Private-Public Collaboration – Sounds Great, But Hard To Do!

Private-Public Collaboration – Sounds Great, But Hard To Do! Example of Success: Regional Dairy Modernization Task Force Kevin Bernhardt, University of Wisconsin-Extension,Presentation at the National Extension Risk Management Conference, April 2007.

Today’s Presentation • What is the Regional Dairy Modernization Task Force – Brief Summary • Brief Literature Review of Coalitions – Benefits and Challenges • Principles of Teams • Being Successful • Example of the Regional Dairy Modernization Task Force • What we did • Outcomes • Future

Who and What is the Regional Dairy Modernization Task Force? • The “Regional Dairy Modernization Task Force” is an action team of the Southwest Wisconsin Regional Economic Development Coalition

What Is The Task Force? Campfire For Collaboration: Public Private Producer Educator

Campfire Currently Includes:

What Is The Task Force? • For organizing, coordinating, and leveraging resources towards the end goals of: • Improving producers’ ability to achieve desired financial performance and/or other farm business and family goals including health, quality of life, and farm transition. • Increasing milk production • Adding cows • Increasing economic activity

How? • Target specific dairy operation systems and 1) enhance drivers of modernization and 2) reduce barriers to modernization • including skills, knowledge, social networks, entrepreneurial confidence, facts and information, and/or negativism/lack of support by surrounding community. • Programs, activities, and events will be organized to drive producers through the steps of: • Awareness of modernization topics, information, skills, networks, etc. • Comprehension at beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels • Trial and Testing via peer groups, tours, and on-farm workshops • Adoption/Implementation.

By The Way • What we are, what we do and how we do it took about a year to figure out!!!! • Collaboration may be very effective in the long run, but it is often agonizingly slow in the short run! Patience is a Virtue!!

Definition (Spangler) • “A coalition is a temporary alliance or partnering of groups in order to achieve a common purpose or to engage in a joint activity.” • “Forming coalitions with other groups of similar values, interests and goals allows members to combine their resources and become more powerful than when they each acted alone.” Spangler, Brad. “Coalition Building.” Beyond Intractability. University of Colorado, Boulder. June 2003

Why Join a Coalition • Member goals are similar and compatible. • Working together will enhance all groups’ abilities to reach their goals. • The benefits of coalescing will be greater than the costs. Spangler, Brad.

Coalition Benefits Spangler, Brad. • Leveraging of resources • Material, dollars, labor, clientele, ideas • Increases effectiveness of individual organizations in the coalition • Creates broader appeal • Creates secondary coalitions • Reduces risk

Coalition Challenges Spangler, Brad. • Distraction from work at home organization • Free-Riders • Caving into the strong or to those with the most resources • When goals differ • Getting credit • Need an understanding chief bottle washer

References • Scholtes, Peter, David Bayless, Gabriel Massaro, and Nancy Roche. “The Team Handbook for Educators – How to Use Teams to Improve Quality.” Joiner Assoc. Inc, Madison, WI. 1994. • Kreitner, Robert. “Management.” 6th ed. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1995.

Performing Teams • A small number of people with complementary skills who are equallycommittedto a common purpose, goals and working approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable

Teams Need To Develop • Good teams do not happen just by coming together. • They must be nurtured, developed, cared for • Relationship building is not a waste of time!

This guy drives be crazy! I can’t stand him on the basketball court, as a neighbor he drives me nuts, and his dog smells too. I wonder how Mom is doing today, can she make it another week until I can get home to see her? All Members Bring Their Baggage With Them

Individual Member Concerns • Am I an insider or outsider • Do I belong • What can I do to fit in • Whose the boss • Will anyone listen to me • Should I say anything • They’ll laugh at me

Team Growth Stages • Formin • Stormin • Normin • Performin

Team Growth Stages • Formin • Feelings of excitement, anticipation, optimism, fear, and anxiety • Behaviors of • defining process, • How members act towards each other • Determination of member roles • Lofty and abstract discussions, idea generation • Early feelings of dread and impossibility of the task

Team Growth Stages • Stormin • Feelings of panic, resistance, anger, despair • Behaviors of: • Arguing among team members • Defensiveness • Choosing sides • Blame game (stupid project, stupid class, stupid teacher!) • Nothing getting done, it will never get done

Team Growth Stages • Normin • Feelings of relief, renewed hope, friendliness, deeper relationships, sense of team spirit • Behaviors of: • Acceptance of task and team members • Helping each other • Being able to give and receive constructive criticism • Excitement

Team Growth Stages • Performin • Feelings of understanding and knowing how best to work with each other, satisfaction, elation. • Behaviors of: • Seeing real work done • Pride of accomplishment

Team Growth Stages • Complacency • No new ideas, repetitive, loss of excitement • Behaviors of • Boredom, • begin to lose members, • small role players peal away,

Optimism, hope, excitement Small victory, encouraged, renewed hope WE DID IT!! Boredom, impatience, overwhelmed #^*@%*(@ Project!! Team Efforts are a Roller Coaster

Recipe for a Successful Collaboration “Essential Tips for Successful Collaboration.” Joint Work Group on School-Based Teen Pregnancy Prevention in partnership with Center For Disease Control and Prevention and et. al. • Include stakeholders • You are programming for producers, make sure producers are part of the group! • Allow for sufficient time to build a strong foundation. • Take the time to get to know each other • Establish a shared vision • Develop working principles & structure

Recipe for a Successful Collaboration • Conduct a needs assessment • Develop a specific plan of action • SMART objectives • Keep all members engaged • Create ownership • Maintain communications with and among all members • Monitor progress • Monitor members ideas of progress • There’s no foul in adjusting goals

Recipe for a Successful Collaboration • Know how to use team/group tools • Nominal group technique • Force field Analysis • Brainstorming • Small groups • Fishbone diagrams • Etc.

