Partnering Tip: Getting Lift Off

Some years ago I was conducting a 2 day partnering workshop involving different levels of government and a major community organisation. Day 1 was focussed on providing knowledge and skills on the partnering process and Day 2 was to focus on next steps and actions.

It became very clear at the end of Day 1 that we had a major issue with the differences between partnering capability and capacity between all of the partners.

“it is clear that for the partnering to be effective all partners need to have a ‘strong blade’”

The government participants had a sound knowledge of partnering together with dedicated human and financial resources. The community organisation on the other hand had little understanding of partnering processes, limited capacity and resources to support any partnering and they presided over a fragmented  group of smaller separate community organisations.

The result of this workshop and dialogue was that the only way that effective partnering could take place would be for all partners to have a similar capacity and capability to partner if the partnering was to proceed and take off.

The best analogy I could think of for this situation was to look at a helicopter, where we could see that each blade had to be strong and with an equal capability and capacity to function if the helicopter was to ‘get lift off’. If one or more blades was weak they would just spin endlessly and no traction would result.

If we translate this analogy to a partnering scenario, it is clear that for the partnering to be effective all partners need to have a ‘strong blade’. Some key elements of having this strong blade include: 

·    Internal leadership that supports partnering

·    The knowledge and skills to partner effectively

·    The capability and capacity to engage effectively with other partners

·    All partners need good buy-in throughout their organisation

So how strong is your blade? And how strong are your partners blades?

If your partnering is not performing at a high level perhaps the blades need strengthening!