Do you do what you prefer to do or as the situation demands?

As I was doing some research this week I came across this newsletter from the Health Services Management Centre of the University of Birmingham:

http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/Documents/college-social-sciences/social-policy/HSMC/publications/Newsletters/Volume-16-No-2.pdf

The article by Deborah Davidson 'The Courage to Think and Act Differently' is an interesting read and is very relevant to those who seek to lead collaborative efforts and work in partnership.

I will not simply repeat the content of Deborah's short article; you can read it yourself in under ten minutes. All I will say is that it invites us to think very carefully about whether we habitually frame issues and problems in ways that suit our preferences for dealing with them, rather than in ways that suit the situations and contexts within which they exist.

This is something really worth thinking about, especially if you are working within the demanding, wicked issue focused world of collaborative working, which requires us to think, decide and act in new, innovative and challenging ways.


For more about collaboration go to: Sleeping-with-the-Enemy-Achieving-Collaborative-Success-2nd-Edition

        

Bite-size pieces: a checklist for collaborative conversations

Here is a 'top ten' checklist for collaborative conversations. I quick read through before meeting with partners will encourage mutual understanding, help develop relationships and support collaborative effectiveness:

1. I am talking with you not at you.
2. I am very curious about you and your story.
3. I am finding out about your view of the world and the problems and issues you feel we must address.
4. I am listening to understand rather than gain information that helps me prepare my next argument.
5. I am asking questions because I want to listen to and appreciate your answers rather than gain confirmation of my own views.
6. I am aware of what I am saying, how I am saying it and the effect it is having on you.
7. I am not afraid to say I am unsure or that I do not understand.
8. I am saying what is on my mind and what you need to know rather than what I think you want to hear.
9. I am aware that I do not have all the answers; that is why I am talking to you.
10. I am working hard at unearthing and challenging my long held assumptions about you and our work.

(Acknowledgement to https://www.educe.co.uk/)

Look out for signals of discontinuity and change

The rise of the Internet is signalling a move away from information and products broadcast at passive people to information and products created with the involvement of active people. The Open Source Movement is recognising these signals and creating platforms for the development and sharing of high quality, user generated, freely available software. (The Apache Software Foundation is a good example.)

The technology driven reduction in mid-skilled jobs is signalling a shift away from traditional middle-class office or factory based jobs towards careers in high technology areas or specialist manual areas, such as caring and hospitality, that technology cannot automate. Collaborations that help people into work are recognising these signals and looking for ways to make high technology and specialist manual jobs more accessible. (The Anita Borg Institute is an example of an organisation that works with partner businesses to help women and under-represented minorities into high technology careers. The Opportunity Partnership helps young people gain the skills necessary for specialist manual work in the care and hospitality industries.)  

The retirement of the 'Baby Boomer' generation is signalling a change to the look, feel and nature of later life and the potential contributions older people are willing and able to make to society. Collaborations focused upon the needs of older people are recognising these signals and looking for ways to enhance the contributions older people can make to society. (Encore.org is an example of an organisation that works with others to enhance the contributions and quality of life of older people.)

The achievement of a critical mass of qualified, graduate women is signalling a change to the look, feel and nature of the workplace and the amount of influence women are willing and able to have upon it. Collaborations that promote the interests of working women are recognising these signals and seeking to use the influence of the growing number of well-educated working women to encourage and support the ambitions of all women within the workplace. (The previously mentioned Anita Borg Institute, with its support for the mentoring of women in high tech industries, is a good example of this.)

Increasingly easy access to information is signalling a change in our relationship with Governments and businesses and in the amount of influence we can have over their activities. Collaborations focused upon changing the nature of Government and citizens' relationships with it are recognising these signals and seeking ways of encouraging people to use their newly acquired powers. (Wiki Leaks is a high-profile example of a global collaboration that is changing the relationship and power dynamics between Governments and citizens.)

Smart Mobile technology is signalling a change in the way we communicate and go about our day to day work; it is immeasurably increasing the flexibility, scope and versatility of our interactions with not only other people but also the systems we use and need. Collaborations working to enhance the health and quality of life of people in the developing world are recognising these signals and seeking ways to exploit mobile technology to enhance the effectiveness of their work and support the achievement of their goals. (Vodafone's collaboration with private, public and 3rd sector partners that uses mobile technology to save lives through vaccination in sub-Saharan Africa is a good example).

The above are recognised signals of discontinuity, signals that point towards radical and significant changes that are happening to a greater or lesser extent all over the globe. As you can see, clever collaborations have sought to align themselves with the direction of travel of these signals, so strengthening the effectiveness of their activities.

What signals of discontinuity and change does your collaboration need to look out for? How can it take advantage of them to further its cause and achieve its aims? How can it effectively align its strategy and goals with the new directions and priorities these signals are pointing towards, so enhancing its relevance, credibility, influence and effectiveness?