Recipe for a Successful Team • Have a party!

Recipe for A Successful Team • Clarity of team goals • Implementation plan • Clearly defined roles for each member • Clear and open communications • Well defined decision procedures • Balanced participation • Established ground rules • Use the scientific approach More detail provided in accompanying slides

Recipe for a Successful Team • Balanced Participation • Every team member is important and has important contributions to make • Indicators of problems • Meetings being taken over by one person or a subset of members. • No ownership then no effort • What to do: actions that force inclusion such as structured brainstorming, gate keeping, or nominal group technique

Successful Teams Work Through Group Problems • Floundering • Overbearing members • Reluctant members • Rushing to accomplishment • Digressions and tangents • Feuding team members • Free-riders More detail provided in accompanying slides

Rush to Accomplishment • Symptoms: • “We got something, let’s go with it.” • Unquestioned acceptance of opinions as facts • “Trust but Verify!” (Ronald Reagan) • In God we Trust! All others must have data and facts! • What to Do about it: • Review team mission, rules of conduct and operation • Remind all of the team rules such as decisions based in fact! • Designated doubter

Successful Teams Build a Foundation for Successful Meetings

Meeting Agendas • Topics with short explanations • Expected outcomes of each topic • Decision, creation of alternatives, open discussion • Who is presenting each topic • Time guideline for how long that topic will take • Timekeeper may be helpful • Don’t overload the agenda! • Reserve time to set next meeting’s agenda • Logistics: Date, time and place • Content • Review assignments (what, who and expectations) • Never leave a meeting without something happening before the next one

Meeting Agendas • Might also include: • Team warm-up (favorite movie, book, etc.) • Quick review of agenda and any changes • Observers report or end-of-meeting evaluation and what could be improved.

Potential Member Roles • Facilitator • Gatekeeper/Timekeeper • Observer • Recorder

Financing Partners • Organizational Sponsorship • $5,000-$7,000 per year • Grants • UW-Extension Kohl Dollar Grant, 2003 • SW Technical College (USDA/Risk Management Agency) grant, 2004 • Value Added Dairy Initiative, Local Dairy Development Grant (DATCP) 2005-06 • North Central Risk Management Education Center, 2006-07

Impact • Participation • 26 events in past four years (2003-2006) • 4 events to date in 2007 (as of April 1) • 230 total participants to date for this year • 1,413 total participants over last five years

Impact - Participation 230 To Date in 2007 with 4 events left.

Impact • From Summit II Evaluation • 21 producers returned a survey • 12 stated they had modernized in last year • 10 of the 12 (83%) stated that the decision to do so had been influenced by task force events • 35 dairy industry professionals • 7 stated they had been part of modernization planning for a client • 5 of the 7 (71%) stated that task force events had been beneficial in the decision-making process

Impact • From Summit III Evaluation-Industry • 22 dairy industry professionals answered that they had helped a client modernize in the past three years • 9 (41%) stated that the task force events were “very influential” in helping them help their clients. • The total number of modernizations by this group of 9 totaled 67! • 12 more stated that the task force events were “somewhat influential” • These 12 accounted for 110 modernizations

Impact • From Summit III Evaluation-Producers • Of 25 producers thinking about modernizing, 12 of them (48%) answered that the task force events are “very influential” in their decision to potentially modernize, and 13 (52%) said “somewhat influential”. • Of 16 producers who modernized in the last year • 7 (44%) stated that task force events were “very influential” • 7 (44%) stated “somewhat influential” • 1 stated the task force events had no influence

Impact • From Summit IV Evaluation-Industry • 21 dairy industry professionals answered that they had helped a client modernize this past year: • 8 (38%) stated that the task force events were “very influential” in helping them help their clients. • The total number of modernizations by this group of 8 totaled 32 (adjusted downward from one response of 400). • 11 more stated that the task force events were “somewhat influential” • These 11 accounted for 70 modernizations

Impact • From Summit IV Evaluation-Producers • Two producers answered that they are “very seriously committed to a modernizing effort” and both answered that task force events are “very influential” in their decision to modernize. • Of the 15 producers who answered that they are “somewhat serious about modernizing, but not yet committed” 5 (33%) answered that the task force events are “very influential” in their decision to potentially modernize, and 10 (66%) said “somewhat influential”. • Of the 25 producers who answered that they had modernized in the last three years • 9 (36%) stated that task force events were “very influential” • 12 (48%) stated “somewhat influential” • 4 (16%) stated the task force events had no influence

Future • Complacency • Too Much Success • (organizational structure) • What is success? • Number of heads • What the heads you have do • Staying novel • Funding • Didn’t we say that collaborations are temporary!

Private-Public Collaboration – Sounds Great, But Hard To Do!