Making partnership working effective Robin Douglas 2011.
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Transcript of Making partnership working effective Robin Douglas 2011.
Mistakes we all can make
• All partnerships are the same• Organisations lead partnerships• ‘A partnership is not just for Christmas’• Leaders lead partnerships• We need lots of meetings• We have to plan and do things together• It is important to involve everybody
• ... and it’s just about partnerships, not partnership working
• When organisations are in competition
• Through co-ordinated but independent approaches
• In co-operation or partnership
Not just partnerships - there are three modes of organisational working
Choosing an approach
• You promote competition when?
• Develop co-ordinated approaches when?
• Promote co-operation or partnershp when?
Degrees of partnership
Independence
Mutual support
Preferred provider Joint projects
Shared risk and
development
Integrated teams
Strategic alliance
Integrated systems
Merged organisations
What do we know about partnership working?
• Research and evidence is weak• Working across organisations is crucial to
effective outcomes• Learning is mostly from hindsight• There are some key enabling factors• Leadership is a key• Clear purpose and achievements is another• From your experience of partnerships and
partnership working, what do you know?
Writers about partnerships
• Rosabeth Moss-Kanter – 6 characteristics of success
• Huxham & Brodie - Potential for Partnerships
• Miller – successful community based alliances
• Powell - 7 dimensions of healthy alliances
Key features for closer partnership working
• Recognition of task dependency – ‘we need each other’
• Cultural understanding and acceptance – ‘we understand each other’
• Consensus about ends and means- ‘we agree about what we are trying to achieve’
• Mutual awareness – we are aware of the issues and pressures we each face’
• Experience of collaboration, resource exchange – ‘we have a history of partnership that we can build upon’
• Geographical coherence – ‘we are part of the same Place’
Partnerships - 3 areas for learning from recent Total Place activities
• About leadership
• The processes of partnership working
• People in partnerships
Leadership in partnerships:
• Leaders provide space, encouragement and support - not solutions
• Leaders will be required to change, there is no easy option
• Leaders in partnerships are not necessarily the ‘bosses’• The influence of leadership is crucial, and is complex:
• Positional• Knowledge and understanding• Personal• Networked
Leading with different sources of authority
Positional
Based on Role & OrganisationalPosition
GivenWisdom
Based on the Belief & Trust of Others
EarnedKnowledg
e Based on Personal CapacityExperience & Understanding
Acquired
Process and partnership working:
• Working and thinking together is learning – people don’t start from the same place
• Think and act with systems not organisations• Working and building partnerships is messy and
uncertain• Purpose and outcomes should lead process - not
vice versa• The process needs to be –
• Convergent and divergent• Open and led• Planned and emergent
People in partnerships:• Listen to real people – it’s about their experiences
and voices• It’s about your people and places, not just
organisations• From formal Partnerships to professional
friendships and joined up leadership• The Pilots provided people to help, challenge,
shape and enable the processes locally• It costs in terms of time, energy, commitment and
influence – but for many it is worth it for more real and effective partnerships with improved outcomes and some efficiencies
Who’s outcomes? Understanding Needs: Jonathan Bradshaw
Comparative Needs Normative Needs
Expressed Needs
Felt Needs
Policies and partnership: what are the implications of the following -
• A big society?
• Fair Society, Healthy Lives – Marmot?
• Liberating the NHS?
• The spending review ?
• Personalised services? – for adults and children/families
• Community budgets?
• Healthy Lives, Healthy People?
Leading in partnership requires a…
• Focus on outcomes… there are often different ways of getting there
• Focus on strategic behaviour, not just ‘strategies’
• Recognition that a plan is not a strategy
• Understanding that single or simple solutions rarely work, consider systems and connections
When is it leadership ?
Command Management Leadership
• Focus Tactical Operational Strategic
• Time Short Term Medium Term Long Term
• Problem Critical Experienced New
Sustaining partnerships needs some enabling features:
• Clear leadership and common purpose – a focus on outcomes
• Shared understanding of each others values and
priorities
• Real achievements to celebrate
• Commitment, energy and support from participating organisations/people
• Shared, trusted information and flexible systems
and
• Effective and open communications
• A recognition of the real pressures facing members
• An explicit and accepted position on resources
• Orientation to and space for shared learning
• Positive focus on the history between partners
Mapping your partnership working
TensionsConflicting priorities
Turf warsService focus
Integrated activityFlexible use of staff
Rule breakingTensions in governance
Outcomes focus
Complex accountabilitiesFaçade activities
Large scale meetingsExpressive focus
NetworkingCultural developmentRelationship building
Governance focus
action
planning
agency
collective
orientation
mode
Auditing your partnership activity
• Where is your partnership on the diagram?
• Where do you want it to be?
• What would help make the shift?
• What help might you need to change things?