Abstract

Collaboration means different things to different groups. Knowing how to effectively partner with others in service can potentially enhance resources and benefit not just for the partners, but for the communities in which they serve. This effective practice was developed in part from a session presented by Melissa L. Kelley with the Governor's Commission on National and Community Service (Colorado), at the Southwest Cluster AmeriCorps Program Directors Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico held February 2002. The other parts of this practice were adapted by Melissa Kelley from the book, Collaboration: What Makes It Work (Second Edition). The practice addresses ways that partners can collaborate more functionally, providing practical lessons learned from a panel of program directors experienced in collaborating.

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Issue

Building effective and meaningful partnerships can be a challenge for those in national and community service programs. Partnerships create new opportunities, but only if the organizations are poised to recognize and make use of them.

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Action

Model partnerships and collaborations experience three phases: start-up, implementation, and maintenance. Special action is required during each stage. Typically, there will be some overlap of issues that are addressed in the implementation or maintenance period of a partnership's lifespan. Effective practices for these three phases include:

Start-Up

• Write a mission statement that succinctly captures goals and concerns, yet is broad enough to allow room for growth and change.
• Identify program's policies and procedures and train all staff in these.
• Establish/define roles of partners, honestly recognizing the strengths of each partner.
• Meet regularly to enhance effective communication.
• Develop a relationship with the partners and their staff members. Attend meetings and social events when possible.
• Recognize the "natural leaders" within programs and make programming relevant to their needs. These strong supporters will encourage others to participate by their example.
• Gain support from the top-level staff of partner organizations who can influence other partner staff to accept your program.
• Give support by encouraging an exchange of ideas and information. Look for ways to support partners' methods.
• Be responsible. It is important that the program doesn't add to the partners' workload, but complements the partners' organization.
• Understand key partners' organizational cultures because these can be vastly different between organizations. Recognize other partners' priorities and perspectives.
• Learn the rules and follow them. A member who can act as a "liaison" for each partner can help avoid misunderstanding and confusion that can sidetrack a program.
• Develop written guidelines to ensure that agreements and protocol become standardized. This can help guarantee that partners' needs are represented in the development and implementation of programs and that consistent policies and protocol remain in place when new staff or partners become involved with the program.


Implementation

• Respect each partner's ability. Don't interfere with a partner's role unless these roles are harming the partnership or if assistance is requested.
• Communicate fully and openly. This is the key to successful partnership.
• Work together, understanding that each partner is equally responsible for success or failure.
• Solicit feedback. Use written forms to get feedback on each element of the program. Include a response section for site supervisors, if applicable.
• Respond to complaints promptly and act on them to achieve resolution and foster good will.
• Show appreciation and reward partners for their contributions. Develop and maintain quality relationships with all of the partners' staff to help all see their role as valuable.
• Express your program's needs in order to facilitate a comfortable working environment for all partners.
• Involve everyone. Program staff, participants, partners and partners' staffs, agency volunteers, and other community members, all may have things to offer that could enhance the program. As a program designed to serve community needs, it is a duty for the program to involve everyone as appropriate.
• Hire experts when necessary. Programs achieve maximum success when participants are well trained and have the skills and expertise that they need to perform their function(s).
• Provide structure while remaining flexible enough to encourage creativity and positive change.


Maintenance

• Share resources and costs. Develop joint strategies that could increase resources. Pool financial resources when appropriate. Develop joint funding streams that require key partners to agree on how to spend. This increases the financial resources available for the program, ensures that key partners have bought into a joint mission, and helps to distribute power more equally among partners.
• Promote mutual goals and keep members motivated to achieve these milestones.

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Context

Collaboration means different things to different groups. In its simplest form, collaboration means, "to work together." Sometimes this is called partnering. In Collaboration: What Makes It Work (Second Edition), collaboration is characterized as a "mutually beneficial and well-defined relationship entered into by two or more organizations to achieve common goals. The relationship includes a commitment to mutual relationships and goals; a jointly developed structure and shared responsibility; mutual authority and accountability for success; and sharing of resources and rewards."

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Citation

Mattessich, Paul W. et al. Collaboration: What Makes It Work (Second Edition), St. Paul, Minnesota: Amherst H. Wilder Foundation, 2001.

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Outcome

When organizations make effective use of partnerships, new opportunities are created. Some of these benefits are as follows:

• Relationships are strengthened.
• Communication is enhanced.
• Responsibilities are met.
• Resources are shared.
• Partners are rewarded with attainment of goals.

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Source Documents

Related Practices

• Understanding twenty factors influencing successful collaborations
• Collaborating to develop service programming to address community needs
• Building successful partnerships

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