Inter-Organizational Collaboration

1. Inter-Organizational Collaboration Thomas P. Holland, Ph.D., Professor UGA Institute for Nonprofit Organizations

2. What and Why? • Many social problems exceed the capacities of any single organization. • We can provide better services to more consumers by working together with another organization. • Combining skills and resources from each results in better outcomes than either could do alone. • Voluntary and bounded pursuit of shared goal. No transfer of ownership by either organization. • Public perceptions that nonprofits duplicate services, are poorly managed, wasteful, and inefficient have led to mandates from some funders that nonprofits work together more extensively. • Regardless of that, many nonprofits have found it possible to provide better services through collaborative efforts with others.

3. Many ways nonprofits can link • Networking: informal interactions, mutual support, no goals • Cooperation: semi-formal communications, sharing information without any defined mission • Collaboration, Partnership: formal links, voluntarily shared resources to address a specific shared concern • Outsourcing: contractual relationship in which one organization agrees to have another carry out specified functions, such as bookkeeping, payroll, taxes, office cleaning • Joint Venture: contractual relationship to address a mutually shared goal, extensive planning, sustained communication, designated resources provided by each organization, each remains independent. • Merger: one organization takes over another and its resources, replacing other’s administrative structure and reorganizing its staff and resources.

4. Benefits of Collaboration • Benefits to services and clients • Greater responsiveness to client needs • Close gaps in services • More comprehensive services • Benefits to organization • Increased legitimacy in community and with funders • Introduction of new ideas, expectations, practices • Improved strategic position, competitive advantage • Better access to resources • Reduced uncertainty and instability

5. Consider before seeking closer linkages • What do we want to accomplish that is beyond our current resources, skills? • How does that fit with our strategic goals? • What do we think a collaboration could help us do better? • Is our organizational culture open to innovative activities? • Are there organizations out there that could credibly contribute to our efforts? • What could we offer in return? (reciprocity) • How should we evaluate potential partners and come to conclusions?

6. Further considerations • How should we approach that organization and test out our ideas? • If leaders there are interested, then how do we negotiate a mutually beneficial agreement? • What specific goals do we want to address together? • How should we structure the relationship? • Who will do what, when, with what resources and limits? • How should we allocate expenses, income, deal with losses? • How should we deal with unexpected problems, boundaries, exit strategy? • How do we verify that other can deliver on promises?

7. Questions before beginning • What do we have that another organization may want (not what we wish they’d want)? What do they have that we want? • How will we ensure that the effort will contribute to our mission? • Do we have a realistic, persuasive plan that will lead to success? • Do we have the competencies to run the proposed collaborative project? • Are our people enthusiastic about it? • Will the time and effort be worth the costs?

8. The collaborative project develops life of its own • People from each organization bring their assumptions, habits of work, expectations, vocabulary, which can impede trust. • Goals and expectations of the collaborative project should be clear and shared. • Time required for participants to develop shared ways of working on this project, patterns of work, ways of solving problems • Teamwork requires careful nurturing, patience

9. Guidelines for forming partnerships:both partners should • Already have excellent community reputations • Identify mutually acceptable options to meet agreed upon goals • Offer and be known for high quality programs, services and staff • Define the specific areas for collaboration • Make expectations both ways clear and documented. • Set out conditions for assessing, continuing and terminating partnership • Prepare business plan • Secure the resources needed to implement project

10. Requisites for effective collaboration • Clear and shared goals for the effort, distinct from goals of either organization. • Identified resources, skills, people each will bring to table and how they will be used • Clear lines of authority, accountability • Clear division of labor, who will do what, when, with what resources and limits • Shared understanding of how we will deal with problems, differences, challenges, benefits • Agreement on policies to guide the effort • Mutual criteria for assessing progress toward goals. • Write it all down in a contract (including escape clauses).

11. Four Stages of Collaboration • Stage 1. Envision results by working individual-to-individual. Starts with conversations between 2+ people from different organizations about shared goals. • Challenges: • Bring people together, invite participation • Build trust, disclose organizational and self-interests • Confirm shared vision, what we hope to accomplish, where and for whom • Specify desired results, formulate strategic goals and major actions

12. Second Stage of Collaboration • Stage 2. Empower ourselves by working individual-to-organization. Get clear authority from respective organizations to pursue joint project, empowering us to begin formal planning. • Challenges • Confirm organizational roles, authority, commitments • Resolve conflicts and create process for handling future conflicts • Organize the effort, defining structure, roles, staff allocations, operating resources • Support the members with decision-making procedures, communications channels, criteria for assessment, rewards for successes.