For more about collaboration go to: Sleeping-with-the-Enemy-Achieving-Collaborative-Success-2nd-Edition

Stop Press! 3rd Edition now out: click on the link to your top right... 

Feedback and change!

Feedback is important to any group of people working together. This is especially so when people from separate businesses and organisations come together to collaborate.

The following model can help partners identify the type of feedback they may need to deliver and address; it will also help them think in a focused way about its purpose and effects:



(Copyright Charles M Lines)


Unspoken feedback is sometimes felt and at best hinted at through partners' actions and reactions. It could be significant or trivial but because it remains unsaid there is no way of knowing. It will, however, sometimes create ‘an atmosphere’ that if not addressed can cause problems between partners. (This type of feedback is likely to appear during a partnership's latency phase). If there are problems between partners or 'an atmosphere' within the collaboration it could be because ‘things need to be aired’. Look out for partners' actions and reactions. Do not be hesitant about asking partners why they are acting or reacting in a particular way. You may find out something very valuable that could lead to reinforcing, modifying or transforming feedback, or you could be reassured that any concerns are merely trivial or ‘passing’ and easily dealt with. 

For example, partners may be having doubts about their ability to contribute to the collaboration's work but be reluctant to admit this. This may lead to them becoming more and more hesitant and withdrawn during meetings and other activities. Taking these partners to one side and respectfully asking why this is happening could encourage them to express their concerns. You can then reassure them as to the value of their contribution and/or explore ways in which they could be helped and supported in their role.            

Passing feedback is not significant in terms of partners' and the collaboration's effectiveness. For example, people often suggest areas for improvement that are in fact expressions of personal preferences. It is true that taking personal preferences into account can sometimes be crucial to the activities of a collaboration and the delivery of its services, but on other occasions it is not. Carefully consider how valuable such feedback is to partners and the collaboration. Do you really need to share and address this feedback? What purpose will be served by doing so? Will acting on it only result in wasted time and effort?

Reinforcing feedback takes the form of positive comments or compliments about partners' and/or the collaboration's effectiveness. How can you encourage partners and the collaboration to build upon these? Could any shortcomings in other areas be addressed by building upon this positive, reinforcing feedback? For example, a partner may have received feedback about their strong communication and PR skills. How could these skills be used to enhance the collaboration's overall image and visibility?

Modifying feedback points out potential areas for improvement within otherwise acceptable levels of performance. For example, people may be very happy with the quality of a service or product but occasionally frustrated by what they see as unnecessary delays in providing it. Will addressing this issue improve the effectiveness of partners and the collaboration? How will it improve things? What options can you identify and discuss with partners' to address it?

Transforming feedback is crucial to partners' and the collaboration's effectiveness. For example, changes in Government policy and cuts in funding may require a collaboration that is charity and volunteer based to receive hard messages about becoming more business focused and efficient. This feedback must be given and addressed in a clear and unambiguous way and separately from any other. You will need to think carefully about how and when you deliver and discuss this feedback. What style of feedback would suit the partners receiving it? Are you sure that you have all the facts relating to it? Are you clear about what you want to say? What are your own feelings about the issue and could they affect the way you give the feedback? What are the partners' views and  feelings concerning the issue? What do they think should be done to address it?

Keep in mind that feedback implying a significant need for change on the part of partners and the collaboration can be perceived as threatening and lead to defensiveness and resistance. So think carefully about the level and type of feedback you need to give, explore and discuss. What type of feedback would best suit the issues, collaborative context and partners involved? Sometimes emphasising strengths and suggesting and exploring options can be more effective than ‘reading the riot act’ or over-enthusiastically championing change. Always think about the partners on the receiving end of your feedback. What will work best for them, you and the collaboration overall?    

Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose

I have been familiarising myself with the work of Daniel H. Pink, who has identified the above three aspects as crucial to motivation.

It strikes me that these aspects are also crucial for effective collaborative working.


Autonomy

Is your collaborative initiative sufficiently independent to ensure it has a separate identity? Can it make decisions and implement actions without having to gain unnecessary approval from others? Can it go about its business and achieve its aims in ways that it, rather than anyone else, believes to be the most suitable and effective?  


Mastery

Does your collaboration have access to the expertise, knowledge, skills and qualities it needs to achieve its goals effectively? Is it able to develop and add to these to meet the changing demands of its environment and those of the people it is seeking to support and help? Does it encourage its members to stretch and challenge themselves and master new skills and new ways of doing things?


Purpose

Is the overall purpose or vision of your collaboration clear? Is it inspiring? Do people buy into it? Are people clear about how their various activities (and any money the collaboration may make) support and enable the collaboration to achieve its aims?

In short, if you want to be motivated get involved in collaborative working and use the above three aspects to help guide its development!

Collaboration and music come together again

Collaboration and music come together again.

Nothing else need be said!

