the power of collaborative solutions
DESCRIPTION
This webinar focuses on building effective coalitions and partnerships for building healthy communities. We all spend too much effort in time-consuming and ineffective coalitions. We know what makes collaborative solutions work. This workshop will explore the six key principles for building effective collaborative solutions and provide participants with stories and tools for the creation of effective collaborative solutions.TRANSCRIPT
Sponsored by:A Service
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The Power of Collaborative Solutions
Tom Wolff
February 15, 2012
Sponsored by:A Service
Of:
Advising nonprofits in:
• Strategy
• Planning
• Organizational Development
www.synthesispartnership.com
(617) 969-1881
INTEGRATED PLANNING
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Today’s Speaker
Tom WolffPresident
Tom Wolff & Associates
Hosting:
Sam Frank, Synthesis PartnershipAssisting with chat questions: April Hunt, Nonprofit Webinars
The Power of Collaborative
Solutions
• Building Effective Coalitions
• Nonprofit Webinars
• February 2012
• Tom Wolff Ph.D.
• Tom Wolff & Associates
• 24 S. Prospect St.
• Amherst, MA. 01002
• 413 253 2646
Stand and Declare
•What do we
believe about
collaboration?
Stand and Declare
• Collaboration with representatives from all parts of the community
is fun and easy.
Strong agree
Agree
Neutral
Disagree
Strongly disagree
• In collaborative efforts in our
community we always engage
those most affected by the
problem as equal partners and
they willingly join us and
participate actively.Strong agree
Agree
Neutral
Disagree
Strongly disagree
What are collaborative solutions?
• Doing together that which we cannot do alone
• A collaboration is a group of individuals and/or
organizations with a common interest who
agree to work together toward a common goal.
» From S.Fawcett et.al
Why collaborative solutions have
been encouraged?
• To create social change
• To encourage social innovation
• Expand interventions to the whole community
• To do more with less when there are budget cuts
• To address limitations of the health and human
service systems
• To promote civic engagement
• To build healthy communities
Concerns with Health and Human Service System
• Fragmentation
• Duplication of effort
• Focus on deficits
• Crisis Orientation
• Failure to respond to diversity
• Excessive professionalism
• Detached from community & clients
• Competition
• Limited and inaccessible information
• Failure to engage those most directly affected
Experiences in Coalitions and Partnerships
• Please describe two partnerships or coalition experiences that
you have had that have been positive and two that have been
negative.
Positive Experiences Negative Experiences
Why? Learnings? Why? Learnings?
Collaborative Solutions
1. Engage a broad spectrum of the
community
– Especially those most directly affected
– Celebrate racial and cultural diversity
2. Encourage true collaboration as the
form of exchange
The Continuum of Collaboration
Definitions:
• Networking Exchanging informationfor mutual benefit.
• Coordination Exchanging information and modifying activities for mutual benefit.
• Cooperation Exchanging information, modifying activities, and sharing resourcesfor mutual benefit and to achieve a common purpose.
The Continuum of Collaboration-
cont.
• Collaboration Exchanging information,
modifying activities, sharing resources,
and enhancing the capacity of another for
mutual benefit and to achieve a common
purpose by sharing risks, resources,
responsibilities, and rewards.
– From Arthur Himmelman
The Continuum of Collaboration Worksheet
•Instructions: Given the definitions of networking, coordinating, cooperating and collaborating, identify the following:
• With an “x” identify which functions are most frequently used in your collaborative efforts
• Discuss how you might like to change this “mix”
• With an “o” identify where you would like to be (which functions you would like to use more frequently, etc.)
• Discuss and note what your collaborative needs to do to make this happen
• Use Frequently Use Sometimes Hardly Ever Use
• Networking _____________ _____________ _____________
• Exchanging Information
• Coordination _____________ _____________ _____________
• Exchange Information
• Alter Activities
• Cooperation _____________ _____________ _____________
• Exchange Information
• Alter Activities
• Share Resources
• Collaboration _____________ _____________ _____________
• Exchange Information
• Alter Activities
• Share Resources
• Enhance Capacity
Collaborative Solutions cont.
3. Practice democracy
– Promote active citizenship and
empowerment
4. Employ an ecological approach that
emphasizes individual in his/her
setting.
