Rich Harwood shared insights into sparking change that evolves over time. He founded the Harwood Institute in 1988 with work centered around developing community change-centered conversations. A philosophy of civic faith and community driven solutions fueled this initiative’s efforts for the more than 30 years.

Society became increasingly polarized in the experiences and opportunities people encounter based on their backgrounds. Rich explains that most of the initiative’s work focuses on building communities of shared responsibility and common enterprise. Overall, the institute is teaching people “...how to create change in their local communities that reflects what matters to people in those communities, that reflects the local context of that community, and that develops strategies that have a real shot at producing impact in people's lives.” Rich also mentioned the equally important intention of communities solving problems together and sustaining longevity.

One approach being used to accomplish this effort is the initiative’s Public Innovator Lab. The Harwood Institute hosts programs to engage people in what it means to adopt a mindset of being “turned outward” toward your community. In the case of being “turned outward”, individuals use the community as a reference point. Rich spoke about the Public Innovators Lab that is active in Jackson, Mississippi, after starting the virtual version during the pandemic. Participants are mainly coached for guidance, but given room to personally develop their capabilities. Rich expressed how this approach translates from community to community.

Moving an idea between different communities builds on practices being adapted, and a mindset spreading. Rich brought our attention to the commonality of any great idea or culture shift spreading, which is “a small group of people”. Most of history’s enlightened periods or trends started from a dedicated group of small people coming together. As the idea grows stronger, the small group recruits more people over time. Having a very clear understanding of the idea helps each person share the idea to bring more people, and keep that movement growing and multiplying.

Rich spoke more deeply on the topic of not only articulating an idea but understanding the components of bringing the idea into action through collaborative effort. His perspective on “action” gives an alternative feeling to the saying “actions speak louder than words”. He explained the collaborative mindset and the realizations contained in the creation process needed between community members, or anyone, working to solve an issue. Rich illustrates this point with an example of two women proactively learning to address drug concerns within their community, which later led to the initiative Achieving Recovery Together.

Working towards a solution includes making mistakes, and Rich expressed his own thoughts on trial and error when building a worthwhile initiative. Talking about “trial and error” led us to discuss how change can overlap and the reasons why questions are a great tool for getting started.

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Gain more insight from Rich’s work with his book “Unleashed: A Proven Way Communities Can Spread Change and Make Hope Real for All”

Read Full TranscriptAdam: [00:00:00] Welcome to People Helping People, the podcast to inspire greater social change and give you ideas on how to take action. I'm your host, Adam Morris. Today, I am so honored to have Rich Harwood join us. He founded that Harwood Institute over 30 years ago, back in 1988. Their work is centered around developing community conversations that create change and have worked with groups in all 50 States and 40 countries, with a philosophy of civic, faith, and community-driven solutions, basically they're who you call when your community is stuck and doesn't know what to do. His new book "Unleashed,