Navigating the Complexities of Collaborative Work

Another significant challenge in the initial stages stemmed from a lack of communication, often characterized by silo mentalities within the team. Siloing within pillars or country teams hindered the flow of information and coordination, impeding the overall progress of the initiative for several months. There was a need for more clear, consistent, and honest team communication as a lever for collective impact. As a result, regular meetings, joint planning sessions, and transparent communication channels were adopted to burst the silos and to facilitate alignment, decision-making, and progress tracking.
Several platforms have since been created to improve communication and information flow among leadership and teams. Leveraging both in-person and virtual platforms, conferences, one-to-one conversations, WhatsApp chats, monthly calls, and meetings have been valuable avenues for fostering collaboration, alignment, and clarity of vision. Regular updates, discussions, and emails also help ensure everyone was updated on crucial program information.

We appreciate now more than ever that pursuing collective impact necessitates establishing diverse communication channels where all team members feel present, and their contributions are heard and valued. Effective communication is not only the linchpin that gives life to our collective pursuit of impact but also the very blood within its veins.

Without a clear understanding of roles and responsibilities, there was a risk of duplicating efforts. To solve this, pillar leads have continued to clarify pillar goals among ALiVE teams and the intersection of the pillars to foster a sense of unity and direction toward collective impact. Developing an annual activity implementation plan and schedules has proven essential in streamlining processes, ensuring timely execution, and preventing undue pressure on teams. Regular check-ins, meetings, and preparations of joint work plans have provided essential touchpoints for aligning efforts, addressing challenges, and capitalizing on learning opportunities.
The key takeaway is that structured interactions foster cohesion and synergy among team members, creating a learning environment and culture that encourages creativity and innovation in achieving program goals and objectives. Cutting down on abrupt meetings also reinforced mutuality and trust-building efforts with partner organizations.

At the start of ALiVE Phase 2 in 2023, ALiVE had eight collaborating organizations. Today, that number has risen to 14 with the recent onboarding of six new partners for the subnational work in Kenya. With varying streams of work and priorities across the fourteen collaborating organizations, alignment can be challenging.
As a solution, organizational leads and their teams have anchored the initiative within strategic priorities. They have proactively embraced adaptability to accommodate team members' varying workplaces, even as they consistently clarify expectations among their teams. The centrality of flexibility and adaptability in managing the complexity of team dynamics cannot be over-emphasized.

Another key challenge was that the team was often overworked and overstretched. This realization came from a six-month leadership coaching with Collective Rising Leadership Institute (CRLI), in which the metaphor of the “Busy Bee” best described our team’s way of being. This meant the staff often worked beyond the recommended 8 hours a day and sometimes on the weekend to meet deliverables and deadlines. Most of the time, they spent long hours in meetings, from early morning to late evening. To address this challenge, the ALiVE leadership has prioritized well-being and mental
wellness among the staff. A critical decision was made to cut down on all meetings scheduled before 8:00 a.m. and after 5:00 p.m. to enable staff to find time to rest and recoup.
Work strain could have a heavy effect on staff's mental well-being. Overstretching teams pose a risk of inefficiency and burnout. Pacing activities and ensuring balanced coordination across all initiatives has become essential for sustained productivity. It is still vital to re-consider the ALiVE organizational structure to understand where there could be inefficiencies, duplication of work, or a need for more resources.

Celebrating milestones is not just symbolic. It is a strategic lever and catalyst for driving systems change. ALiVE recognizes that acknowledging progress and honouring partners' contributions fuels sustained engagement and further innovation. The recent ALiVE regional summit was one moment where recognizing and celebrating milestones reinforced relationships, inspired innovation, and re-energized efforts toward embedding life skills and values in education systems. With participants drawn from a wide range of education systems actors (ALiVE partners, civil society organizations, university researcher, government agencies: curriculum, assessment and teacher educators), the summit's impact was evident in the strengthened collaborations, shared learning, and bold ideas generated. This affirmed that celebration catalyses momentum and drives transformative systems change. Celebrating collective achievements honoured the progress and deepened a shared sense of purpose and ownership among stakeholders.

While ALiVE is a regional program, each jurisdiction has unique needs, requiring tailored approaches to addressing those needs. We realized that sometimes pillar leads tend to rely too heavily on one country's context for planning and executing the pillar programs, with the risk of overlooking the diversity across jurisdictions. One of the adaptive measures to remain context-relevant was to follow the leads from systems actors for the 6-12-year olds tool development journey, which was initially intended to be a regional journey with limited context adaptations. The currently implemented approach is context-driven even as it supports cross-cultural learning. Valuing each context for its uniqueness enhances receptivity, relevance, and applicability.