(Although I will not be able to resist in a future post.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k15ODM7Pg4w&feature=player_embedded

Be purposefully transformative

The future will be knowledge and experience rich but increasingly, the current fracking bonanza not withstanding, resource and materials poor. There will be more people and organisations able to do good in the world but also more conflict about what exactly 'good' is. All these extra people with have immense potential but they will also need to be fed and housed.

So the future can be summed up as both hopeful and scary, and it is people working effectively in collaboration that will help realise the former and avoid the latter.

In order to survive and thrive in this increasingly complex and demanding future world partnerships and collaborations will need to be:

1. Pioneering pathfinders
2. Masters of the paradox
3. Challenging and disruptive
4. Influential players
5. Socially enterprising
6. Populated by a new breed of collaborative worker
7. Purposefully transformative

Be purposefully transformative

Most partnerships exist to create transformational change, to solve complex problems that no one individual or organisation can do alone. To create this transformational change partnerships need to be transformational within themselves; they need to be able to mutate rapidly into shapes, systems, networks and layers that will best meet the challenges they face.

To do this effectively they need to do it purposefully, to have a clear guiding stimulus that will encourage them to transform both themselves and the areas they are focusing upon in ways that will ensure enhanced effectiveness and outcomes. They will also need to allow form to follow function, to allow their guiding stimulus and the demands of their context to dictate their partnership's architecture and shape.

Given the complex nature of the problems partnerships seek to solve this architecture will need to be multi-layered and multi-faceted; it will need to glitter like a diamond. It will also need to be modular and flexible, allowing it to splice, recombine and mutate easily according to the varying demands placed upon it.


Examples

Have a clear guiding stimulus

The Apache Software Foundation, which provides support for open source software projects, has a strong and straightforward mission that encourages both it and its collaborators to work continuously towards transforming and improving both its own activities and the quality of open source software available to people.     

The following 'mission statements' are at the top of its home page:  

• We consider ourselves not simply a group of projects sharing a server, but rather a community of developers and users.
• The Apache Software Foundation provides support for the Apache community of open-source software projects, which provide software for the public good.
• The Apache projects are defined by collaborative consensus and a desire to create high quality software that leads the way in its field.

These statements make the purpose and aspirations of Apache clear. Additionally, by using phrases such as 'community of developers and users' and 'collaborative consensus' they make it clear how they expect those collaborating with them to behave. This concise mix of purpose, aspirations and behavioural values provides the guiding stimulus for Apache's probably perpetual transformation into an ever more effective global collaboration that produces publicly accessible software of ever increasing quality.


Allow form to follow function

UK health, housing and social services have begun forming partnerships of service providers around people's key life events and the outcomes they require, so putting function before form and allowing structures to grow out of the mix and types of services people need. Similarly, UK community planning has begun to form itself around communities and populations rather than according to organisational boundaries.


Be multi-layered and multi-faceted

A Community Planning Partnership in Fife, Scotland, added a local layer of evaluation to its processes that encouraged local people to contribute their comments and ideas. It then created a process for ensuring that these local contributions could be fed into its strategic decision making, adding an anecdotal 'evidence based' facet to its policy making.

A Community Health Partnership added a valuable facet to its activity by placing a broad mix of key public services in one place and within easy reach of those that needed them. This enabled the partnership to engage more effectively with those who were 'hard to reach', more easily identify crossovers in responsibilities and eliminate duplications in support and services. Additionally, the multi-faceted nature of the services available (for example a library was housed in the centre) enabled the partnership to engage with non-users of health and social services who would probably need to access them in the future.

A partnership between youth services and police added a mobile facet to its approach. It made use of a mobile youth and information centre that could reach out to hard to reach young people, so enhancing the flexibility and depth of its engagement work.

  
Be modular and flexible

Aberdeen City Alliance created a series of Challenge Forums to focus on specific problems and needs. The list of teams could be lengthened, shortened, 'spliced and recombined' according to need, allowing the alliance to respond flexibly to the varying challenges and changing priorities presented to it. 

A regeneration company/partnership in Liverpool, adopted a flexible 'patch partnering' approach to its work, selecting the most suitable team of partners for specific projects from the pool of available partner organisations.

A flexible approach to the leadership structure of a collaboration was demonstrated by an initiative tasked with procuring digital hearing aids for the NHS. When a more effective and affordable approach to procuring the aids was required those with the most relevant expertise, passion, motivation and credibility were given the appropriate leadership responsibilities, regardless of their organisational status.

The NHS has a wide variety of relationships and bilateral partnerships with local and national organisations that have specialist knowledge and/or specific interests. This approach, although complex, does give the NHS multiple options and flexibility with regard to how it goes about its work. (It also adds additional facets and layers to the structural network through which it engages with people and patients.)

A North of England Regional Improvement Partnership demonstrated flexibility of approach by encouraging the formation of 'self-initiated and directed networks'. These would form in response to some shared interest or problem and consist of people with the relevant knowledge, experience or simply motivation to explore and/or address it. For example, a group of drainage engineers formed and facilitated their own network to discuss, explore and address the serious problems associated with heavy flooding within their region.