By partnering business leaders and schools, Symphonia aims to tackle some of the most critical challenges facing the country.
My partner, children and I lived in the UK for six wonderful years and returned to South Africa in 2004 for two reasons: we wanted our daughters to grow up in South Africa and we wanted to see whether we could help make democracy work.
It took us a while to rediscover a sense of belonging in South Africa as we found that many South Africans were disillusioned. The majority did not experience the rainbow nation that Archbishop Tutu talked about.
Because I have been privileged enough to study and be involved in dozens of large scale complex change processes, I saw that most people were living under the illusion that the wounds of the past would heal miraculously, without having to do the work that leads to healing.
I started Symphonia for South Africa (a not-for-profit organisation) with a mission in 2008 to strengthen the fabric of South African society. The name Symphonia comes from The Art of Possibility, a book written by Benjamin & Rosamund Zander. In it, they described their first visit to South Africa in 1999 and how most of the people they met talked about the country. They say it was like a living, breathing entity - a symphony of voices - Symphonia.
My dream was to create opportunities for South Africans to be in conversation together, across all the traditional boundaries, and to co-create a new narrative about who we are as a country. During the last four years, we have hosted dozens of events where we bring South Africans together across the traditional boundaries of race, culture, religion and social status to build community. We use the Six Conversations of Community methodology described in Peter Block's book Community: The structure of Belonging. This work has become core to our identity.
We soon realised that it is not enough to build community and mobilise active citizenship. We learned from John McKnight & Peter Block, authors of Abundant Community, that communities have a job to do: to raise our children. Education has been identified as one of the most critical social challenges facing our country. The system is badly broken and the poor results are having a devastating effect on young people and communities. I realised that this was an opportunity to bring my experience of large scale social change to bear on an issue that is critical to the future of our country.
During the past two years we have been piloting a process that creates an opportunity for other business leaders to form partnerships with school principals in co-learning and co-action. Business leaders get involved for two reasons: because they are keen to help transform the education system and also because they see this as an opportunity to develop their own leadership skills. The business leader and school principal are expected to address one of the most challenging issues in our schools: parental and community engagement. We are very encouraged by the results of this work and have set ourselves a goal to establish 2,000 of these partnerships in the next five years.
We are in a perpetual cycle of learning and will continue to develop our approach in response to our discoveries. I have personally learned a few lessons about what it takes to overcome the inevitable bumps in the road that I hope would be useful for social entrepreneurs who are starting out on this amazing journey:
Lesson 1: social entrepreneurs are often misunderstood
Our approach challenges the status quo and taken-for-granted ways of doing things. This is threatening for people who are invested in a particular course of action. We have developed an innovative process to transform our education system which is also a radical innovation in leadership development and corporate social investment. There are many people who feel that it is their responsibility to warn us about all the reasons why this won't work, despite the fact that we are already active in 54 schools across the country and the results are hugely encouraging. Social entrepreneurs can't afford to give too much time and energy to the naysayers; you just have to keep forging ahead with what you believe in.
Lesson 2: a small group who believe in you and your vision
This is critical. It is lonely and anxiety-provoking to do something that has never been done before. Social entrepreneurs are described as people who tackle challenges that they feel passionate about but don't have the resources for. Most of us don't have the necessary resources to do the work we feel called to do, but we cannot not do this work. The challenge is to keep going on the days when you just can't see how you will be able to pay the bills and not to let the anxiety about resources stop you from pursuing your vision. Having a small group of supporters and advisers around you makes all the difference.
My own small group of advisers are people whom I have known for many years and people who have recently heard of our approach to change in education and thought that we were onto something. It helps to believe passionately in what you are doing as others will respond to your passion and commitment.
Lesson 3: it is important to tell your story
Maybe the most important lesson I have learned. I am often amazed at the amount of support and encouragement I get from fellow South Africans and I have come to realise that this is a response to my willingness to tell my story - in print media, online, on social media platforms, as a speaker at events, etc. When people know your story they are more likely to support your work. They may not be able to give money but they may be willing to make an introduction or offer support in another way. When you tell your story it is important to do so honestly and authentically. People want to see your passion, but they also want to see your humanity and vulnerability.
Lesson 4: funding is a challenge for all of social entrepreneurs.
We get funding through friends. Very early on in my journey I got the great advice to focus on doing the work I care about rather than spending my time and energy chasing funding. This was good advice. I have learned that it is important to have a deliberate strategy to draw these people closer to your organisation. In our case, we have identified a small group of funders who may be willing to fund our work sometime in the future and we are proactively keeping them informed of what is happening with our project (through newsletters, personal notes and invitations to events). Our intention is to deliver a message to them that says: "We care about you and want you to be a friend of our organisation." We also take care to acknowledge any funding that we have received and to show our appreciation to our funders.
Lesson 5: keep an open mind - certainty becomes stifling
I have learned that it is critically important to keep an open mind and not to become to certain about anything. Many years ago, Caryn, a colleague, cared enough to let me know that she found it difficult to be creative in my presence because she got a clear message that I was so certain of what I was doing that I was not open for the input of others. This was a defining moment for me.
Louise van Rhyn is the founder of Symphonia for South Africa, a group of organisations committed to sustainable transformation in people, teams, companies, organisations and communities throughout the world. Its social venture's mission is to change the education system in South Africa. Louise is also a finalist of the Ogunte Women's Social Leadership Awards 2012. Twitter: @louisevanrhyn
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