The framework
Select a stage to explore its role, a practical question and a useful working output.
Use Tab to reach any stage, Enter or Space to select, or the arrow keys to move around the cycle. All stages also appear below.
01 / Purpose
Clarify the human need, the change you seek and the commitments you can sustain. Purpose gives the ecosystem direction and a standard against which decisions can be tested.
Ask: Whom do we serve, and what are we prepared to do for them?
Working output: A purpose statement grounded in stakeholder needs and explicit commitments.
02 / Narrative
Connect your purpose to a coherent account of who you are, what matters and why others should participate. Leave room for different voices without losing the central commitment.
Ask: Can people recognize themselves in this story?
Working output: A narrative brief with audience perspectives, evidence and boundaries.
03 / Content
Translate the narrative into formats that meet people where they are. Editorial choices should serve understanding, not simply increase publication volume.
Ask: What does this audience need to understand or do?
Working output: An editorial system with accessible formats, permissions and evidence checks.
04 / Experience
Every interaction tests the story: a broadcast, a meeting, a service response or a leadership decision. Align what people experience with what the organization says.
Ask: Does the experience support the promise?
Working output: An experience map and a plan to close gaps between words and behavior.
05 / Community
Move beyond an audience that receives information toward relationships in which people have agency. Build clear invitations, fair participation and ways to disagree safely.
Ask: What can people shape here?
Working output: A participation charter with feedback, moderation and shared contribution pathways.
06 / Trust
Trust grows when commitments, conduct and accountability remain credible over time. It cannot be guaranteed by a campaign or inferred from attention alone.
Ask: What evidence makes our promise believable?
Working output: A commitment register, feedback review and visible correction practices.
07 / Influence
Invite informed action through relationships and demonstrated value. Respect people’s freedom to decline, question or change the conversation.
Ask: Are people acting with understanding and agency?
Working output: An ethical engagement plan that separates reach from meaningful response.
08 / Impact
Assess changes in understanding, relationships, decisions and lived experience. Record unintended effects and use the learning to revisit purpose. This is a cycle, not a promise of automatic results.
Ask: What changed, for whom, and what should we change next?
Working output: An evidence review with limitations, stakeholder feedback and a revised purpose brief.
The sequence is a guide for inquiry. Stages can overlap, feedback can move in several directions and impact is not automatic.