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

Building Capacity through Partnership & CollaborationOLA Leadership Summit • November 8, 2004 Principles of Partnering Deb deBruijn Executive Director Canadian Research Knowledge Network Réseau canadien de documentation pour la recherche

Agenda • Partnerships – what and why? • Principles • Best practices • Why partnerships fail

Partnerships:more 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

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

Soccer 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

Typical degrees of library partnerships • Communication • Coordinated programs • Merged programs • Changing outdated organizations • Creating an umbrella or coordinating organization • Merger

Why partner? • To achieve together what we cannot achieve alone • Take a page from business & pleasure! • Extend reach • Meet new needs • Seize new opportunities

Partnership Principles • Ensure participation • Build relationships • Create value • Achieve accountability

Ensure 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

Ensure participation [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

Ensure participation [cont.] “Entering into partnerships is analogous todoing 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.”

Build 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

Creating 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

Achieving 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

Create your own set of principles • 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

Best practices Communication Shared responsibility Commitment Organization Finances

Best practices [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

Best practices [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

Best practices [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

Best practices [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

Why 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

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

Thank you Deb deBruijn debruijn@ResearchKnowledge.ca www.ResearchKnowledge.ca www.DocRecherche.ca

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