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Building Capacity through Partnership & CollaborationOLA Leadership Summit • November 8, 2004

Principles of Partnering

Deb deBruijn

Executive Director

Canadian Research Knowledge NetworkRéseau canadien de documentation pour la recherche

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AgendaAgenda

• Partnerships – what and why?

• Principles

• Best practices

• Why partnerships fail

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Partnerships:Partnerships:more than passionmore than passion

“A wedding anniversary is the celebration of love, trust, partnership, tolerance and tenacity. The order varies for any given year.”

-Paul Sweeney

“I hand him a lyric and get out of his way.” -Oscar Hammerstein, on

partnership with Richard Rodgers

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What is partnership?What is partnership?

Partnership is a relationship that results from putting in practice a set of principles that create trust and mutual accountability

– shared vision, values, objectives, risk, benefit, control & learning

– joint contribution of resources

– degree of interdependence is unique to each relationship, depends on context, and evolves over time

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Soccer ball analogySoccer ball analogy

• Partnerships can have different outer structures

• Partnership principles are the “air” within

• Partnership is a matter of degree:– ball will expand or

contract depending on the degree to which the partnership principles are being practiced in the relationship

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Typical degrees of library Typical degrees of library partnershipspartnerships

1. Communication

2. Coordinated programs

3. Merged programs

4. Changing outdated organizations

5. Creating an umbrella or coordinating

organization

6. Merger

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Why partner?Why partner?

• To achieve together what we cannot achieve alone

• Take a page from business & pleasure!– Extend reach– Meet new needs– Seize new opportunities

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Partnership PrinciplesPartnership Principles

• Ensure participation

• Build relationships

• Create value

• Achieve accountability

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Ensure participationEnsure participation

• Expand your organization’s sphere of influence build a bigger tent

• Broaden the participation to those sectors that are creating and driving growth

• Take care not to dilute the power or effectiveness of autonomous organizations

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Ensure participation Ensure participation [cont.][cont.]

• process of partnering can be as important

as the substance

• genuine participation in collective decision

making demonstrates respect, and respect

fosters trust

• the more inclusion you get, the more power

to influence you have; but the less ability

you have to come to a conclusion

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Ensure participation Ensure participation [cont.][cont.]

“Entering into partnerships is analogous to doing business in a foreign country. The culture, the language, the form of interaction are different, and the most successful international business people are those who study, understand, and respect the different cultural norms and expectations. Furthermore, they learn at least the basics of the other's language and culture to communicate effectively. The resultant broadening of leadership, communication, negotiating skills, and general knowledge makes them better managers back in the business.”

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Build relationshipsBuild relationships

• “Build” is the keyword – relationships do not

just happen

• Requires a bridge-building mind-set and an

array of political skills

• Heart of relationships are respect and trust

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Creating valueCreating value

• Power of collaboration comes from combining partners' core competencies in mutually reinforcing ways

• Different partners bring different:– management methods– communication skills– approaches to planning & prioritization– competencies in problem analysis– structures & discipline

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Achieving accountabilityAchieving accountability

• Goodness is not self-evident

• Broader membership and visibility brings greater influence, and more relevant agendas

• AND: being answerable to a larger constituency demands greater accountability

• Effective partners expect a lot of each other. If results are not forthcoming, value is not being created

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Create your own set of Create your own set of principlesprinciples

• Be strategic - work together towards common goals

• Reduce bureaucracy – focus on outcomes and speeding up service improvement 

• Keep all meetings strategic, relevant and interesting

• Value diversity and treat people with respect

• Be inclusive – looking to engage local people in more creative ways

• Be proactive in finding new opportunities for joint working

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Best practicesBest practices

CommunicationShared responsibility

CommitmentOrganization

Finances

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Best practices Best practices [cont.][cont.]

Communication– You can never have too much communication– Build formal communication mechanisms

– agree on process for decision making– value disagreements– avoid thinking in terms of win-lose– use small groups to mobilize large group– articulate agreement / decisions clearly & often

Shared responsibility– Seek out mutually beneficial projects– Seek out economies of scale– Focus on collaboration, not merely cooperation

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Best practices Best practices [cont.][cont.]

Commitment– move from “problem-driven” to “vision-

driven”– problems = catalyst ; vision =

commitment– seek broad agendas & build agreement

on big issues– people support what they own

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Best practices Best practices [cont.][cont.]

Organization

– Create a Partnership Framework: written agreement on how to work together

– Memorandum of Understanding will make explicit agreement on:• Decision making• Communications• Conflict resolution• Financial accountability• Administrative responsibility• Reporting to the community or constituency• Sustainability: post-project or post-relationship

– Maintain a focus on what your organization does uniquely and well

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Best practices Best practices [cont.][cont.]

Finances

– Attract new sources of funding rather than attempting to refocus existing funding

– Allow funds to flow through old organizations so that they continue to play a role

– Determine who has the funding and who is most able to do the work – these are not necessarily the same organizations

– Demonstrate return on investment

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Why partnerships failWhy partnerships fail

• Fatal assumptions: it is easy, normal, self-evident; underestimate complexity

• Lack of change management knowledge or skills

• Lack of accountability• Change structures missing• Participative management skills lacking• “Merging” vs. “Joining”• Fears of losing funding & reputation• Sense of loss: perception of one

organization "following" another• Lack of follow-through & reinforcement of

early successes

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Final thoughts…Final thoughts…

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Final thoughts…Final thoughts…

"If someone had told me years ago that sharing a sense of humour was so vital to partnerships, I could have avoided a lot of sex!"

 -Kate

Beckinsale

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Thank youThank you

Deb deBruijndebruijn@ResearchKnowledge.ca

www.ResearchKnowledge.cawww.DocRecherche.ca