techniques

For learning different techniques and methods useful to growing a social enterprise

Rapid Assessment Process

Rapid Assessment Process
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RAP assists outsiders in quickly acquiring an insider's perspective on local situations, learning both the intricacies of the issues at hand as well as the best language to discuss them. A team-based methodology, RAP provides an invaluable set of tools whether you're a product designer exploring latent needs or an entrepreneur learning how your target community sees issues that are key to your business.

Blue Ocean Strategy

Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant
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Sidestep industry boundaries, and make your competition irrelevant. Through numerous case studies (Starbuck's, Southwest Airlines, Curves, Cirque du Soleil, and more), Kim and Mauborgne provide a number of analytical tools to help you through the process of analyzing and growing new industries, aka "Blue Oceans". We've even adapted some of these tools to use during implementations of the BoP Protocol.

Whose Reality Counts

Whose Reality Counts?: Putting the First Last
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If you're going to be an agent of change, then a certain amount of navel gazing is required: after all, how can you change anyone if you're not sure of who you are yourself? Robert Chambers' "Whose Reality Counts" has been required reading for the teams I've worked with, to better understand our own conditioning and realities before we try to change them. A tough read at times, but a valuable one. Also comes with an introduction to participatory methodologies such as PRA.

Why Not?

Why Not?: How to Use Everyday Ingenuity to Solve Problems Big And Small
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Innovation is an organic process, involving questions and observations, and a lot of looking at the world differently. And one of my favorite guides for looking at the world differently is Why Not? I've used Nalebuff and Ayres strategies countless times to get brainstorming sessions started or to resuscitate ideas that were losing steam.

Participatory Workshops

Participatory Workshops: A Sourcebook of 21 Sets of Ideas and Activities
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This book is a grab bag of workshop techniques that have served me well over the years, whether in rural India or downtown San Francisco. I have purchased and given away close to a dozen copies of this book. Browse through it for inspiration any time you need your audience to get active and involved.

Building Powerful Community Organizations

Building Powerful Community Organizations: A Personal Guide to Creating Groups that Can Solve Problems and Change the World
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Want to create a new market? Then you need to learn how to ground your business within communities and how to build movements. While not written for entrepreneurs, Building Powerful Community Organizations is a great resource for anyone operating on the social side of enterprise. We used to draw more from participatory methodologies such as PRA, but found that creating a new consumer market was about creating new community institutions and movements, not just fostering participation.

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