Working together
to overcome poverty.

Synergos is a not-for-profit organisation working on some of the world’s most wicked problems. Its ethos and its commitment to fundamental change sit close to our own philosophy, and to ways of working that keep evolving as we learn from each programme and each client. We were introduced to the Synergos team by a philanthropically minded partner on the organisation’s Board.

We are proud to have played a small part in helping Synergos strengthen its already extensive network and further its purpose: to overcome the challenges of poverty and injustice.

The anniversary was a fitting moment to look back at how far the organisation had travelled since its early days, and to renew and refocus its work towards a fairer and more equitable world.

Our session gave Synergos the chance to explain clearly to its Board where it was heading and where it meant to put its efforts, before raising more funds or planning projects in detail.The working session took place in New York from 4 to 6 March 2013, as recorded in the framework guide Group Partners prepared for it.

The ambition is about change makers: thousands of able and empowered leaders around the world, each contributing to the causes most worth their effort and acting as a catalyst for change in their own community. As in all our work, we made no assumptions before the session.

We live in dynamic times. Global dynamics shift constantly, sending ripples across cultures and geographies that can help or block any programme. This global platform is more connected than ever before, and its movements are visible to anyone with the interest and the motivation to explore them.

Add to this the many demands on people’s time and resources. Many voices cry to be heard and many worthy causes compete for attention, each depending on getting a compelling message across. Even those that reach the public stage are often thwarted by the crises of the day, in a climate of severe financial pressure that calls for careful stewardship of precious funds.

Organisations working on today’s wicked problems, from poverty and climate change to pandemic influenza and human trafficking, face particular challenges, because wicked problems by their very nature defy definitive formulation. They are complex, with many entangled causes, so experience cannot help as it would with an ordinary problem. No well described set of permitted steps can be drawn up into a plan of action.

Each wicked problem involves many stakeholders, and each has a different idea of what the trouble really is and what causes it. That can lead to conflicting agendas and to a sense of “so where do you go from here?”

Victories may be many, but they often look insignificant against the bigger picture, and that can discourage problem solvers who are already under pressure. Nor can they afford to be wrong, because their actions reach so widely that they will be held liable for the consequences. And because solutions involve chains of events and many interventions, their effectiveness is hard to measure.

Knowing how to measure the value of their actions was one of the issues that arose in our work with Synergos. Most people and organisations tackling wicked problems share it, because so much of the work is done in partnership. We have met it in almost every intervention of this kind, and we have begun to form a view on how to think differently about measuring value and impact.

Synergos does not directly address the systemic causes of poverty and inequity. It works to build and support inclusive partnerships and networks that operate in the field.Its field projects at the time included initiatives in Southern Africa, India, the Middle East, Canada, Brazil and Ethiopia. Much of its mission is about building bridges, whether by training individuals to become bridging leaders or by bringing stakeholders together, from NGOs and small charities to parties with conflicting interests.

In its own description, Synergos:

• connects people to their core values and engages in change in ways that inspire trust and make meaningful collaboration possible;
• provides learning about bridging leadership, the capacity to bring people together across divides to work as partners;
• creates and supports inclusive collaborations that involve all key stakeholders and develop innovations to solve complex problems;
• focuses attention on systems thinking, seeking significant change and supporting the leadership and institutions needed to sustain it.

In this environment, where involvement can show up in many ways, it is not always easy to show where value comes from or to prove the impact of one programme. Impact comes from direct and indirect contribution, in ways other than the eradication of poverty. Measurement has to include the intangibles as well as the tangibles. Sometimes there are significant outcomes along the way that merit attention and teach us lessons.

A quest is an adventure that starts with a purpose, a strong and wholehearted belief in achieving something. For Synergos, that purpose is the fight against poverty and inequity.

Our connected global stage now offers many examples of the change civil society can drive, especially as it leads the call for more meaning and purpose in decisions and policies. Practices of the past are being exposed for what they are. It is no longer good enough simply to tick the box on development action: the response has to be real and meaningful.

One example of how Synergos works is its Global Philanthropists Circle, a network of leading philanthropic families from across the world. Its members commit their time and resources to making lasting change in the lives of poor and marginalised people.

The organisation also helps donors to become more effective social investors, offering them opportunities for learning and collaboration. Unlike other philanthropic forums, the Circle lets members learn from their peers and forge new relationships that can move their work forward.

As with any quest, there are always questions. How do you avoid reinventing the wheel? How do you build on the insight and success of others, and apply those lessons in the right way for the context in front of you?

This is the Holy Grail, and a significant driver for the future. It matters for the programmes Synergos leads directly, and for its whole network of partners and alliances: change makers all working in the most effective way possible.

The Synergos approach works from within communities, so that change can be sustained. Its value is supported by evidence and results that show, sometimes directly and sometimes indirectly, the impact of each step towards a shift in the paradigm. A Body of Practice, grounded in fundamental principles, makes sure that change lasts. A belief system that is dynamic and flexible lets the organisation work well in the real world, in any context.

Using its capacity to bring people together across divides, inside or outside existing circles, Synergos builds bridges between things that need to be connected. Context and experience make all the difference, so aggressive sharing of the approach is vital to its vision: the techniques and practices, and the real cases of impact. That means tools as well as stories, anything that would help others facing similar challenges.

By showing the impact of its Body of Practice and its values, Synergos hopes to inspire others to act in the same way. It holds that practice on the ground produces the best effects, and so should be used more widely to influence anti-poverty strategies.

Synergos believes that collaboration between business, government, civil society and communities is essential to overcoming complex economic and social deficits in a lasting way. That includes drawing on the wisdom, and amplifying the voices, of people who are poor and marginalised.

The challenges posed by poverty and inequity are too complex and too big for any single organisation, however large or experienced. Creating solutions and scaling what works requires collaboration: combining the resources of government, the market knowledge of corporations, the social connection of civil society and the participation of communities. Yet such collaboration is neither easy nor commonplace.

In working with leaders, leadership networks, institutions and partnerships, Synergos does not impose fixed ideas about how best to solve problems. It works instead to enable those most directly involved to test and implement innovative, lasting change.

Perhaps the most enabling part of our intervention was helping Synergos to see itself. It already had a clear purpose and mission. We helped join up the dots, in ways that linked its stakeholders and partners in the widest sense, and also the major themes and thrusts of its work.

Scroll sideways to see the whole framework.

Making visible links between apparently separate parts of an organisation is something we are very practised at. For the client team it can be a real eye opener, especially where, as here, the organisation needs to get its story across to the many people it comes into contact with, with a clear sense of the evolving breadth of its work.

We could not fill in every detail in the session. But the framework we created in the short time we had together has given Synergos a firm basis on which to build a riveting story.

With all credit to the dedicated and committed Synergos team, this is a story without its ending yet. There is still a long way to go before we put an end to poverty and inequity.

Adapted from the Group Partners case study on Synergos, first published in September 2013. The photographs are those printed in the original document.