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2 + 2 = 5FROM COLLABORATION TO PARTNERSHIP
BRANKA PEURAČAPartnership Practioner & Meliora d.o.o.
RAFAL SERAFINPolish Environmental Partnership Foundation & Partnership Brokers
Association
OUR 2 OBJECTIVES:
1. To argue that partnerships and partnering are a special type of collaboration
2. To provide tips for making partnerships more effective in delivering results
Branka Peurača Meliora d.o.o. Croatia
BASED ON OUR PERSONAL EXPERIENCE AS PARTNERSHIP PRACTIONERS, AS WELL AS THE WORK & RESOURCES OF:
The Partnering Initiative www.thepartneringinitiative.org
Partnership Brokers Associationwww.partnershipbrokers.org
3 Questions to begin with:
1. Are you participating in a partnership?2. Is your organization an effective partner?3. Is your sector an effective partner?
PARTNERING AS COMMUNICATION
RAFAL SERAFIN
BEFORE WE GO ANY FURTHER - A WARNING!
DO NOT PARTNER, if you can define and achieve your objective without collaborating with others
PARTNER when you recognize that:
1. you cannot achieve your goal by working alone…
2. only by working cooperatively with others you can achieve greater innovation, impact, scale, reform and/or sustainability.
DEFINING PARTNERING
An ongoing relationship based on sharing costs, risks and benefits, which means:
• Co-creating initiatives, projects & programs• Committing resources• Mutual accountability
PARTNERING IS MESSY & UNPREDICTABLE“… when you assemble a number of men to have the advantage of their joint wisdom, you inevitably assemble with those men all their prejudices, their passions, their errors of opinion, their local interests and their selfish views. From such an assembly can a perfect product be expected?” Benjamin Franklin
Constitutional Convention17 September 1787
Common partnering challenges:• Partners not giving the partnership or its projects priority• Unresolved disagreements / approaches that are too divergent• Differences of organisational culture / expectations / delivery
timescales• Changes of key personnel (eg. turnover of staff in some of the
partner organisations)
Within the Partnership
• Scepticism about the partnership from key stakeholders• Unwillingness / inability to engage with the partnership• An inadequate / hostile enabling environment
Beyond the Partnership
Partnering is above all a communication challenge. Far from being incidental or peripheral, good communication is actually the heart or, perhaps more accurately, the heartbeat of all effective partnering.
AREAS OF COMMUNICATION
• Internal to each organization• Internal to the partnership• External to the partnership
Communicating core partnering principles
RESPECT
TRUST
SUSTAINABILITY
because it leads to
because it leads to
because it leads to
The Partnership Cycle as common language
DIFFICULT TERMS FOR SOME PEOPLE / SECTORS
PARTNERSHIP-BUILDING ALTERNATIVE
Trust Transparency / honesty
Profit BenefitCommon objectives Complementary objectives
Business plan Action planFunding Resourcing
Priorities Values
Committee Focus / Working / Task group
Market analysis Scoping exerciseConsultation ParticipationExit strategy Moving on strategy
Terminology as communication
DEALING WITH CONFLICT
Relationship Conflict
Data Conflict
Interest Conflict
Structural Conflict
Value Conflict
PARTNERING AS COMMUNICATION What do
partners contribute to partnership
impact?
How do you think your partners understand ‘partnering’?
Who are your actual or potential
partners?
Communication as partnership brokering
ENVIRONMENTAL PARTNERSHIP EXAMPLES FROM POLAND
• Mobile Krakow Campaign• Malopolska Local Food Project• Zakopane Green Winter Olympics Bid
Branka Peurača [email protected]
PARTNER FROM HELL
Mendacious, lacks experience and expertise irresponsible, distrustful, employs incompetent family members and friends which causes miscommunication with partners.
Branka Peurača [email protected]
PARTNER FROM HEAVEN
Experienced, supportive, truthful about motives, respectful, flexible, timely warnings about limitations.
Branka Peurača [email protected]
FALSE PARTNERS
Same people, facilities, experience and outreach are shared by each of the partners, only formally registered as separate entities.
Branka Peurača [email protected]
IMPERFECT, YET SUCCESSFUL PARTNERS Despite different organizational cultures and ways to deal with conflicts, able to recognize the problem and talk openly about it. Committed to the proclaimed goals and flexible in pursuing them.
Branka Peurača [email protected]
BE HONEST – WHAT DOES YOUR ORGANIZATION NEED FROM THE PARTNERSHIP? How can we make sure that our current and potential partners provide what we need?
Branka Peurača [email protected]
Planning partnership
DOCUMENTS TO DEFINE:• Intention to work together;• Intellectual property;• Partnership agreement;• Detailed task description with
responsibilities and deadlines;• Protocols on communication,
monitoring, decision-making and disagreements.
FRAME FOR DESIGNING COOPERATION:• Kick-off meeting;• Other meetings: regular,
representative, and in-sync with M&E activities;
• External support: TA, M&E, facilitator, contracting authority;
• Lessons learned.
Branka Peurača [email protected]
In your experience…
…which are the most serious risks for establishment and maintainence
of partnership?
Branka Peurača [email protected]
In your opinion, what makes a partnership successful?
•Skills: • Processes:
Let’s reconsider 3 questions posed at the start in terms of communication:
1. Are you participating in a partnership?2. Is your organization an effective partner?3. Is your sector an effective partner?
FOR MORE ON PARTNERING:
The Partnering Initiative www.thepartneringinitiative.org
Partnership Brokers Associationwww.partnershipbrokers.org
Polish Environmental Partnership Foundationwww.fpds.pl
BRANKA PEURAČAMeliora [email protected]
RAFAL SERAFINPolish Environmental Partnership Foundation &Partnership Brokering [email protected]
