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Writer's pictureAllison Ralph

Mapping The Field ... How Does it Actually Work?

In recent weeks, I’ve talked about why it’s important for organizations to work with their competition.  I’ve also shared that an important first step to this work is deeply understanding your field.  


You probably already have a good idea of your competitors and your likely allies.  You probably already have a list of organizations in your space who approach the work so differently, or with such different ends in mind, that they feel like opponents. But do you know how your competitors, likely allies, and opponents could come together to solve some common concern more effectively than if you approached it separately?   


Finding that sweet spot is the magic of mapping. So, let’s look at how it actually works.  


Step 1: Define the Purpose 

When Cohesion Strategy starts a mapping project, our first step is to understand the client’s full and detailed purpose. We ask why your organization is seeking mapping and what your goals are.   


Maps for coalition-building need to be especially attentive to personal relationships, while maps to inform mission/vision revisions will must attend more to systems. Whether it’s to identify potential partners, understand market dynamics, or build a coalition, having a clear objective will guide the entire process. Cohesion Strategy will work with you to get clarity on your goals and aspirations. 


Step 2: Gather Initial Insights 

After defining the purpose and goals of our work together, the next step is to ask your team and established partners who they perceive as the major organizations and relationships in the field. This discussion should focus on organizational, not personal, relationships.


Understanding how different organizations interact and influence each other is key.  


We start by working through private interviews to discover challenges and opportunities for organizations across your field.  We ask whether there are policy topics or issues that could affect or derail the work from the sidelines. For “collabotating” kinds of relationship, we seek to understand how your work’s thriving or fizzling impacts partner organizations. Identifying these less visible fissures will help you understand the landscape better and position your organization to address these issues most effectively.  


We can often identify the basic map of players and some of these fissures in these initial interviews. However, to understand their depth and nuance, we will have to dive deep into the field. 


Step 3: External Research and Interviews 

Next, we first expand the basic map of key players through a combination of internet searches and review of publicly available Tax Form 990 documents. And once Cohesion

Strategy has developed a modified map, we begin interviewing relevant stakeholders. We will ask all parties similar questions to get a consistent view of the major players, challenges, and relationships in the field. Interviews are also a great way to understand who the most influential players are in a field – it's not always the organizations with the biggest budgets or the most recognized names. Depending on the situation, these interviews may be best done confidentially.  


Step 4: Getting at Underlying Conflict 

We find that the interview stage is often iterative. As we analyze our interview data, we identify key nuances, such as organizations using the same terms but meaning different things by them.  We may need to continue in the interview stage to unpack such underlying conflicts. 


For example, in the field of multi-faith dialogue, terms like “religious freedom,” “pluralism,” and “harm” can have varied interpretations depending on who you ask. In other spaces, organizations can take different approaches to the same problem, each feeling that “the other guy” is doing it wrong. Understanding those differences of language and, importantly, any emotionally-driven responses to “the other guy,” can make or break your effort.  


The existence of underlying conflicts is also why having a neutral third-party perform your mapping is so important. Research firms like Cohesion Strategy are likely to be more open to unexpected or unpleasant findings than in-house researchers. And it is those findings that are at least as, and often more, important to your strategy going forward, than the expected findings. 


Step 5: Build a Visual Map 

Using the collected data, Cohesion Strategy then creates one or more visual maps showing the relationships of organizations and issues. Depending on the situation, we highlight opportunities for collaboration, areas of shared concern, and most importantly, any underlying conflicts of interest or perceptions of the issues. We may also add a funder analysis, with a mapping of funders working on the issue.  


Done well, mapping can allow you to zoom out to a very big picture, and then dive deep into the intricacies of your particular ecosystem. Visual maps should show you connections and patterns you hadn’t seen before. They should give you a tool to better manage complex dynamics. 

 

Understanding your competition and your opposition is not just about identifying threats; it’s about finding common ground. Recognizing these common concerns can pave the way for collaboration and collective problem-solving. 


Have I gotten your wheels turning with possibilities for your organization? Would you love to know more about the web of organizations, relationships, and opportunities your work operates within? If so, I’d love to talk more.


Get in touch and let’s explore how an increased understanding of your field can expand what’s possible for your organization.  

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