13. Develop a Business Plan • Description of the project, including primary features, advantages, benefits, contributions from each partner • What each organization plans to do with it • Justification that the plan is credible, including supportive research • Strategic goals and justifications • Market analysis • Who the users will be • Benefits they should get from the project • How and why will they will use it • How it will be promoted

14. More on basics of a business plan • Staffing plan, including the expertise needed to create and then operate the project • Management plans: how the expert staff will be organized, coordinated, led, paid, evaluated • Financial plan: costs to establish the project, operate it, budgets for first several years, allocation of costs and benefits • Analysis of each current organization, its resources and programs, staff expertise, what and how it will contribute to success of new venture

15. Third Stage of Collaboration • Stage 3: Ensure results by working organization-to-organization. Develop formal ways for organizations to interact, joint systems and policies to support new program. • Challenges • Manage the work by clearly defining vision and desired results, accountability standards and procedures, collaborative work habits • Create joint systems by allocating resources and responsibilities, formalizing links within program and between it and home organizations • Make sure reciprocal benefits are clear and continuing • Evaluate the results, starting with clear evaluation plan, criteria and steps for monitoring work and assessing results • Renew the effort, celebrating successes and using findings to improve work and outcomes

16. Implement Project with an Inter-Organizational Team • Participants must share understanding, purpose and commitment to shared goals • Open communication of ideas and feelings • Active participation and distribution of leadership • Flexible use of decision-making procedures • Encouragement and constructive management of conflicts • Equality of power and influence • High group cohesion • Strong problem-solving strategies • Interpersonal effectiveness • Positive interdependence

17. Designing Effective Teams • Set clear goals and expected results to be produced by team • Identify expectations for team processes. • Determine time frames for beginning and ending • Determine the membership of the group, making sure the needed skills are included, plus one person with skills in facilitating and meeting management • Identify the structure of the group • Specify process expectations • Identify any needs for training or materials • Specify criteria for monitoring and assessing results

18. Designing Effective Teams II • Identify costs and resources for team • Plan and conduct the first meeting, including charge to group, goals, timeframe, why members selected • Plan team-building activities to encourage trust and positive working relationships among team members • Support team meeting and processes, as requested by team leader • Monitor team performance and provide feedback as needed

19. Make success a team effort • Be sure everyone knows what is expected of her/him and how that links to group goals • Articulate how each individual’s talents contribute to success of the whole team (how do I contribute to success of the effort?) • Identify means for problem-solving and accountability as a team (what will we do when problems and barriers show up?) • Specify methods for reporting and communicating progress (how will we know it’s done?) • Monitor, evaluate, and report on results • Find ways to reward and celebrate successes

20. Good Communication Always Important • Everyone should submit periodic progress reports to team leaders, with summaries to collaborating organizations. • Hold regular team meetings to discuss progress on assignments, with individual/team summaries, open feedback • Learn to listen actively; ask for clarification, check to see if others understand your point • Demonstrate practices of open communications, asking for and giving constructive feedback • Encourage members to initiate discussions when tasks accomplished or barriers encountered • Solicit views of ways to deal with barriers; invite others to help solve problems. • Spread news of successes; show appreciation for others

21. There will be Conflicts • Definition: when two or more values or perspectives are contradictory in nature • May be internal (within self) or external (between two or more people). • Conflicts are problems when they hamper productivity, lower morale, cause inappropriate behaviors if poorly handled. • Conflicts are useful when they • Raise important but unaddressed problems • Motivate people to attend to them • Help people learn how to recognize and benefit from differences

22. Things that provoke team conflicts • Poor communications, employees surprised by new decisions, don’t understand reasons for decisions, come to distrust supervisors • Alignment of resources doesn’t match work expectations, disagreement about who does what • Personal differences, conflicting values and actions, dislike of aspects of others (that we don’t like in ourselves) • Abuses of power, authoritarianism • Inconsistent or uninformed leadership, passing the buck, repeated poor handling of an issue, managers don’t understand the jobs of subordinates.

