Managing Disruption
About the Report
The Managing Disruption Briefing Book is intended as a resource for communities across North Carolina to use as they work to inject more of a future focus in their daily operations. It has been prepared for Growing Practical Solutions NC (GPS NC), a program of the UNC School of Government, coordinated by the ncIMPACT Initiative. Funded by Civic Federal Credit Union, this program works to foster a culture of innovation that increases the capacity of local communities to respond to disruptive change.
FULL REPORT
Register for Our Webinar
Local leaders from across the state are invited to gather online with UNC School of Government leaders on Oct. 17 at 2:30 PM to learn about drivers of disruption facing NC communities. Discover new tools and resources to help you plan ahead. Join the conversation about the importance of being future-focused.
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Understanding Disruption
The Managing Disruption Briefing Book presents a framework structured around drivers of change, which are macro-level forces that impact local communities. Drivers of change are organized into four broad, interconnected categories: social, technological, economic, and environmental. Each of the drivers highlighted in the report is presented in a short overview that allows busy decision makers to quickly understand the key dimensions of these issues. This is a briefing book that readers can flip through and jump to the topics they want to learn about, rather than read front to back. References and resources are included throughout for readers to learn more about each issue.
Drivers of Change
Social
Technological
Economic
Environmental
Responding to Disruption
Communities must do more than understand drivers of change. They must also be prepared to respond.
To manage disruption more effectively, action is needed at a number of levels within North Carolina. Here are some things that organizations at each level can do.
Taking Action at Different Levels
As part of the Managing Disruption Briefing Book, we have developed a six-step process to prepare and implement a Community Readiness Plan. This approach can be used by organizations (e.g., government agencies, businesses, nongovernmental organizations, academia) to identify and prioritize the drivers of change relevant to your context and to select effective implementation measures to address them.
Tools for Managing Disruption
- WORKSHEET 1: PRIORITIZING DRIVERS OF CHANGE
- WORKSHEET 2: CROSS-IMPACT ANALYSIS
- WORKSHEET 3: ACTION IDENTIFICATION
- SAMPLE IMPLEMENTATION PROJECT TABLE
- SAMPLE IMPLEMENTATION PROJECT CHARTER
Additional Resources
Carolina Across 100’s state and county-level data profiles synthesize data on topics like population changes, local economic conditions, mental and physical health and healthcare access, housing, and other important metrics. They highlight areas of challenge, opportunity, and resiliency across our state. These profiles can serve as a tool for North Carolina residents to learn more about their own communities as well as their neighboring counties, discovering the challenges and opportunities shared across the state and engendering action on topics that concern or inspire them.
What’s Missing?
Things are always evolving, and we are committed to updating this website with additional resources and insights on various drivers of change. Are there any drivers of change not listed here that your community is currently experiencing or may encounter in the future? Try to think of issues that are drivers of change themselves, and not simply a subtopic of one of our existing drivers (e.g. “autonomous vehicles” would be a subtopic of “new transportation technology.