building collaborative relationships final2
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BUILDING COLLABORATIVE RELATIONSHIPS
Christopher P., BruhlThe Business Council of Fairfield County, CT, USA
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation ConferenceSeptember 18, 2007
Today’s Goals
Enhance knowledge on forming partnerships with business, government, and civil society sectors.
Develop understanding of successful organizational models of collaboration.
Learn how to develop and implement innovative approaches and strategies in building strong public-private partnerships.
The Business Council of Fairfield County A private corporation created by business
leaders in 1970 to serve Fairfield County, CT. Fairfield County has 900,000 residents and is
located to the northeast of New York City. The Business Council has 3,000+ members,
of which 300 are corporations, 60 are non-profit institutions like colleges and hospitals, and 2,700+ are professionals, small businesses, entrepreneurs, etc.
Geographic and governmental context
Fairfield County is economically integrated into the Metro New York region, which includes 21.5 million people, parts of four states, 21 county (regional) governments, hundreds of municipalities, and thousands of civil society NGO’s.
Connecticut, unlike its neighbors, does not have regional government or regional taxes.
Cross-sector, public-private collaborations are The Business Council’s primary way of working.
Collaborations
Require change. Initially increase what is unknown. Can increase risk.
Collaborations
Require change. Initially increase what is unknown. Can increase risk.
Why bother?
Collaborations
Require change. Initially increase what is unknown. Can increase risk.
Why bother?The pain is the price of the gain.
Collaborations: Pain, Gain
Pain More people in decision-making process More opportunity for confusion, delay and
conflict Challenge to Truth, Experience and Because
Gain New perspectives, more effective solutions Increased resources Growth: personal/professional, mission Improved results
The New Reality
Collaboration among key partners is a fundamental element of any human resource or economic development effort.
The Basis for Sustainable Collaboration: Organizations Organizations
Are formed for a purpose which endures over time.
Are defined by multiple factors, offering multiple points of connection.
Do not exist in vacuums. Make choices.
Organizations
Formed for a purpose, enduring over time Charters, charges, etc. Histories of success and failure. Existing identities in the eyes of others. Continue through decision making cycles. Built in obstacles to change.
Organizations
Are defined by Mission Culture Structure
Place with external environment Internal organization
Resources People
Organizations
Do not exist in vacuums Competitors Colleagues Societal and political change
Have relationship options Compete Coexist Collaborate
Options
Compete For resources For constituents For talent, power, visibility....etc.
Options
Coexist Unaware of others
Appropriate distance resulting from differing missions
Tunnel vision Aware of others
Without perceived need to interact Interested in collaboration, but prohibited.
Options
Collaborate Ad hoc, driven by individuals Encouraged or mandated, driven by higher
level of authority Sought, planned and ongoing, among
autonomous entities
Key Ideasabout Collaboration Many sustainable collaborations involve more
than two entities. The collaboration is not the reason for
existence – it is a means to an end The subject of the collaboration will have
different degrees of importance to different members of the collaboration – and to different individuals within collaborating organizations.
The Leader’s Path:Steps to Collaborative Relationships
1. Develop organizational/initiative objectives. The collaboration is not the reason for existence – it
is a means to an end.
2. Create a relationship map. Identify relevant working relationships that exist
within your organization’s activities. Who do you work with externally? (People and organizations.)
Who do the people you work with, work with? What local, regional, and national entities serve you
and the people/organizations you work with?
Steps to Collaborative Relationships
3. Develop a requirements profile. What resources (knowledge, access, money, public
policy, etc.) do you need to achieve your objectives?
4. Compare relationship map to requirements profile. Identify “pre-partners,” organizations with relevant
resources, within existing relationships. Identify “prospects,” organizations with relevant
resources that you have no relationship with. Prioritize ideal set of collaborative partners.
Steps to Collaborative Relationships
5. Explore potential common interests among current relationships. Discuss initiative/opportunity concept. Review missions, sources of resources, reporting
relationships, personnel, etc., seeking commonalities. Form ad hoc team of the willing to refine concept to
meet mutual needs and interests.
6. Reach out to the “unconnected.” Introduced by mutual relationship. Direct contact (“cold call”).
Steps to Collaborative Relationships
7. Explore the interests and needs of the unconnected individuals/organizations. Their needs matter more to them than your needs. Sustainable collaboration is based on mutual self
interest, not one-sided harvesting.
8. Invite (recruit) the unconnected with the most to gain from your preliminary objectives to participate in simple, trust-building activities. Jointly conducted needs assessments, or other
research Best practice sharing events.
Steps to Collaborative Relationships
9. Bring the “newly connected” into the ad hoc planning team; transition team to ongoing status. Incorporate input from new participants. Formalize team with specific mission, statement of
objectives, plan of work and approval by appropriate authorities for each participant.
10. Actively communicate about objectives and activities to all current and potential collaborators. Increases trust Encourages additional input Surfaces problems
Steps to Collaborative Relationships
11. Nurture working relationships outside the core initiative processes. Increases sense of belonging. Builds base of shared knowledge. Adds new perspective to core.
12. Vigorously, diplomatically, and continuously self-assess.
One Example of Building Collaborative Relationships US DOL/ETA/WIRED
Component of federal department
The WorkPlace Inc. Regional (sub-state) workforce improvement
board
Example...
Shared objective Integrate workforce, education, economic
development systems in geographic and jurisdictional regions where the economy already functions on an integrated basis.
Shared concern History and culture of competition among all
three systems, (made worse in this case by state political borders).
