Faith–Health Collaboration to Improve Community and Population Health: Proceedings of a Workshop (2021)
Chapter: Appendix B: 25/10 Crowdsourcing Participant Activity
Appendix B
25/10 Crowdsourcing Participant Activity
To draw out potential actionable items from the workshop discussion, participants engaged in the 25/10 crowdsourcing activity described by Lipmanowicz and McCandless in their book The Surprising Power of Liberating Structures: Simple Rules to Unleash a Culture of Innovation (Lipmanowicz and McCandless, 2014).
Participants were instructed: In light of what you have heard today, what is the single most important principle or lesson learned about forging productive collaborations among faith-based groups, public health, and health care systems?
Participants were given 2 minutes to write a single response on an index card, one idea per person, anonymously. Similar to a game of musical chairs, cards were passed around randomly and rapidly among the participants while music played. When the music stopped, participants rated the idea on the card in their hand from 1 (low, “okay”) to 5 (high, “fabulous”) and marked their rating on the back of the card. This cycle was repeated four more times. Participants were instructed not to look at the previous ratings on the back of the card before deciding on their rating. After five rounds total, the last person holding the card totaled the five scores. The top-scoring responses were then read aloud, starting with responses that received 25 points and working downward.
The top-scoring responses are presented in Box 6-1 and below as part of the full list of responses.
- Power is not a dirty word; it is useful in obtaining resources for those who need it. Do not be turned off by people who want it or have it. You can partner for the greater good. Pray with your feet!
- Approach community partners with respect, truth, and humility.
- Work with community members to identify specific health needs, then collaborate with health care to offer and refine those services.
- Include people who reflect the community that is being served.
- Engage partners deemed important stakeholders from the beginning of the process to build trust and get genuine interest and involvement.
- To build trust, identify common interests.
- Make sure that each group is involved in the partnership from the beginning.
- All the work revolves around relationships. We need to expand our ability to build relationships across systems and communities, and particularly across racial lines. There is a lot of painful history to overcome to build trust.
- Faith-based groups are trusted in communities and may be the only groups that can get competing organizations and interests to the table together.
- The single most important lesson is: Listen to discover the needs and what we can do together to meet those needs.
- Faith-based partnerships can change the tone of policy debates without being “above the fray” (e.g., the role of Greater Cleveland Congregations in Medicaid expansion in Ohio).
