In Disney’s “The Kid”1, 40-year-old Russ Duritz (played by Bruce Willis) has the following unlikely conversation with his 8-year-old self:
“What do I do?” asks the kid.
“I’m a consultant.” Duritz answers
“What does a consultant do?” the kid replies.
“Consult.” Is the answer.
Unsatisfied, the kid insists: “But what. Do. I. DOOOO?!”
A frustrated Willis shouts his answer, “You don’t do anything, you tell other people what to do!”
A Consultant consults right? It’s the very nature of the enterprise. But few are satisfied with that answer. In fact, being new to SW Oregon I meet a lot of people who don’t know me and are unfamiliar with Collaborative Development International. When I give them my standard line, “We are a faith-based, non-profit community development consultancy” I typically get a blank stare followed by the question,
“But what do you do?”
Fair enough. If you’ve wondered the same thing and are ready for a better (and longer!) explanation, I’m providing it in this post (this is in addition to what you can already read on our website here, here, and here). I can break down the activities of CDI into four areas, which can serve as stand-alone services or progressive “stages” in a relationship:
First: Understand
This involves defining, investigating, and exploring existing or proposed projects and/or partnerships and testing this information against what we consider “partnership essentials” (a topic for another post!). We also assist project participants in identifying opportunities (what has gone well, and why?) and constraints (what barriers or roadblocks exist?)
Second: Refine
In this stage we begin to think of different ways to maximize current success and minimize or overcome constraints. A key exercise in this phase is to review and critique the partnership’s consensus regarding project vision and goals.
Third: Resource
This involves researching and information gathering regarding previously unidentified resources, then networking and coordinating initial introductions to potential partners or new participants.
Fourth: Implement
This is the action step, a process of educating the partners regarding a new path forward and incorporating newly identified resources. We can represent the partnership to new participants, and even provide ongoing coordination of financial investors or donor relations as required.
Understanding, Refining, Resourcing, and implementing. That’s what we do, all with the goal of seeing our partners flourish in their efforts to do good in their respective communities.
- The Kid, Dir. Jon Turteltaub. Perf. Bruce Wills, Spencer Breslin. Walt Disney Pictures, 2000.