CAP 105:CAP 105: Build Successful Alliances, Coalitions Build Successful Alliances, Coalitions

and Partnershipsand Partnerships

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Upon completion of this workshop you will be able to:

Identify the 7 common misconceptions of alliances, coalitions and partnerships Describe the top 5 challenges and benefits Develop successful partnerships using a 6 step framework Identify successful partnerships and best practices. Improve your effectiveness with alliances, coalitions and partnerships Identify and explore power issues and dynamics

THE 7 MISCONCEPTIONS

1. Participants are motivated by the same interests

2. Conflict is not desirable in an alliance, coalition or partnership!

3. There are no power dynamics in their group!

4. Leadership skills used in our home organizations work well in multi-stakeholder organizations!

5. Partnerships are organized the same way as the organization they work in or a partnership is just a process not an organization.

6. The work of a member of an alliance, coalition or partnership is to only attend meetings and share information!

7. An alliance, coalition or partnership can be organized and maintained with very little co-ordination effort!

Organizations have different missions, client groups and services so why would they not have different interests.

We need to accept self-interest as a principal motivator of the partnership members and as a basis to negotiate a new organization into being.

Although we accept self- interest as the place where we begin, we move towards finding common ground so we can collaborate and work together.

MISCONCEPTION 1.

Participants are motivated by the same interests – often altruism is the assumed motivator in the non-profit

sector.

Alliance type organizations are vehicles for conflict resolution. Their implicit purpose is to resolve conflict by naming it and working through it.

MISCONCEPTION 2.

Conflict is not desirable in an alliance, coalition or partnership!

PurposefulPurposefulPeople People

EnvironmentEnvironment

SYSTEM IN ENVIRONMENT

A system and its environment mutually shape each other towards an adaptive goal.

Task EnvironmentTask Environment

Massive demographic shift as baby boomers age-increased client base

Government cutbacks Funder pressure to rationalize delivery

system Shrinking supply of labour Competition

TURBULENCE IN YOUR ENVIRONMENT

META PROBLEMS AND MESSES

To deal effectively with meta-problems, the unit of analysis needs to shift from the level of the single organization to the population of organizations that share a concern for the meta-problem.

Adaptive space for collaboration is found between the Adaptive space for collaboration is found between the silossilos

There are always power dynamics in any human system. With each autonomous partner, the likelihood of power issues increases exponentially.

MISCONCEPTION 3.

There are no power dynamics in their group!

POLITICAL SKILLS

Successful partnership developers require political and networking abilities. Political competence is needed to understand and resolve conflicts of interest and value dilemmas inherent in systems made up of multiple organizations, each seeking to maintain autonomy while jointly interacting.

Political savvy can help change agents to manage their own roles and values in respect to those power dynamics. It can help them avoid being co-opted by certain TS members and thus losing their neutrality.

NETWORKING SKILLS

“Networking skills are also indispensable to TS practitioners. These include the ability to manage lateral relations among autonomous organizations in the relative absence of hierarchical control.

Change agents must be able to span the boundaries of diverse organizations, link them together, and facilitate exchanges among them. They must be able to form linkages where none existed and to transform networks into operational systems, capable of joint task performance.”

(Cummings, Worley, Organization Development and Change 1996, p 471)

Traditionally what we deem as leadership is what we see used in hierarchically organized structures with centralized power.

When power is dispersed amongst organization partners as in multi-stakeholder processes, a different form of leadership is required. I call it lateral leadership.

MISCONCEPTION 4.

Leadership skills used in our home organizations work well

in multi-stakeholder organizations!

LATERAL LEADERSHIP

Leadership “acrossacross” and “power withpower with” - rather than up and down- is what leadership looks like in a TS, whether shown by member or staff.

What it is ….

LATERAL LEADER ….

Fosters a culture of inclusion and sense of belonging and ownership

Builds trust amongst participants Develops a common language to provide the

infrastructure for conversation and dialogue-become a bridge across organizational cultures

Models emotional literacy and honesty Lets go of control and process outcomes Structures meetings Fosters a learning culture Builds the architecture of a new group Creates bridges across cultural divides-organizational

or ethno-cultural

A LATERAL LEADER ….

Undertakes conflict mediation through negotiation Builds a group myth and culture through storytelling, the

why, what, when and how of the group Uses tools such as strategic planning, icebreakers and

participative policy planning to help move the group forward

Uses effective questioning as opposed to advocacy and direction to encourage thinking and learning

Builds a very broad communication loop Accepts self-interest as a principal motivator Holds the group’s vision

Partnerships can function as democratic organizations if they are organized on a power sharing model.

MISCONCEPTION 5

Partnerships are organized the same way as the organization. They work in

or a partnership is just a process not an organization.

What is a Trans-Organizational System (TS)?

TS's are functional social systems existing between single organizations and societal systems. They are able to make decisions and perform tasks on behalf of their member organizations, although members maintain their separate organizational identities and goals.

“In contrast to most organizations, TS's tend to be under-organized, relationships among organizations are loosely coupled; leadership and power are dispersed among autonomous organizations, rather than hierarchically centralized, and commitment and membership are tenuous, as member organizations attempt to maintain their autonomy while jointly performing.”

(Cummings, Worley Organization Development and Change, pg. 467 )

Networked computers not only provided the form of a new organizational model but also support the

function of the new form.

HIERARCHICAL TS STRUCTURE

CEO or Co-ordinator

Sub-Committees

Decision making body

Co-ordination TeamCo-ordination TeamComprised of staff Comprised of staff and chairpersonsand chairpersons

DEMOCRATIC TS STRUCTURE

Organizations of Origin

The work of any organization is to transform knowledge. You do that through decision

making. If no decisions are ever made, then the process is not an organization.

MISCONCEPTION 6

The work of a member of an alliance, coalition or partnership is to only attend meetings and

share information!

COMPARING ORGANIZATIONS TO TS ORGANIZATIONS

Organizations

Manage knowledge to achieve desired results.

Are comprised of knowledge specialists and generalists who manage the interface between specialties.

Trans-organizations

Manage knowledge

Managed in a similar fashion to any organization comprised of specialists

With TSs, the organizations holds specialized knowledge rather than individuals.

THE WORK OF A TS

The TS must bridge those specialty identities and accountabilities of member organizations in order to produce new knowledge that can purposefully adapt to the turbulent environment.

A TS needs more co-ordination not less, since it needs to transcend so many organizational boundaries and interests.

MISCONCEPTION 7

An alliance, coalition or partnership can be organized and maintained with very little

co-ordination effort!

CONCLUSIONS …

Alliances Coalitions and Partnerships are an emerging form of organization

They require a lot of co-ordination and different skill sets

They are inherently political Leadership involves facilitating the process

forward rather than pushing ahead towards an end goal

REFERENCES

Cummings, Thomas G. “Trans-organizational Development.” Research in Organizational Behaviour,JAI Press. Vol. 6 (1984), pp 367–422.

Cummings, Thomas G. and Christopher G. Worley. Organization Development and Change. Southwestern College Publishing, 1996.

Alliances Coalitions and Partnerships, Building Collaborative Organizations by Joan M. Roberts

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Having completed this workshop you are now able to:

1. Identify the 7 common misconceptions of alliances, coalitions and partnerships 2. Describe the top 5 challenges and benefits 3. Develop successful partnerships using a 6 step framework 4. Identify successful partnerships and best practices. 5. Improve your effectiveness with alliances, coalitions and

partnerships 6. Identify and explore power issues and dynamics

CAP 105:CAP 105: Build Successful Alliances, Coalitions Build Successful Alliances, Coalitions

and Partnershipsand Partnerships