Bite-size pieces: think PMI

When evaluating the on-going work of a partnership encourage people to explore what has been positive about its work, what the minuses have been and what has been interesting. Most of us are used to thinking in a binary way, looking only for the positives and minuses in a situation and then making decisions about how to maximise the one and minimise the other. The PMI technique (developed by Edward de Bono) encourages people to think about the day-to-day activities of a partnership in an additional way. What aspects are interesting or unique about a partnership’s activities and results? What can we learn from these and how can we make use of them?

From Sleeping with the Enemy - Achieving Collaborative Success
          
For more details click here.

Bite-size pieces: use insider/outsider teams

Use 'insider/outsider teams' to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of your partnership

When evaluating the processes and results of a partnership and seeking to improve them, it is important to be open to differing and challenging opinions about what is or is not effective.

One simple approach that encourages such openness is the use of insider/outsider teams. An insider/outsider team consists of at least two people. One person comes from within the partnership being evaluated and the other comes from outside of it, perhaps from another partnership or organisation that is doing similar work. Both people work together to analyse and evaluate the work of the partnership, acknowledging and using the differing perspectives they bring to the task.

Obviously, the evaluation could be reciprocal, the two people swapping insider/outsider roles and evaluating each other’s organisations or partnerships.

From Sleeping with the Enemy - Achieving Collaborative Success:
          
For more details click here.