Developing a Strong Foundation: 5 Building Blocks for Successful Partnerships
Partnership formation can be magical and also the ways in which it can crumble before anything has even come of it. I have seen this play out firsthand from multiple lenses - first as a non-profit non-profit leader seeking to develop partnerships, then as the Director of Partnerships for the Boston Public Schools working to coordinate partners, and now, as a consultant working with organizations to deepen their partnerships.
The 5 building blocks listed below are critical to ensuring partnerships are strategic, high quality, high impact, and make the best use of time for everyone involved. While my general lens is in the education sector, these building blocks can be applied to any type of partnership, whether it be between businesses, non-profits, or government agencies.
Center around shared values and vision
One thing I love about partnerships is the idea that organizations coming together don’t actually have to agree on a lot. They can have different approaches to their work, different theories of change, and even serve different groups of people. What organizations can’t disagree on, however, is their vision for where they want their collective work to take them, and the values they want to keep front and center along the way. Getting clear on values and vision first helps each party determine whether there is enough alignment to move forward. And if the answer is yes - taking this step establishes trust, makes decisions easier, and serves as an anchor for the hard work to come.
As Director of Partnerships, I worked with a school who was looking for a partner to provide after school care and intensive academic support to all students. There was not one organization at the time who was able to accomplish both of these goals. We ended up bringing together two organizations to form a partnership - one organization whose focus was on general after school care, and the other who focused on tutoring interventions - so while their approaches and individual goals were different, their vision for partnership was the same - providing a comprehensive after school academic program for students, and that led to a strong foundation for their work together.
Get familiar with your strengths and your needs
In order to know what you are looking for in a partner, or even who to approach for partnership - you need to get clear about your own organization’s partnership needs, as well as the strengths you can offer to others. If you don’t do this - you will find yourself in a lot of conversations that, while interesting, don’t lead to anything in the long run - or worse, that lead to partnership for the sake of partnerships sake, but don’t actually help you or the other organization further a shared vision. Instead, getting clear on what you can realistically offer others and what you need from a partnership will help you be intentional with your time and approach.
Questions to ask yourself in order to assess this:
-What skills, expertise or experience can my organization bring to the table?
-What are some areas where my organization needs expertise, skills or experience that we don’t currently have?
Early on in my career, I represented an organization in a partner collaboration with multiple organizations doing similar work. I struggled to see the value in the space. One of the reasons for this was that while the vision for the partnership collaborative was clear, we didn’t spend enough time defining for one another the strengths and needs that we were each bringing to the table, and the ways that we could use them to compliment one another’s work.
Lead by listening
Have you ever been in a meeting with someone who spends the whole time going on and on about themselves with little regard for its relevance to you? I know I have! You leave feeling like you’ve wasted your time, and while they may leave feeling like you now know a lot more about them, neither one of you leaves feeling like you’ve built a vision for your shared. The goal here is to do the opposite of that, by leading through listening and asking questions.
A few tips:
-Before going into a meeting with a potential partner, do some research on the organization you’re seeking to partner with.
-Identify the areas where there might be alignment in shared values and vision (see #1).
-Use the time together to better understand what you can’t find through research. Ask questions to assess their values, vision, organizational strengths and needs and to help you determine whether they line up with what you can offer and what you need.
-Once you feel like you’ve gotten a good sense of areas for potential alignment, focus what you share about your own work on areas that you know will be relevant to them.
-If done well, this will surface energy and engagement around the idea of partnership formation, and naturally lead to next steps for your work together.
4. Be open to change
Partnership isn’t just about presenting everything you do in its current form to another organization and having them adopt all of it - it’s also not about letting another organization determine what they need you to do and shifting completely to accommodate that - it’s about the sweet spot in the middle where you are energized around a shared vision (I know, I’ve said that already but it’s so important!) and are each willing to use your unique assets to move towards an even greater result.
Many of us saw this firsthand when COVID hit - we were able to turn off our natural instinct to continue with business as usual, and rapidly stepped up to change our approaches to work. For me, this meant working with all BPS partners to innovate around the ways they were supporting students while schools were closed. Organizations who had historically provided tutoring or physical education were serving as site leads at food distribution sites. Organizations that normally led projects to paint schools and clean up playgrounds were soliciting volunteers to ride buses for food delivery. Everyone was using their assets in completely new ways - and it made a huge impact. Our proven ability to switch gears in times like these, shows that we are capable of change, we just have to be open to doing it in times where we aren’t under as much pressure, as well.
5. Seek ways to make it work, rather than reasons it won't
A successful strategic partnership requires a commitment to overcoming challenges and finding solutions. It is important to approach obstacles with a positive mindset, focusing on finding ways to make the partnership work rather than dwelling on reasons it might not.
This is not to say that all partnerships should stay in tact, when things get messy - it is also of course important to recognize the times where it’s time to walk away. At the same time, if the vision and values are there, and you’ve found a partner who compliments your organizational needs in the same way that they complement yours - it’s often worth the effort to figure out how to make things work even when times get hard.
The partnerships that I have seen work the best, are the ones where both parties lead with yes - and figure out what it will take to get there.
I’ll leave you with that, now it’s time to get to work! Please reach out if you’d like to learn more about how I can support you.
