These days companies are not just asked for funding but to help get cross-sector community initiatives off the ground. The complexities of applying successfully for funding from sources such as the Private Finance Initiative and the Single Regeneration Budget mean that partners involved have got to be able to work together effectively.
1. Treat any partnership as an opportunity to allow people from very different backgrounds to learn from each other and from the different pressures and constraints they face in their sectors.
2. Make every effort to understand the perspective of others involved in the partnership, set aside personal prejudice of other sectors and be open and honest so that others can understand what you are able (and equally are unable) to bring to the partnership.
3. Identify the different stakeholder groups and take appropriate action to ensure they do not feel alienated or threatened. Partnerships often falter because key influencers have not been involved in formulating the partnership.
4. Where there is choice about who joins the partnership, look for individuals who have the skills and willingness to contribute and see them as a gateway into their organisation.
5. Where an initiative has a powerful advocate or charismatic leader, make use of their energy, enthusiasm and ability to inspire others in the creation of a common vision for the partnership.
6. Develop a mission statement that will bring all the partners together around an agreed set of aspirations and outline the specific targets and goals of the partnership.
7. Executive power should rest with a relatively small team. Attempts to create unwieldy bureaucracies that allow every interest group to have an influence are unworkable.
8. Invest in skills development – especially if committee structures are set up in order to involve a much broader section of the community and if there is a need for strong interpersonal skills in the management process.
9. Positive publicity can make life much easier for partnerships – facilitating access to funds, other resources and wider involvement. The PR strategy needs to be planned along with other elements of the partnership.
10. Part of the successful management process must be a readiness to question the continuing viability of the initiative beyond its intended lifespan. Partners must ask ‘has the partnership done what it has set out to do?’.
Andrew Wilson is Director of the Ashridge Research Centre for Business and Society and co-author with Kate Charlton of Making Partnerships Work: A Practical Guide for the Public, Private, Voluntary and Community Sectors, published with the support of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation in March 1997. Contact Ashridge on 01442 841174
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