– Build on community strengths and assets
Neighborhood Needs Map
Domestic
Violence
Alcoholism
AIDS
Dropouts
Abandonment
Homelessness
Child Abuse
Pollution
Rat BitesDrug
Abuse
Welfare Dependency
Boarded-up Buildings
Unemployment
Gangs
Illiteracy
Lead Poisoning
Mental
Illness
Teenage
Pregnancy
Broken
families
T
r
u
a
n
c
y
Crime
Slum Housing
Slu
m H
ou
sin
g
Neighborhood Assets Map
Capital
Improvement
Expenditures
Police
Vacant Bldgs., Land, etc.
Social
Service
Agencies
Welfare Expenditures
Energy/Waste Resources
Home-Based Enterprise
Gifts of
Labeled
People
ParksPersonal
Income
Associations of Business
Citizens Associations
Religious Organizations
Individual
BusinessesIndividual
Capacities
Cultural
Organizations
Fire
Depts.
Public
Schools
Higher
Education
Institutions
Hospitals
Libraries
Public Information
Pu
blic In
form
ati
on
Primary Building Blocks: Assets and capacities
located inside the neighborhood, largely under
neighborhood control
Secondary Building Blocks: Assets located
within the community, but largely controlled by
outsiders.
Potential Building Blocks: Resources originating
outside the neighborhood, controlled by outsiders.
From John McKnight
Types of community assessment
questions
• Traditional:
• What are your needs?
• How can we (providers) meet those
needs?
• Asset-based assessment questions:
• What are your community’s strengths?
• How can you contribute to helping us find
a solution?
Collaborative solutions cont.
5. Take action
– Address issues of social change and power
– Move from social services to social change
– Build on a common vision
6. Engage your spirituality as your compass for
social change
Align the goal and the process
– ―Be the change that you wish to create in the
world.‖ (M. Gandhi)
Four spiritual principles that are
critical to community building
• Appreciation
• Acceptance
• Compassion
• Interdependence
Interdependence
• The community is a complex whole
• Take an ecological view of individual in
their community settings
• Focus on the full range of social
determinants of health
• All systems/settings have an impact and
they all interact with each other
Story of the
Cleghorn Neighborhood Center
CNC Story
• Moving from social service to social
change
• Start with door-to-door visits
• Build leadership with adults and youth
• Take action - advocacy
• Build community
• CNC as an illustration of the six principles
Unique characteristic of
community collaborations
• Holistic and comprehensive
• Flexible and responsive
• Build a sense of community
• Build and enhance resident engagement in community life
• Provide a vehicle for community empowerment
• Allow diversity to be valued as foundation of the wholeness of the community
• Incubators for innovative solutions to community problems
Factors Affecting a Collaboration’s
Capacity to Create Change
• Having a clear vision and mission
• Action planning for community and systems change
• Developing and supporting leadership
• Documentation and ongoing feedback on programs
• Technical assistance and support
• Securing financial resources for the work
• Making outcomes matter– From Roussus and Fawcett
Working with Conflict in Collaborations
• Conflict is inherent in Collaborations
• It is useful to recognize different types of conflict and conflict behavior:
Power, Accountability, Unity & diversity, Mixed loyalties, Division of labor, Interpersonal conflict
• Expression and negotiation of conflicts is healthy coalition behavior. It leads to better results.
• Use a variety of approaches to prevent, minimize and resolve conflicts
From Beth Rosenthal in Wolff and Kaye From the Ground Up
Barriers – What are your biggest
concerns?• Turf and Competition
• Bad history
• Failure to Act
• Lack of a Common Vision
• Failure to provide and create collaborative leadership
• Minimal organizational structure
• Costs outweigh the benefits
• Not engaging self-interest
• Overcoalitioned community
Agency-Based and Community-Based
Approaches
Issues Agency-Based Community-Based
• Approach Weakness/Deficit Strength/Asset
• Definition of
Problem
By Agencies,
Government
By Local
Community
• Role of
Professional
Central to Decision
Making
Resource to
Community
Problem Solving
Agency-Based and Community-Based
Approaches
Issues Agency-Based Community-Based
• Primary decision
makers
Agencies,
Gov’t
Community
• Potential for Community
Ownership
Low Hi
• Community’s
Control of Resources
Low Hi
Outreach questions
• Strengths and Gaps in your present
membership
• Who is missing? Who else do we need
to have in the room?
• Who else in the community cares about
your issue?
• Who might you engage?
