uncertainty about what the solutions are and/or how to implement solutions, often because they require many people to change their minds and behaviors and even to resolve polarizing conflicts. The problem itself can be a “moving target” that changes over time and only reveals its nature as you come to understand more about it. The problem is systemic, meaning it involves working with multiple elements that interact with and affect each other as they produce an outcome.
Not all problems look like this. Some yield to a solution that is simple and easily replicated. Some require more complicated solutions—multi-step processes or blueprints, for instance—and involve special expertise. But they are not complex and wicked. They don’t require many different approaches and adaptation as you work with them. They don’t require many years, or even decades, of collective work.
Not all funders have the patience and risk-tolerance for investing in situations with high levels of uncertainty, but when they do, investment will most likely benefit from the flexibility and creativity of a generative network.
In general, when pursuing system change, the greater the situation’s uncertainty and risk and the greater the number and difficulty of strategies, the more a funder may find that a generative network is an effective model of collective action in which to invest. Other models—associations, membership-based organizations, and communities of practice—are likely to be better investments when there is greater certainty about what to do. Coalitions and alliances are likely to be better investments when there is a particular solution and/or strategy to implement, probably over the shorter term. On the other hand, investing in a movement—a less coherent, focused, and coordinated model than a generative network—makes investment sense when the situation requires more and more people/organizations to demand change and solutions.