23. Ways People Deal with Conflicts • Avoid or ignore it. May worsen conflict over time. • Accommodate: give in to others. May be useful when you know you will have a better opportunity in the near future. • Compromise: mutual give-and-take when you want to get beyond the issue • Collaborate: seek ways of working together for mutual goals without trying to solve issue • Compete: Try to get your way, expressing strong convictions about your position, seeking to persuade others. May include efforts to discredit opposition. • Warfare: polarizing the conflict, using formal and informal power to undermine opposition and gain control of organizational resources.

24. Supervisory Actions to Minimize Conflicts • Executives of both organizations must monitor progress • Keep current on job responsibilities, making sure that roles don’t conflict and no tasks fall into cracks • Build positive relationships with staff, meet with them regularly, ask about accomplishments and challenges • Get regular status reports, including needs and planned next steps • Provide staff development opportunities on key aspects of work • Develop procedures for handling challenges, drawing upon employees’ input • Hold regular meetings to communicate status of projects, resources and challenges, new initiatives

25. Monitor and Evaluate Project • Start with the goals for the activity • Identify indicators of progress toward each goal • Collect information regularly about movement on each indicator • Use findings to fine-tune work (formative evaluation) • Summary evaluation useful in planning next collaborative projects

26. Monitoring and Evaluation • Specify expectations and criteria for assessing work • Provide informal feedback on performance when first noted in work. Don’t allow negative build-up. • Design formal appraisal method based on task description, assignments, and expectations • Applies to volunteers as well as paid staff • Use standardized forms, available to everyone • Include closed-ended ratings and space for comments • Announce schedule to everyone, then stick to it • Remind individuals of scheduled reviews • Invite individuals to offer changes to job description and to evaluation forms

27. More on Evaluation • Record accomplishments, exhibited strengths and limitations, recommendations for improvement • Use observed behaviors of that individual, not hearsay or rumor • Invite person’s input, self-assessments, accomplishments, needs for improvement • Provide honest, constructive feedback based on own observations • Disagreements are acceptable; note them • Nothing should be surprising if you have given informal feedback as work has proceeded • Allow person to add own statement at end of form • Conclude with next steps for improving performance, resources, and expectations for demonstrating change

28. Fourth Stage of Collaboration • Stage 4. Endow continuity by working collaboration-to-community. Develop increased support from the community to support and increase influence on systems that affect all. • Challenges • Grow visibility by conveying positive image to others and to community, celebrating successes and promoting results • Involve others in community, teaching and modeling the value of collaboration, bringing in other people and organizations, holding public forums • Change systems by understanding key aspects of present systems, points of influence and leverage, identify changes we want, specify actions to bring about changes in systems • Build ongoing community support, involving others in shared goals, building relationships, creating sense of mutual ownership

29. Conclusions • Collaboration among organizations has many benefits to partners, improving their services and their organizational strengths. • Developing any collaborative project requires careful planning and oversight • Developing strong teamwork among those implementing project is essential • Be sure everyone is clear about the goals and purposes, reciprocal benefits, the allocation of resources, expectations for the team and each member. • Monitor and evaluate process and results carefully, using findings to fine-tune the effort.

30. Exercise on Collaboration • 1. Identify an issue your organization would like to address (or do so more effectively), about which you think another organization may also have an interest. • 2. What do you want to accomplish that is beyond your organization’s current capacities (that is, why do you need them)? • 3. What do you think collaboration with that organization would enable you to do that you cannot do now?

31. Exercise, steps 4 - 7 • 4. What capacities/resources does that other organization have that you need? How could you find out? • 5. What does your organization have that the other one needs or wants? How could you find out? • 6. To what extent are your people (staff, board members) ready to support collaborative efforts? How will you check this out? • 7. Who should approach someone there to test the water about potential collaboration?

32. Exercise steps 8 - 11 • 8. Who should open the overtures to whom there? Using what opening? • 9. Then how should that person proceed? • 10. What are we ready to offer the other organization as inducements to proceed with us? What do we do if we mis-judged this? • 11. If they are interested, then what will we do? Who will do what, when?