Collaboration 101 Faster Alone, Farther Together Some things That Nonprofit Organizations Interested in Collaboration Might Find Helpful Alberta Association of Services for Children and Families Edmonton, February 18, 2010 Tamarack - An Institute for Community Engagement

Tamarack - An Institute for Community Engagement Helping citizens work and learn together across sectors to build caring, prosperous and healthy communities. For more information on Tamarack, see our website at www.tamarackcommunity.ca. Tamarack - An Institute for Community Engagement

Tamarack - An Institute for Community Engagement Today Introduce concepts and lenses that will create ‘shared’ language for participants. Share patterns and themes that may ‘reduce your learning curve’ for participants. Answer questions you might have. “You don't see something until you have the right metaphor to let you perceive it.” Thomas Kuhn “Believing is seeing.” Karl Weick Tamarack - An Institute for Community Engagement

Tamarack - An Institute for Community Engagement When colleagues in a neighborhood childcare center were looking for some space to create an after-school program, they felt they had a pretty good chance of finding it in a neighborhood with so many beautiful facilities. Yet, when the group approached the institutions managing these facilities, it turned out to far more difficult they had imagined. Why? At least two reasons: The institutions were highly specialized – church groups wanted their facilities to be used for faith-based activities, schools wanted the facilities to be used for education work, recreation groups wanted to focus on recreation. The rules, regulations and institutional processes that determined how these facilities were used were cumbersome, slow moving and limiting. The people managing these facilities were from ‘outside’ the community and/or accountable to people or processes from ‘outside’ -- very few members of the churches were from the neighborhood, the schools followed rules established by school boards, recreation facilities were managed from city departments – and made them less trusting and flexible than they might otherwise be. While the group reported progress with some of the institutions, they ultimately gave up – exhausted by the extra ordinary effort required to access them. A very small community with over one hundred million dollars in facilities had trouble accessing those facilities: the challenge was not a lack of resources, but rather how those resources were managed. Is this possibly a small example of the general challenge we have lately of trying to build what seems at time communities not as healthy as they could be? Tamarack - An Institute for Community Engagement

Tamarack - An Institute for Community Engagement Definition Collabra (Latin) – to strive or labor together. Tamarack - An Institute for Community Engagement

The Working Together Continuum Looser Tighter Compete Co-exist Consult Cooperate Coordinate Collaborate Merge Purpose Members Structure & Process Communicate Resources Tamarack - An Institute for Community Engagement Environment

Tamarack - An Institute for Community Engagement The Simple Case Silos: Fractured responses lead to fractured solutions lead to fractured outcomes. Collaboration: operate on the premise that ‘joined up problems’ require ‘joined up solutions’ Tamarack - An Institute for Community Engagement

Phases of Collaboration Maturity Phase Mobilization Phase Exploitation Phase Creative Destruction Source: http://www.plexusinstitute.org/edgeware/archive/think/main_aides9.html Tamarack - An Institute for Community Engagement

From Lifecycle to Cecile in Collaborative Efforts The Performance Loop The Renewal Loop Source: http://www.plexusinstitute.org/edgeware/archive/think/main_aides9.html Tamarack - An Institute for Community Engagement

Entrepreneurial Leadership Charismatic Leadership Creative Leadership Strategic Management Exploration Phase Maturity Phase Development Phase Creative Destruction/ Initiation Phase Entrepreneurial Leadership Charismatic Leadership Tamarack - An Institute for Community Engagement

Tamarack - An Institute for Community Engagement Exploration Development Maturity Creative Destruction/ Initiation PURPOSE To expand the number of innovative ideas in a way that improves the conditions for their successful development. To develop a pattern of working together that turns promising ideas into effective strategies. To conserve a pattern of working together on proven ideas in an efficient way. To dismantle pattern of working together on non longer productive ideas to clear the way for new vision, relationships and directions to emerge. LEADERSHIP STYLE & GROUP CULTURE Creative, inclusive and mission-driven. Entrepreneurial, adaptive and outcome driven. Management, risk-sensitive and productivity oriented. Charismatic, visionary and values-based. MEMBERS Large, diverse, often unusual mix of participants, with stable core group. Smaller number & variety of members focused on particular areas of work. Few, highly specialized, regularly participating members. Smaller number of core members, relational. STRUCTURE & PROCESS Informal, time limited, overlapping, loose task groups and teams. Multiple layers of participation. Tasks, roles and relationships become explicit. Patterns emerge for process and structure. Hierarchical structure, standardization, institutionalized roles and procedures. Informal, loosely connected, flat, eclectic and sporadic connections. ACTIVITIES & PRODUCTS Community conversations. Idea generation. Best practice research. Experiments. Simulations. Planning. Developmental Evaluation. Pilot projects & prototypes. Adaptive planning. Begins with formative evaluation ends with summative evaluation. Preparing, monitoring and adjusting detailed work plans. Performance measurement. Reflective learning. Scanning of trends. Relationship building with key stakeholders. Visioning. Tamarack - An Institute for Community Engagement

