Page 44 - Life In Naples Magazine December 2014 Edition
P. 44
making
IT COUNT
by John S. Cox, CCE, CEcD, IOM
President & CEO
S ystemic change and multi-generational sustainability “ The collective impact
don’t happen in vacuums or by accident. Both are
achieved by communities, which are, among other
things, aspirational, intentional and relational. Communities of such synergy is
which care about and self-determine their futures aspire compelling in making a
to be better than they are, are intentional about becoming
better and create powerful relationships with stakeholders community more able to
who are pursuing the same results. The collective impact of address needs and more
such synergy is compelling in making a community more
able to address needs and more able to align resources
able to align resources within
the community. Communities within the community.
like those make it count—and ”
so must we.
Partnerships and alliances
permeate our region and state. counties, a member of the alliance board, and a couple
A bigger initiative will be to investors to Atlanta for a Consultant/Broker event. We met
with site selectors—people who make location decisions.
find ways to move beyond
those and move toward aligning For all of them it was their first introduction to our region
organizations—examining the as a competitive destination for business investment. They
degree to which organizations of course had questions and provided valuable feedback. We
share values, beliefs and behaviors. Instead of sharing each told the Southwest Florida story. They were also impressed
other’s strategic plans for informational purposes these
to see the alignment, i.e. The Collective Impact. We made
aligning organizations engage in shared strategies for
it count.
collective impact purposes resulting in communities with The Partnership for Collier’s Future Economy is also
exponentially greater capacity. becoming an aligned organization. A strategic plan was
The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity’s Five written and underwritten by the community, fully vetted,
Year Strategic Plan for Economic Development identifies amended and adopted. That strategy, a result of a partnership
metrics for aligning plans and processes across state, regional with the Collier County Board of Commissioners, lead to
and local entities toward the state’s economic development the creation of an implementation plan. We are ready to
goals—they are making it count. The Southwest Florida open the implementation plan and begin our new work in
Economic Development Alliance, a five county economic economic and community development. We have identified
development start-up is also making it count. While each of more than seventy organizations within which we believe
our five counties continues to improve individual “product” the opportunity for alignment exists. And we invite any we
county by county, the Alliance is selling the region to the may have overlooked to engage with us. We believe Naples
Works and Opportunity Happens. For that to be true
world as the next and best choice for quality economic
and community development. We are becoming aligned everyone needs a spot at the table. From Artis-Naples to
as organizations. It’s not easy but it is possible. One recent the Young Professionals, from the United Way to Ave Maria
demonstration was the Alliance’s first outbound marketing University—the greatest Collective Impact will only happen
mission. We took representatives from three of our five when we all are invited to make it count.
44 Life in Naples | December 2014
IT COUNT
by John S. Cox, CCE, CEcD, IOM
President & CEO
S ystemic change and multi-generational sustainability “ The collective impact
don’t happen in vacuums or by accident. Both are
achieved by communities, which are, among other
things, aspirational, intentional and relational. Communities of such synergy is
which care about and self-determine their futures aspire compelling in making a
to be better than they are, are intentional about becoming
better and create powerful relationships with stakeholders community more able to
who are pursuing the same results. The collective impact of address needs and more
such synergy is compelling in making a community more
able to address needs and more able to align resources
able to align resources within
the community. Communities within the community.
like those make it count—and ”
so must we.
Partnerships and alliances
permeate our region and state. counties, a member of the alliance board, and a couple
A bigger initiative will be to investors to Atlanta for a Consultant/Broker event. We met
with site selectors—people who make location decisions.
find ways to move beyond
those and move toward aligning For all of them it was their first introduction to our region
organizations—examining the as a competitive destination for business investment. They
degree to which organizations of course had questions and provided valuable feedback. We
share values, beliefs and behaviors. Instead of sharing each told the Southwest Florida story. They were also impressed
other’s strategic plans for informational purposes these
to see the alignment, i.e. The Collective Impact. We made
aligning organizations engage in shared strategies for
it count.
collective impact purposes resulting in communities with The Partnership for Collier’s Future Economy is also
exponentially greater capacity. becoming an aligned organization. A strategic plan was
The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity’s Five written and underwritten by the community, fully vetted,
Year Strategic Plan for Economic Development identifies amended and adopted. That strategy, a result of a partnership
metrics for aligning plans and processes across state, regional with the Collier County Board of Commissioners, lead to
and local entities toward the state’s economic development the creation of an implementation plan. We are ready to
goals—they are making it count. The Southwest Florida open the implementation plan and begin our new work in
Economic Development Alliance, a five county economic economic and community development. We have identified
development start-up is also making it count. While each of more than seventy organizations within which we believe
our five counties continues to improve individual “product” the opportunity for alignment exists. And we invite any we
county by county, the Alliance is selling the region to the may have overlooked to engage with us. We believe Naples
Works and Opportunity Happens. For that to be true
world as the next and best choice for quality economic
and community development. We are becoming aligned everyone needs a spot at the table. From Artis-Naples to
as organizations. It’s not easy but it is possible. One recent the Young Professionals, from the United Way to Ave Maria
demonstration was the Alliance’s first outbound marketing University—the greatest Collective Impact will only happen
mission. We took representatives from three of our five when we all are invited to make it count.
44 Life in Naples | December 2014
