Cross-Sector Partnerships 101: Structuring Your Cross-Sector Partnership

So It Can Support Your SuccessAlison Gold

Assistant Director of Knowledge & Impact, Living Cities For the Presidio Institute Cross-Sector Leadership Fellows

@AKGold11@Living_Cities#xsector

Today’s Agenda1. Ideation Exercise

2. Living Cities’ thinking on cross-sector partnerships

3. Individual Exercise: Shaping your Partnership’s Structure

4. Pair Exercise: What questions does the group exercise raise for you?

5. The Room is Your Panel!

6. Commitments

7. Wrap Up!

1. What has worked well in cross-sector partnerships you have participated in in the past?

2. What hasn’t worked in cross-sector partnerships you participated in in the past?

Ideation Exercise

Popcorn!What ideas stood out for you on

the idea board?

Why are we talking about cross-sector partnerships?

The Interest-based Frame

Partners Community

Who changes views,

behaviors, policies, or

funding flows, etc.

Collective Impact

Pay for Success

Shared Value

Public-Private Partnership

Sponsorship

All partners

No partners

Who benefits

What model of cross-sector partnership should you be using? (Beta Version)

Co-blab-oration vs. Collaboration

Source: Chris Thompson’s Regional Physics Blog http://regionalphysics.blogspot.com/2013/11/coblaboration-vs-collaboration-for.html

Co-blab-oration Collaboration

Focused on assigning blame or taking credit Focused on outcomes

Stakeholders participate to protect

Stakeholders participate to generate value

Opinions rule Data is king

Talk exceeds action Actions emerge from engagement

Informal process Intentional, rigorous process

Result

Structure

Informal Formal

Representatives

Representatives & Structure

13

The Bermuda Triangle

Result

ChargeLevel of

Intervention

Cross-Sector Partnership Bermuda Triangle Matrix of Alignment and Misalignment

Result Charge Level of Intervention Alignment?General Thinking Program/Project Delivery AlignedGeneral Thinking Systems Change MisalignedGeneral Doing Program/Project Delivery AlignedGeneral Doing Systems Change MisalignedGeneral Thinking & Doing Program/Project Delivery AlignedGeneral Thinking & Doing Systems Change MisalignedSpecific Thinking Program/Project Delivery MisalignedSpecific Thinking Systems Change MisalignedSpecific Doing Program/Project Delivery AlignedSpecific Doing Systems Change MisalignedSpecific Thinking & Doing Program/Project Delivery AlignedSpecific Thinking & Doing Systems Change Aligned

Shaded boxes indicate crux of misalignment

Trust Building & Maintenance Cycle

Problem-Solving Cycle

Accounting for differences in…

Power Authority Expertise

Individual Exercise: Shaping Your Cross-Sector

Partnership Structure

Partner Exercise

Popcorn!What’s 1 thing that came up in your exercise that you’d like advice or ideas about how you could approach it?

The Room is Your Panel!

Individual ExerciseWhat are 3+ strategies or activities that you

commit to doing before the next Fellows convening to strengthen your cross-sector partnership?

Final Round Robin!What is one thing that you commit to doing to

strengthen your cross-sector partnership’s structure/behaviors before the next Fellows

convening?

3 Closing Thoughts1. Collaboration, not co-blab-oration

2. There’s no recipe, you’re going to have to develop one that works for your context and goals.

3. Your partnership is more likely to succeed if you’re clear about results, and intentional about structure, representatives (and their differences), vision, accountability, trust, & problem-solving.

Alison Gold

Assistant Director of Knowledge & Impact

Living Cities

Phone: 646-442-2238

Email: agold@livingcities.org

Twitter: @AKGold11, @Living_Cities #xsector

Web: www.LivingCities.org