Everyone talks about partnering but talking is very different than doing. Partnering is a new way of working and it can take time to realize that partnering requires a paradigm shift in how you work and adaptations in attitudes and behaviours. Challenges abound but naming them can help in taming them! Here are five commonly identified challenges![1] Plus one clear solution!
1. Governance contradictions – tensions in accountabilities
How a partnership is ‘governed’ is about how decisions are made and how leadership is exercised and shared. The challenge in many partnerships is having to manage both horizontal accountabilities (between partners) and vertical accountabilities (to senior managers in each partner organization and / or to external funders). This needs to be named to be tamed and then tackled head on!
2. Too many comings and goings -disruptive or constructive?
What is one thing that is guaranteed in a partnership? There will be turnover of individuals and even organizations. This can be a challenge to a partnership’s continuity, stability, and sustainability. Comings and goings can be equally disruptive, so it is critical to carefully manage both the exit and entrance process. Coming into a partnership requires time for partners to establish themselves and to contribute their own ideas. Going from a partnership requires a smooth transition to ensure good will and positive outcomes are maintained. That said, exists and entrances can be constructively disruptive and can help to keep a partnership dynamic.
3. Reverting to “business as usual” – don’t fall back to traditional approaches
Partnering is about doing things differently – finding better solutions to intractable problems by working in new ways and crossing traditional boundaries. The most successful partnerships challenge ‘business as usual’ approaches and seek to explore and build on diversity, leverage each other’s strengths, and build equity so that everyone in the partnership feels valued. Under pressure partners (individually or collectively) can easily slip into conventional patterns of behaviour and practice, thereby undermining the potential of the partnership to bring about real change at organizational and system levels.
4. Having no time – there is never has enough
Having no time is probably the most often cited excuse given by partners for their lack of engagement and / or for lack of progress in the partnership. This usually means that some give far more time than others to the partnership (because they have more time available and / or they care about it more) and this can lead to resentment. But the global clock is also ticking and if the partnership is to have real impact on growing inequities, critical needs, escalating conflicts and environmental degradation, partners need to be convinced to give the partnership priority.
5. Poor communications – how is this possible?
In an age of communication overload, it seems difficult to understand how partners can be
challenged keep each other informed and engaged. Intentionality in communications is critical and tailoring communication to the different needs and preferences of the is important ensure work moves forward and everyone feels included and knowledgeable about the partner’s work and activities.
SOLUTION – Partnership Brokers Training!
How you can address these challenges is as simple as signing up for one of our online or in person courses! Building capacity to partner effectively through training can make a big difference to how partners address the inevitable challenges and turn them into learning and growth opportunities for the partnership and the partners. Check out our latest training opportunity here!
[1] Adapted from: Brokering Better Partnerships Workbook, Partnership Brokers Association