The Foundations of One Collaboration
Incentives (encouragement) for collaboration (no mandate)
Convener Social network builder Equal status for early and late arrivals
The Foundations of One Collaboration
Incentives for collaboration (no mandate) US DOL ETA WIRED funding program
Convener The WorkPlace Inc.
Social network builder The Business Council of Fairfield County
Equal status for early and late arrivals Territory and population served doubled a year
into planning process.
The Foundations of One Collaboration
US DOL ETA WIRED funding program Multi-year, multi-sector Placed results ahead of turf Focused on economic regions, not single
government jurisdictions Collaborators were more important than legal
applicant (substance over form).
Convener
A convener brings people and organizations together to explore interests, to share knowledge, and to enable them to reach their objectives.
A convener has a content role – it is not merely a meeting manager or facility. The convener is not a final authority – the convened need to own outcomes.
US DOL ETA WIRED broadened the role of the regional workforce development agency into that of convener, capable of working outside of traditional roles and boundaries.
Convener: The WorkPlace Inc.
The WorkPlace Inc. was willing to evolve, but did not have the multi-sector, two state relationships required to convene workforce, education and economic development leaders in an efficient way.
The Business Council was invited to plan and execute The WorkPlace’s convening strategy, as a full collaborator in the effort.
Common Interests
The WorkPlace Inc. and The Business Council already saw themselves as colleagues. Past history of modest cooperative ventures,
largely on the ad hoc, programmatic level. Compatible, non-competitive expertise and
resource bases. Existing relationships among professionals.
Social Network Builder
A social network is the set of individuals whose collective knowledge, positions and relationships create social capital greater than the summation of each individual’s capital. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
The Business Council deliberately links a number of specialized social networks together – the business community (with many subsets by industries, geography, etc), municipal and state officials, government, higher education, health care, etc. into a network of networks.
Social Network Builder: The Business Council Leaders of the two organizations jointly developed a
relationship map, identified skills and resources required, and selected an ideal group to serve as a leadership team.
The Business Council reached out to: Senior executives from the growth industries in our region
(financial services, health care, information technology) Leaders of the key economic development and education
institutions. Knowledge and opinion leaders with relevant skills and
perspectives. Peers in Westchester County business organizations to
conduct a similar effort, in partnership with The Business Council.
Social Network Builder
Participants included:Hospital CEO’s, college presidents, corporate human resource leaders, business owners, information technology directors, English as a Second Language program designers, nursing school deans, venture capitalists, municipal economic development directors, economists, NGO CEO’s, school district superintendents, elected and appointed officials from state, county, and local governments – and more.
Many were long term competitors with other members of the team.
A warning against temptation
A collaboration is not a collection of job titles from selected institutions. Nor is it a set of representatives who defend institutional interests, or a group of attendees of a series of meetings that are easier to attend than to decline.
A collaboration is a set of relationships among individuals within organizations whose resources are committed toward an accepted, collective purpose.
The journey from curiosity/compliance to collaboration Workforce development, education and economic
development professionals need to understand that collaboration is vitally important. Cohesion, trust, turf minimization can be gained by collaborative process management, not just initiative management.
Participants who perceive value will commit their organizations to collaborative relationships.
The Convener and Social Network Manager must constantly add value to the participants through their engagement in the process, from issue identification, to planning, to ongoing execution.
Collaborative relationships are like muscles: they get stronger through use. The Business Council conducted a series of events
throughout the process that were not directly related to planning process, yet were at the heart of building relationships and trust.
Two examples In Fairfield County, we invited the head of strategic
planning of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority - it runs the railroads, subways, bridges, busses, etc. for New York and New Jersey – to speak to a large public gathering and a small private dialogue.
In Westchester, we helped the Community College host a major conference on immigrants in the workforce. Close to 20% of the residents in both Westchester and Fairfield County are immigrants.
Collaborative relationships are like muscles: they get stronger through use.
The transportation program was about the agency’s long terms for the entire region. It was followed by a second private dialogue among people who care about workforce flows and labor markets. We had planners, elected officials, NGO’s, and major employers from both counties take part in the private dialogue. In the process, they learned more about the future of the region and continued the bonding-through-common experience process that is essential to true collaboration.
The immigration conference brought together people who care about workforce and demographic issues. A number of WIRED planning team members attended as presenters. Many were the same individuals who had attended the transportation session.
Collaborative relationships are like muscles: they get stronger through use.
These two events had very different technical content, yet produced one result in common. Shared learning and greater trust among team members who traditionally had not worked together.
Equal status: proof of intent
Westchester County leaders were welcomed as equals several months into a second, annual planning process.
Process chair was joined by two co-chairs Five work teams were co-chaired by Westchester
and Fairfield County leaders, with equal representation on the teams.
All data collection, asset mapping, etc. was doubled to include the expanded scope of effort.
A culture of “results over turf” was set and reinforced by the convener.
An early self-assessment
Leaders in all three key sectors, economic development, workforce development, and education, continue to be enthusiastic about their new collaborative relationships.
Teams of former competitors are working on self-funded, new ventures to solve common problems.
The Governors of Connecticut and New York have formally endorsed the venture.
Preliminary discussions about formal bi-lateral operating relationships are underway between several pairs of similar institutions currently working in one of the two counties.
Applying principle to practice
Collaboration among key partners is a fundamental element of any human resource or economic development effort.
We are hopeful that our effort to build collaborative relationships around a common set of objectives will, over time, transform our workforce development, education and economic development systems into one integrated system.
Thank you!Christopher P. Bruhl
President & CEO
The Business Council of Fairfield County, CT USA
www.businessfairfield.com