Tamarack - An Institute for Community Engagement Creative Leadership Strategic Management Chronic Disaster Trap Exploration Phase Maturity Phase Rigidity Trap Scarcity Trap Development Phase Creative Destruction/ Initiation Parasitic Trap Tamarack - An Institute for Community Engagement Entrepreneurial Leadership Charismatic Leadership

Four Transitional Traps Transitional Traps in Collaborative Efforts Traps Description Typical Challenges SCARCITY The group struggles to ‘birth’ something likely to lead to outcomes and garners the support of the larger community. The ideas are not compelling. Underdeveloped decision-making process & criteria. Members disagree on which options to pursue. Members have insufficient credibility. Energy spread too thin across many directions. PARASITIC The group seem unable to sustain or grow their work because it is ‘parasitic’ on the host's) that gave it birth. Over reliance on key – often founding – members of the group. Dependence on start-up pool of resources. Approach works well only at a certain scale or in unique context. RIGIDITY The group is unable or unwilling to change or dismantle an approach that no longer fits the evolving context in which they operate. Psyche of immediate return. Fear of uncertainty. Self-Interest. Lack of clear exit rules. Concern about perception of failure. Pressure to continue by entrenched constituency (e.g. ‘too big to fail’). CHRONIC DISASTER The participants find themselves ‘spinning’ and unable to get traction on a compelling new vision and set of values for moving forward. Inability to let go of the past. Weak trust amongst members. Difficulty in agreeing on shared vision and values. Volatile environment. Four Transitional Traps Tamarack - An Institute for Community Engagement

Tamarack - An Institute for Community Engagement Exercise Tamarack - An Institute for Community Engagement

Tamarack - An Institute for Community Engagement In which areas of the ‘eco-cycle’ do you feel most comfortable and energized? Least comfortable and energized? Describe a project or activity that illustrates each answer. Preferences! Tamarack - An Institute for Community Engagement

Tamarack - An Institute for Community Engagement Eight Big Ideas Form Versus Essence: the essence of working collaboratively is not the same as the form or manifestation of that essence at any point in time. The Importance of Entire Eco-Cycle: the performance and renewal phases are important to the overall health of the collaborative effort. Resilient – Versus Sustainable – Collaborative Efforts: the importance of continually adapting – rather than sustaining – the manifestation of the collaboration to reflect the demands of different phases and internal and external changes. Robust Collaborative: not all collaborative efforts are robust enough to make it through the entire eco-cycle. The challenge is to improve the probabilities of their evolution, but to ‘let go’ when necessary in order to release energy for new manifestations. Tamarack - An Institute for Community Engagement

Seven Big Ideas continued Situational Leadership: the need to use leadership styles and culture that ‘fit’ the unique phase or area of work. Patch Dynamics: collaborative efforts are more resilient when they are partly operating in all four phases or area of the eco-cycle. Enabling Environment: the opportunity to strengthen the policy and investment environment to appropriately support all four phases of the eco-cycle. Collaboration if necessary – but necessarily collaboration: sometimes co-existence and competition is more productive than collaboration. Tamarack - An Institute for Community Engagement

Tamarack - An Institute for Community Engagement Reflection Tamarack - An Institute for Community Engagement

Tamarack - An Institute for Community Engagement Think (5 minutes, alone) What ‘aha’s’ did you have today? What new questions emerge? What's one thing that you think you might do differently in your work? Pair & Share (10 minutes) Find a colleague and take a few minutes to share your responses with them. Think, Pair, Share Tamarack - An Institute for Community Engagement

Collaboration Resources Tamarack - An Institute for Community Engagement

Tamarack - An Institute for Community Engagement Eco-Cycle Lenses Brenda Zimmerman. From Lifecycle to Cecile http://www.plexusinstitute.org/edgeware/archive/think/main_aides9.html Crisis & Renewal. David Hurst The Upside of Down. Thomas Homer-Dixon Getting to Maybe. Frances Wesley Brenda Zimmerman Michael Quinn Patton Tamarack - An Institute for Community Engagement