Olga Shirobokova
Your thought partner for clear impact strategy
I am a thought partner to citizen sector organizations, foundations, and philanthropists who are guided by the value of care for all humans and nature.
I do thought partnership directly - via facilitating strategy sessions and learning experiences for teams, and indirectly - via sharing my knowledge in open online courses and case studies.
My goal is that you understand how you can have systems level impact, feel confident about your strategy and can use well the resources you have to improve wellbeing of people and planet.
I derive expertise from designing strategies with 100+ social entrepreneurs at Ashoka, organization that founded the field of social entrepreneurship, and own practice of improving systems.
I do thought partnership directly - via facilitating strategy sessions and learning experiences for teams, and indirectly - via sharing my knowledge in open online courses and case studies.
My goal is that you understand how you can have systems level impact, feel confident about your strategy and can use well the resources you have to improve wellbeing of people and planet.
I derive expertise from designing strategies with 100+ social entrepreneurs at Ashoka, organization that founded the field of social entrepreneurship, and own practice of improving systems.
When I can be of help to you
- -1-You find it hard to wrap your head around the problem.I will guide you through a step-by-step problem analysis and help you pinpoint systemic root causes and mental models that keep the problem in place.
- -2-You want to move beyond treating symptoms and start improving systems.I will help you examine key leverage points in systems involved, choose the most feasible ones for your team, and articulate ways to activate them.
- -3-You want to identify and influence mental models.We will analyze current narrative environment and design a strategy to start creating an alternative one - together with partners in the field.
-4-
You want your team/ grantees to embrace systems thinking
Together we can create engaging learning experience for them - building on the rich library of real-life examples and key principles of systems change.
You want your team/ grantees to embrace systems thinking
Together we can create engaging learning experience for them - building on the rich library of real-life examples and key principles of systems change.
What people say about working with me
Questions you might have
If we take it seriously, it takes on average 7 meetings to go from problem analysis to defining your targeted systems change and a journey towards it. I recommend we have meetings with weekly intervals so that your team has enough time to do homework.
I am based in Vienna, Austria, and feel comfortable working both in-person and online. I have remotely guided dozens of teams around the globe - in Brazil, US, most European countries, Kenya, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, South Africa, India, Indonesia. I also work in 5 languages (EN/GER/CZ/PL/RU), so there is a chance we can communicate in your native language.
In our practice we see that sooner or later most changemakers recognize that providing direct service and treating symptoms is not enough. At the same time, having the direct service experience can help understand dysfunctional systems and mental models underlying the problem. While it's true that influencing systems and mental models is no easy feat, any organization will benefit from defining which systems change and mental models they are working towards and can find even small contributions they can make towards them, for example, improving connections within a system or adding missing data on the problem.
Here are some credentials that might help:
It's been 11 years I have been with Ashoka, organization that founded the field of social entrepreneurship in 1980 and is effectively supporting 4.000 systems changing social entrepreneurs around the world. I have led Ashoka's office in the Czech Republic, am now co-leading Globalizer, Ashoka's prime strategy accelerator, and Ashoka's knowledge work.
In addition to providing systems thought partnership to Ashoka Fellows, I apply insights about systems change to improve systems around me. I started my first impact initiative when I was in high school and have been iterating ever since.
It's been 11 years I have been with Ashoka, organization that founded the field of social entrepreneurship in 1980 and is effectively supporting 4.000 systems changing social entrepreneurs around the world. I have led Ashoka's office in the Czech Republic, am now co-leading Globalizer, Ashoka's prime strategy accelerator, and Ashoka's knowledge work.
In addition to providing systems thought partnership to Ashoka Fellows, I apply insights about systems change to improve systems around me. I started my first impact initiative when I was in high school and have been iterating ever since.
Get a first impression of me via the online courses I created
(all courses are freely accessible for everyone)
(all courses are freely accessible for everyone)
Online course on mindset shift, 2022
My most recent Ashoka online course explores mindset shift as a pathway to systems change. It builds on the understanding that behind every problem there is a certain mindset spread across large numbers of people. Achieving structural and legislative changes will not suffice if people don’t embrace the new way of thinking.
Online course on working with government, 2020
This online course builds on the observation that working with government is one of the most frequented pathways to systems change. Providing direct service to 500 or even 5000 people is impressive but often seems like a drop in the ocean when millions are still waiting for help. In many cases, government is a stakeholder which would have the infrastructure to reach large numbers of people but it lacks the innovation drive and risk appetite to develop and test new solutions. Changemakers and government thus make great complementary partners in addressing problems.
Systems Change Masterclass, 2019/2022
(co-developed with Ashoka colleagues)
(co-developed with Ashoka colleagues)
This has been the first online course I co-developed, based on the methodology of our Globalizer Strategy Accelerator, tested and refined since 2011. It helps changemakers reflect on the foundations of their strategy. We start by analyzing systemic roots of the problem and then develop a detailed journey to systems change with specified milestones.
Use my playbooks to refine your strategy
Draw inspiration from my case studies
Case studies on mindset shift
Case studies on systemic changes
through working with government
through working with government
Reach out and share your challenge.
