Idea Friendly Method Toolkit

$100

Idea Friendly Method Toolkit

Are you ready to use the Idea Friendly Method in your community? Ready to reach more people, but need to get them up to speed? Need a certificate to show your progress? Our new Idea Friendly Method toolkit makes it easy!

Buy now

You don’t have to know all the answers.

You just have to be open to new ideas.

Learn how to make your town more open to new ideas with this mini-course on the Idea Friendly Method

We created the Idea Friendly Method to be simple, easy to explain and quick to do.

You don't need complicated hierarchies and elaborate plans to accomplish your goals.

You just need practical steps you can put into action right away.

Turn your big idea into a do-able, flexible approach that involves much more of the community in creating it together.

Your situation is different from other towns. Customize any idea, any resource to make sure it will work for your community.

Here's how this toolkit will help you do that

This mini-course is really a toolkit, giving you practical tools, with three specific videos, each with an audio version.

You'll get the basics of the Idea Friendly method in the first video, learn the next steps to implementation, then address specific challenges that officials and boards face when becoming more Idea Friendly.

Idea Friendly

Method

video/audio

Old methods can't keep up with the stunning pace of change today

Use the Idea Friendly Method to help you shape a better future for your community, even as we’re facing incredible changes in our society all around us
Break out of the meetings and more meetings cycle
Start cheaply crowdsourcing the future of your community

Idea Friendly

Next Steps

video/audio

Take your next steps implementing the Idea Friendly Method

What Idea Friendly looks like
How to check your idea
How to get started
What to do about other people
How to cope when you don’t have time

Idea Friendly

Officials and Boards

video/audio

Change the way you approach your role as an official.

Look at a new way to see your role as an official, one that puts you in the center of the network
Discover your superpower as an official and put your connections to work for you
Turn public gripe sessions into crowdsourcing events that mobilize people into action
Learn the one question that turns even bad ideas into something positive

Beyond Videos/Audios - you also get these tools

We walk you through it all and weave the videos together

You get practical steps, simple tips and exact next steps all along the way.

Discussion questions help you make the most of each video.

One year of unlimited streaming

It’s like your book club for a better community. You pick the videos/audios that match your specific challenges: need more volunteers, create events they’ll attend, build a unified community and dozens more. Then you get your buddies together to watch, talk, ask and answer questions, and take immediate action.

Use the guide to stay on track

From the first video through regional cooperation, the guide helps you take it to another level

Earn your certificate

What can you do with that certificate? That's up to you. Frame it, show it to your employer to show your continuing education, or post it on social media! Go ahead, list it on your LinkedIn profile.

You can trust SaveYour.Town's Becky McCray and Deb Brown to share practical advice for rural communities.

We are part of our communities, just like you are.

We've both served on community boards and committees.

From local groups to state and national boards and organizations, we've met and planned and worked and volunteered. We've been part of arts and history groups, educational and workforce advisory boards, entrepreneur events, professional associations, local and rural initiatives.

Our work helped us find ways to work inside and outside of formal groups.

We understand traditional economic, workforce and organization development.

Deb holds an Institute for Organizational Management certification, graduated Leadership Iowa and the Ag Urban Institute in Iowa.

Becky completed the Governing Officials Institute from the Oklahoma Municipal League and holds certificates in Facilitating for Results and Quality Leadership.

Sometimes you have to understand the system in order to find a better way.

We joined forces in May 2015 to help small towns and rural communities thrive.

In addition to what we’ve learned from all the small town people we’ve met and worked with, we’ve listened to the specific needs of over 1700 rural people in our Survey of Rural Challenges. We understand small town realities.

Our own personal experiences working in business, agriculture, services, media, nonprofits and associations drive us to keep things simple and practical.

We're not biased toward any specific program or solution. We give honest advice.

The Idea Friendly Method

Used by real people in real towns across the US, Canada, Portugal and Australia
Presented at conferences and events
Backed by research
Taught in universities

You can watch on your own or share with others in your community. Who should you invite?

Invite:

Your friends who love to do things with you
Visionaries like yourself
Positive thinkers and doers
Leaders and officials
Downtown associations, Main Streets, chambers
Economic development folks
Elected officials from your local municipalities, counties, or tribes
People who care about your town

This kit is perfect for you if:

Saw Becky or Deb share the Idea Friendly Method, virtually or in person
Hosted Deb or Becky for a visit in your community
Feel like you're flailing around trying to adapt to the New Way
Are new in your position, putting out fires but never getting to the work that matters
Are an "old dog" who wants to learn new tricks
Love the Idea Friendly Method, but have trouble communicating it to others

A tale of two towns

In an Old Way town...

When you bring up a new idea, other people hit you with negativity and stubborn pessimism.
You have to take your new ideas to formal meetings to beg for approval.
People tell you "we tried that already," and "that's not how we do things here."
People ask, "why should we listen to you? Your last idea didn't work."
This has happened to you so often that you start to play it out in your head. Hearing the negative voices in your mind, you hesitate to bring up ideas any more.

In an Idea Friendly town...

When you bring up a new idea, other people's attitudes are generally positive.
You can feel this even before you bring up an idea because your town shows its open attitude with awards for ideas, public recognition of experiments, and strategic plans written to allow new projects and ideas to come up.
You're not alone, because connections throughout the community mean lots of people bring up ideas, and connect with each other to work on them.
You can try a small-scale version of your idea in an innovative environment with small-scale stores, co-working spaces and pop-up opportunities.
Lots of tiny experiments are always going on, and both successes and failures are expected and appreciated.

Choose to shape a better future for your community

Choose to be more Idea Friendly

Are you ready to stop?

No more waiting on a select group of people who are “in charge” in your town
No more choosing just one best idea and forgetting all the others
No more being stuck in an endless cycle of meetings, meetings, meetings that take years to accomplish anything

Then start now

We're here to help you.

Start now