We sat down a few weeks ago for a Skype conversation
with Keeler Cox. Keeler is the father of a twelve-year-old daughter who has
cerebral palsy. For the past couple of years, he's been drawing on his business
background to raise questions about the possibility of "managing CP out of
existence."
Our focus? Parents to Projects (P2P): an experiment aimed at
helping the broader children's neurological disorders community pick up the
pace and be more productive.
* * * * *
Interviewer: Tell us about the origins of P2P.
KC:
Well, there are lots of organizations -- a surprising number -- working
directly or indirectly on behalf of kids like mine, trying to make things
better. I'm grateful for all they do. Unfortunately, though, they have
long, long, long ways to go to even come close to fulfilling their missions. I
want things to move faster. P2P is a product of that. Specifically, it represents an effort to get our organizations more help.
Interviewer:
How did you zero in on "work" as your subject matter?
KC: I'm sure it
has to do with my believing that, even if funding in our neck of the woods
stays where it is, we still ought to be able to manage our existing productive
-- i.e. work -- resources better.
Interviewer: And accomplish more as a result?
KC:
Yes.
Interviewer: What would that do for us? How would that help our community?
KC:
My hope (and my hypothesis) is that we'd all benefit. Individual organizations
would move closer to fulfilling their missions. And there'd be multiplier
effects. We probably couldn't reach our goals twice as fast by doubling our
collective work output. But if our orgs could attempt more things -- a lot more
things -- at least we'd learn what doesn't work faster. That'd be valuable.
Interviewer:
What kind of work are you talking about?
KC: All the stuff organizations commit
to doing in their efforts to achieve their goals. From the biggest projects to
the smallest tasks. From the experimental to the mundane. Businesses have
historically been better at specifying what that stuff is. Nonprofits,
government agencies, individuals and multi-stakeholder networks, on the other
hand, have generally been poorer.
Interviewer: In other words...
KC: They're not
managers first. Deploying people and other resources to tackle what's on their
"to do" lists isn't their forte.
Interviewer: Why don't they look for
help?
KC: I could only speculate. What really matters, though, is that a lot of
potentially valuable work isn't getting done; stuff's falling through the
cracks. That's not only unfortunate -- selfishly, it doesn't help my daughter
-- it may also be unnecessary.
Interviewer: Why unnecessary?
KC: Because I
believe the resources our organizations need are out there waiting to be
mobilized.
Interviewer: How does your P2P concept tie in?
KC: One thing I'd like
to try via P2P to do is help organization leaders become better HR managers, in
a sense: more aware of the human resources available to them; better at
attracting and accessing people who can help them work through their
challenges. There's a sizable talent pool out there that I believe could be better
tapped.
Interviewer: Where? Who?
KC: For starters, there are 14 million children
in the US battling some type of neurological challenge. Their families. Their
parents. No doubt many are tapped out financially and otherwise. But imagine if
even a portion of them could muster up the energy to contribute an hour a week
to helping our orgs advance their various causes, either voluntarily or for
cheap. What would our ecosystem look like a year from now?
Interviewer: And P2P
would address that how?
KC: Generally speaking, by using the power of the Net to
match organizations' work needs with parents and other service providers, by
cultivating a kind of talent marketplace. Not unlike an industry-specific
Monster.com in some ways.
Interviewer: Sounds like a good place to stop.
* * * * *
We
encourage organization leaders and parents alike to check out Keeler's Facebook
page to get involved: www.facebook.com/parents2projects.
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