THE FORMAL SECTORS
THE INFORMAL SECTORS
Degrees of Involvement – Ladder
of Participation
Community initiated – shared decision making with agencies
Community initiated and directed– agencies support
Agency initiated – shared decision making
Consulted and informed
Assigned roles
Tokenism
Decoration
Manipulation
Benefits of Involving Grassroots
Organizations and Leaders
1. Can reach ―high risk‖ and ―hard to reach‖
populations
2 Work with ―formal‖ and informal‖ leaders
3 Know what works in their communities
4. Community organizations are community
archivists(continued....)
Benefits of Involving Grassroots
Organizations and Leaders (continued)
5. Promote ownership and participation
6. They are the best architects of solutions
7. Build local leadership
8. Create positive ―norms‖ in the community
9. Promote community ownership
Stakeholder Analysis
• Capacities, skills, resources?
• Potential role?
• Self interest? Why should they join?
• How will you recruit?
• Barriers to recruiting?
• Who?
• When?
•The main reason
someone volunteers is
that someone they
know asks them!
Retention _ The 6 R’s of
Participation
• Recognition
• Respect
• Role
• Relationship
• Reward
• Results
REACH 2010 BostonRacial and Ethnic Approaches to Community
Health
Boston Blueprint for Action
• Health Care and Public Health– Health Insurance.
– Data Collection
– Patient education
– Health Systems –
– Cultural Competence-.
– Public Health Programs
– Research Needs
• Environment and Societal Factors– Neighborhood investment –
– Jobs and economic security –.
– Public awareness –.
– Promotion of key community institutions –
About the REACH Coalition
Mission—What is our work?
The mission of the Boston REACH Coalition is to promote health equity and eliminate racial and ethnic health inequities in Boston.
the Boston REACH Coalition
• Initially focused on breast and cervical
cancer in Black women in Boston
• Now taking a broader SDOH approach
A Health Equity Framework
Racism
Transportation
Food Access
SocioeconomicStatus
Environmental Exposure
Health Behaviors
Access to Health Services
Housing
Public Safety
Health Outcomes
Employment
Social Capital
Education
Jamaica Plain Youth Health Equity
Coalition
• Why focus on youth
– We’re doing it
already!
– Youth issues =
community issues
= family issues
– Narrows the
focus (but not
much)
Jamaica Plain Youth Health Equity
Collaborative - Goals• Involve
residents,
organizations
and youth
• Examine health
disparities
• Identify causes
including social
determinants
• Common
language and
framework
• Define and
implement
programs
Bucket Meetings
• Case Study
• Employment inequities for low income African American/Latino youth – role of institutional racism
• Employment Health impacts for low income African American/Latino youth
• Possible Action Steps/Strategies
Youth Retreat August 2009
Undoing Racism Activity
Current Focus:
Youth Employment
• Job Development
• Communications
• Job Training
Youth Report 2009
March and Rally February 2010
Skills for Collaborative
Leadership
• Be inclusive, promote diversity
• Practice shared decision making
• Resolve conflicts constructively
• Communicate clearly, openly, and
honestly
• Facilitate group interaction
• Nurture leadership in others and
encourage top-level commitment
Attributes of Successful
Collaborative Leaders
• Ability to share power
• Flexibility
• Ability to see the big picture
• Trustworthiness
• Patience
• Abundant energy and hope
Do’s and Don’ts of Collaborative
Leadership
• DO remember to delegate
• DON’T try to juggle too many balls
• DON’T take it personally
• DO maintain an action orientation
• DON’T hog the spotlight
• DON’T avoid conflict
• DON’T forget to celebrate the small victories
Myths of Sustainability
• Sustainability is best thought about in the waning months of your funding
• Everything we do must be sustained
• It is all about finding the money
• Communities have the money to fund and sustain all pilot projects that show themselves to be effective and of value to the community
Four Approaches to
Sustainability
• Institutionalization of changes
• Policy change
• Finding resources to sustain the effort
• Community ownership/capacity building
• www.gjcpp.org
Sustainability Tool
• Global Journal of Community Psychology
Practice
• www.gjcpp.org
• Jan 2010 Issue:
• http://www.gjcpp.org/pdfs/2009-0017-
Final%20Version-011410.pdf
―Be optimistic, it feels better.‖
Dalai Lama
New February 2010 from Jossey
Bass/John Wiley- available at
www.tomwolff.com
Web Resources
• Community Tool Box
• http://ctb.ku.edu
• Tom Wolff & Associates
• www.tomwolff.com
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Of:
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